I couldn’t stop moving. Back and forth I paced, unable to go inside until she was here.

I didn’t know what to expect. But if I had learned anything these last couple weeks, it was to expect the least expected. Each day was different, and though the change was much welcomed, I wasn’t sure this was the kind of excitement I was hoping for when signing on with the Madam.

Tucking my hair behind my ear, I turned my focus up the street.

She still wasn’t here. Where was she? This wasn’t like her.

I swiveled my head in the opposite direction. Tapping my toes, I wondered what was taking her so long. She said she would be here. Pulling my phone out of my bag, I checked to see if I’d missed a call or a message for what seemed like the hundredth time.

There was nothing. No message. No call. No notification.

Stepping out of the way, I avoided having to face a confrontation with a stranger wanting to step inside the building I was pacing in front of. I wasn’t one to feel insecure but today that was all I was. My spine was bent and my stomach roiled with anxiety.

“Kendra?”

I turned to find a familiar smile as she came running into my arms. Laughing, I dropped my gym bag and asked, “What’s got you so excited?”

Alex pulled her head back and squeezed my arms. “You’re alive.”

“Of course I’m alive.” I smirked.

“You haven’t heard, have you?” The whites of her eyes widened.

My brows pinched. “Heard what?”

“Another girl was found dead.”

And just like that, all the air inside my lungs was knocked out in a single blow. I stood there frozen as Alex told me about what she’d seen on the news, asking if I knew the name Tonya Craig. I hadn’t heard any of this, too consumed by my uncle and what it was my family was truly after. “They found her body outside the nightclub, Echo. Have you ever been there?”

I closed my eyes, refocusing my blurred vision. Shaking my head, I said, “No. Have you?”

“Why would I have?” Alex glared.

“Nash,” I said bluntly, feeling my face go pale. Just saying Nash’s name had images of Maria paralyzing me completely. And with the news of Tonya’s death, I couldn’t help but toss the idea around my head that maybe they could somehow be related. I felt sick.

“Earth to Kendra …” Alex waved her hand in front of my face.

“What? Huh? Sorry,” I apologized, shaking my head.

“I said, I thought that’s why you wanted to workout today instead of tomorrow.”

Biting the inside of my cheek, this was unsettling to say the least. Especially after the recent accusations swirling around Nash about being a possible suspect in the death of Maria Greer. But the bigger question I couldn’t ask Alex was, Would I be next?

“She was Madam’s girl.” My voice floated off my tongue like a bird’s feather.

“Tonya?” Alex gasped. “How can you be so sure?” Her eyes scurried over my face.

I told her what I saw that day I made the delivery to Emmanuel’s new salon. Alex listened as I spoke of a distressed Tonya running out of a back room, barely clothed, and crying. “She was wearing Madam’s earrings. The same ones Madam insists I sometimes wear.”

“You could see all that through the window?”

Nodding, I said, “And I saw him there with her.”

Alex inched herself closer and lowered her voice. “Who?”

“Timothy Parker,” I whispered.

“The man pressing charges against Kelly?” The lines on her forehead wrinkled.

I gave her a crisp nod.

Alex linked her arm in the crook of mine. Together, we dragged our feet over the concrete, beginning to make our way to the entrance of the gym. “Do you think he did it?”

My shoulders rose, then fell. “But now that I know another girl has been killed, there is somebody I would like to talk to before making any more assumptions.”

Alex gave me a sideways glance.

“Angelina Davis.”

Alex’s brows lifted and her eyes were round as coins.

Reaching out, I curled my fingers around the handle and opened the door. Stepping inside, I said, “She’s friends with Tonya. Or, was friends with Tonya.”

Alex’s bottom lip curled over.

“I saw them together at Ty Lemon’s gala. If anybody might know something about who might have wanted to kill Tonya, it’s her.”

“I don’t like this, Kendra.” Alex tugged on my arm, getting me to stop. Music played in the back and several people were checking in and out at the gym’s front desk. “You paid your debt with Madam.”

I smiled at an unfamiliar face walking close by and leaned closer to Alex’s face. “What are you saying?”

“I want you to break your contract.” She stomped her foot as if to mean business.

I tossed my head back and laughed. “If only it were that easy.”

Alex twisted her hair, looking worried.

“Look, I have a bad feeling about this, too, but I can’t just leave.”

A well-built man approached. He was wearing joggers and a light hooded sweatshirt with the name of the gym printed on his left breast.

“Don’t you think if I’m in danger of dying, too, I should be the one to know first?”

Alex let out an audible sigh.

“You must be Kendra Williams,” the man said with a wide grin.

Ironing my hand down Alex’s arm, I turned to the man and said, “How’d you guess?”

“Kelly said you were beautiful, but Jesus Christ, you’re much more than that.” He shook my hand before turning to Alex. “Mike Ricci. Personal trainer.”

“Yes. I got that.” Alex smiled. “Nice to meet you.”

Mike turned back to me. “Kelly didn’t say you would be bringing a friend.”

“Last minute change of plans.”

“Not a problem.” He waved for us to follow him past the front desk. “I’m thrilled you did.” He looked over his shoulder at the two of us. “You’ll hold each other accountable when I put you through your routine.”

When I turned to glance over my shoulder at Alex, I could see that her mind was still on my personal safety. I doubted she’d heard a word Mike said. But without first learning what Kelly knew about Tonya—because I was certain that if Alex knew, Kelly did, too—I wasn’t going to make any more assumptions as to why she may have been murdered.

“Here’s the women’s locker room.” Mike stopped in front of the door. “Get dressed and I’ll meet you two by those machines, there.” He snapped his fingers and pointed through the glass walls.

People were already filling the machines, watching TV, plugged into their music. And as soon as Mike disappeared around the corner, I opened the door to the women’s locker room. “That’s not all.”

Alex shot me a look like, how could it get any worse than this?

“My uncle is stalking me again.”

“Shit, Kendra.” Her hand flew to her forehead. “I thought you took care of that.” Her voice echoed off the white tiled walls.

“I’m starting to believe him.”

Alex’s head snapped in my direction just as I found an open locker.

“My parents might need me.”

“Then call them,” she pleaded.

Stripping out of my clothes, I knew the reason Alex wanted me to call them. Hers were dead and, without having to say it, I knew that not a day went by where she didn’t wish that she could have had just one more conversation with them.

Alex stepped into her spandex. “Even if you don’t want to know what’s happening in their lives, they need to know what happened to you as a child.”

Unable to look at her, I kept my gaze cast down to my feet. Tying my laces, I didn’t have the heart to tell her that my parents already knew what happened to me. Hell, that was why I hadn’t talked with them in so long in the first place.

Standing up, Alex jumped in the air and swung her arms. “Do you even know where your parents live?”

“I do.” I turned my head to look up at her. “And it’s not as far as you might think.”