I kept glancing over my shoulder, expecting Kelly to follow.

My mind kept playing tricks on me. Thinking I heard the door open, I waited to watch. He should have come running after me. When he didn’t, I knew I was right.

Refusing to let my heart shatter like glass, his lack of a fight proved that I was just an expensive distraction. A month-long date set up through the Madam. Nothing more. Nothing less. Our time had run its course.

I rode the elevator down to the lobby floor, thinking about Dad.

Anger and animosity boiled inside of me. I knew what I needed to say to him. I knew what he’d done, and it was important he admitted his sins. When he did, I would make sure that he paid for his decisions that ruined my life.

Extending my arms, I pushed through the front doors with a gust of blistering air hitting my face. My hair flew over my eyes and, when I brushed it way, Maxwell was hurrying toward me.

“Ms. Williams, wait,” he called out.

“I don’t need your help, Maxwell.” I turned my head and raised my voice so he would hear. “And I certainly don’t need a ride.”

Closing his fingers around my elbow, Maxwell spun me around. I stopped, turned, and glared. “Let me bring you home.”

There was a glimmer in his eye that told me he knew something that I didn’t. Holding my hands over my stomach, the empty feeling inside it spread. Nervously, I glanced around looking for Madam. Something told me she was lurking, watching, waiting to strike. We’d failed to bring Sylvia in. It was over. The time of reckoning was now.

“That’s all. Just a lift back to your place.” Maxwell lowered his eyes.

I sucked back a deep breath and agreed.

My feet were as heavy as bricks as I followed Maxwell to his SUV. Inside, I was numb, completely lost. Maxwell opened the back door and offered me his hand. I didn’t have the strength to thank him, feeling as if this, too, might be my last ride.

I stared out my window, knowing that I needed help, someone to talk to, anyone who might understand the story of my life and how I’d found myself living the nightmare of these past thirty days. But I couldn’t trust anyone to understand my impulsive decisions and hardened shell that masked my inner insecurities.

When I glanced to the front, Maxwell was driving quietly.

His eyes were forward. He took his time merging into traffic, slowing around corners. His loyalty to Kelly was admirable, and I needed to know what he thought. “Maxwell?”

He flicked his concerned eyes to the rearview mirror.

“Tell me, before this began, did Kelly intend to stay with me longer than Madam’s contract?”

He moved his right hand off the gear shifter and brought it up to the steering wheel next to his left. “Honestly, I don’t know.”

Hugging myself, I bit the inside of my cheek.

“But what I do know is that Kelly hasn’t been this dedicated to a woman since Nora.”

Waves of heat flushed through my body. Breaking eye contact, I felt safer staying at a distance. My mind churned with speculation and I couldn’t help myself from asking, “What was she like?”

“Kind. Loving. Hard-working. A wonderful mother. Caring wife.”

I could be those things and more.

“Sometimes you remind me of her,” Maxwell added as if reading my thoughts. “And that is why I believe Mr. Black is set on making sure that you two remain together.”

Except he’s not. Kelly didn’t chase. He didn’t fight. The man I’d seen part seas refused to take action. Now I had to wait for Madam to decide what she wanted to do with me next. “Madam has a different plan for us.”

“If there is one thing I know about Kelly, it’s that he always gets what he wants.”

With my blood running cold, I rolled my eyes to the window. Did he want Nora dead? It didn’t seem that way, but there was still a lot that I didn’t know. Every dog had its day, and perhaps Kelly’s best days were already behind him.

Maxwell pulled into my apartment complex. “Would you like me to escort you inside?”

I glanced out the back window.

“Don’t worry. You’re safe. I’ve been keeping an eye out the entire drive.” He opened his door, stepped out, and was already opening mine before I had unbuckled my belt.

Gathering my things, I threaded my arm through my purse strap and lugged my suitcase across the seat, thanking Maxwell for the ride. “I’ll be fine.”

When he leaned in for a hug, I almost cried. He knew. Knew that this might be our last time together. The thought of it devastated me. “Call me directly if you need anything.”

Pulling my sunglasses over my swollen eyes, I nodded. “I will.”

It was a nice gesture, but it killed me to think that Maxwell’s goodbye was better than Kelly’s. Kelly should have at least driven me home. Been the one to escort me inside. Left me with a sizzling tongue-kiss to remember him by. Yet, it was just me dredging my way through this murky world alone, once again.

Maxwell waited to leave until I was inside.

Kelly’s apparent fear of Madam’s retaliation was what really had me feeling terrified. He knew her better than anybody, and it was the only reasonable explanation I could come up with for his inaction. He’d made me believe that I meant something, and Maxwell had confirmed it. This wasn’t by accident. Our feelings were real. I wanted them to be mutual, which got me thinking about Alex. I wondered if she had uncovered evidence about Madam’s drug trafficking.

Mr. Anderson was busy talking with another tenant when I passed the front desk. We exchanged friendly nods, but I didn’t stop to talk. My mood was off and I didn’t need him to feel sorry for me. I could do that all by myself.

Punching the button on the wall, I waited impatiently for an elevator to arrive.

Keeping one eye on Mr. Anderson, I thought about him being married. It was strange to think of how he and Kelly shared a similar past, but the two men couldn’t have been more different. Kelly was tormented by his past, where I didn’t get that impression of Mr. Anderson.

The elevator arrived and I stepped inside once the herd of people came piling out.

I thought about Kelly’s son not being buried next to his mother. I would never forget his comment that suicide victims’ souls were restless. He may be right. I didn’t know. Perhaps what he’d failed to realize was that it was the people the victims left behind who were truly the restless ones.

A quick elevator ride up to my floor and I was inside my apartment and dropping my bag.

I kicked my shoes off and padded into the kitchen. Opening the fridge, I should have known the shelves would be empty. There was nothing to drink but tap water, and after fixing myself a glass I stripped out of my jeans and turned on the TV.

Flicking through the channels, I tied my hair back when I stopped on breaking news.

Tipping forward, my lips parted.

Could this be…

My eyes widened.

Adrenaline kicked in and flushed my body awake.

New development in the murder investigation of Maria Greer…

I listened to what the newscaster had to say. Sylvia Neil’s face was plastered in the upper corner of the screen as the public was told to be on the lookout. She could be armed and dangerous. The police weren’t releasing exact details, but there was mention of a possible link to one of LA’s popular nightclubs. This wasn’t the story on the flash drive—that wasn’t coming out until tomorrow—but something told me that it had to be somehow linked.

Checking the time, I feared that Madam was behind this, timing it perfectly with my departure. Now I feared that she had set Kelly up for something more dangerous. And I’d left him alone to deal with the fallout.

What was he walking into? What was I?

My heart slammed into my chest as I kept my eyes glued to the television screen.

Running around the couch, I dug my cell phone out of my bag and put a quick call into Kelly. The line rang and rang as I paced back and forth, pleading with him to answer. When it clicked over to his voicemail, I left a message. “Kelly. It’s me. Call me as soon as you get this. Something isn’t right.”

I kept glancing back to the television, clenching my phone tight in my grip. Suddenly, it started ringing. Hoping it was Kelly, disappointment rounded my shoulders when I saw it was Mom. I had forgotten about my visit with Dad. I couldn’t do it. It would have to wait. Deciding not to answer, I let it go to voicemail.

Was Sylvia Neil playing Kelly?

Then everything stopped—my breathing, my heart—when I heard a noise coming from my front door. I watched with bulging-eyes as the knob slowly turned. My muscles tensed. I couldn’t move.

Marvin…

My thoughts ricocheted between my ears.

Madam…

Or was Sylvia now hunting me?

I fell speechless when his silver hair shined beneath the ceiling lights.

Oscar wedged his body inside my apartment and grinned. “Hello, Kendra.”

I dropped my phone, feeling my body sweat. “How did you get up here?”

His heavy footsteps clacked their way across my floor. Wanting to flee, I watched as he tugged on his suit jacket. Oscar stopped in front of the couch and smirked when he saw what was on the TV. “You did me a great favor by releasing that story.”

My eyes shifted to the news.

“Sylvia will go down for the crimes.”

Flicking my eyes back to him, I stared into his cold dark eyes, knowing he was responsible for killing Mario. He didn’t care about justice, was only in this for himself.

“No jury will ever be able to forget a news cycle like this.” He lowered his chin and continued closing in on me.

My chest tightened and I still couldn’t move.

“Your contract is nearly over.” He took my face between his hands, tilting my head back. The room temperature plummeted. “Kelly failed you, sweetheart.”

I shivered as his thumbs brushed over my cheeks.

He tilted his head slightly to the side. “You’re scared…”

Narrowing my gaze, I mustered all the inner strength I could and said, “Madam sent you to do her dirty work, didn’t she?”

He chuckled. “You are afraid.” He lowered his gaze, hiding behind his deep brow. “And you should be. Girls in your profession are rarely missed once they go missing.”

A shaky gasp passed over my lips as he trailed his fingers down my pulsing neck, across my collar bone, then closing his hand over my trachea with a tight squeeze. Lifting my heels off the floor, stars flashed in front of my eyes.

The crinkles around his eyes deepened when he hissed, “Just ask Tonya.”