The world seems brighter when Angelica and I leave her building, her hand in my arm. Angelica is a vision, dressed in a sharp little blazer over a deep maroon-colored sheath dress.

I beat Stuart to the door of the Town Car, then slide in across the seat.

“Hi, Stuart,” Angelica says, beaming.

“Hello, Ms. Chandler.” He smiles back at her in the rearview mirror.

“We have something to take care of, Stuart,” I say, unable to wipe the grin off my own face. “The police station on 54^th. Quick as you can.”

* * *

Thirty minutes later, I’m sitting next to Angelica in one of the offices on the main floor of the station. There’s a bit of a crowd. A detective, the chief of police, two officers, Angelica’s lawyer, my own personal lawyer—who I forced to leave the meeting he was in fifteen minutes ago—and the two of us. We’re on a conference call with the DA’s office, and there’s a lot of legalese being exchanged that frankly makes me want to tear my hair out.

I want to be back at my penthouse with Angelica. But first, I need to figure out a way to prove to her, once and for all, that she’s the one. I never want her to have to worry about this again.

“Let me make myself absolutely clear,” I interject, putting one hand on the polished surface of the chief’s desk. “I do not want any charges to be pressed in this matter. Ms. Chandler was forced to provide access to my files under threat of violence. That’s extortion. Her brother’s safety was being held for ransom.”

There’s another burst of chatter in the room, and then the phone on the chief’s desk rings. “Quiet!” His voice is booming, and deep, but his face is calm. This isn’t a man who’s going to make a hasty judgment. “Yes?” His expression is neutral while he listens to the person speaking on the other end of the line. “Okay.” We all lean in. “This is going to be one hell of an investigation. Don’t screw it up.” Then he hangs up the phone, folds his hands on the desk, and looks around the room.

“Ms. Chandler,” he says, after a significant pause, “you’ll be happy to hear that our officers have apprehended the man you knew as Charlie and his associate, Malcolm Drake.”

“Malcolm Drake?” Angelica says, her forehead wrinkling.

“The man who posed as a CD seller.”

Angelica lets out a huge sigh, then smiles widely, visibly relieved. “You got them both?”

“Yes, and we all owe you a debt of gratitude.”

Her eyes widen. “For what?”

“The information you provided made it easier to find him.” The chief clears his throat. “When our agents apprehended him, they recognized him for his true identity.”

Angelica gives a little shake of her head.

“Charlie was only an alias. His real name is Randall Harvey.”

A collective gasp runs through the officers in the room, and Angelica’s head whips around. “I’ve never heard that name.”

“He’s in charge of some of the most notorious crime rings in the city, targeting different groups at different times. We’ve been after him for the last three years. It’s always a scam within a scam. In this instance he started with your brother. He asked him to warehouse some things in his apartment and paid him a handsome fee. Then he accused him of stealing the items. By then, the money was spent. He demanded that it be paid back. That’s where you came in.”

Angelica narrows her eyes. “I’m…glad that I could help. But are you sure this was because of me?”

The chief nods solemnly. “We’re operating under the assumption that he’s run scams like this before, but we’ve never been able to pick up any of his associates—or the people he’s forcing to run errands for him.”

“Why not?”

The chief looks at me, then back at Angelica, and I understand.

“Because he makes them disappear.” I say it before I can stop myself.

“Jesus Christ,” Angelica whispers under her breath.

“Our guess,” the chief says, “is that he was going to string you along for long enough to get a permanent foothold in Mr. Brandon’s accounts. Your instinct was right, even if your actions were on the wrong side of the law.” Then he turns to me. “And since you’re adamant about not pressing charges…”

“Completely,” I answer.

“Then I think we’re all in agreement.”

There’s a chorus of yeses from throughout the room, including the person on the line from the DA’s office.

“I’m sorry you got caught up in this, Ms. Chandler,” the chief says, rising from his seat and offering her his hand to shake. She stands to shake his hand, and then I do the same. “Would you mind making yourself available as a witness?”

“Of course she will,” Angelica’s lawyer says, her eyes still wide.

“Wonderful,” the chief says, then glances around the room. “No need to loiter, people. Get back to work. Ms. Chandler, you’re free to go. Mr. Brandon, we’ll be in touch.”

Everyone files out ahead of us, but Angelica turns back to the chief. “Sir, are you—are you sure that—?”

“I’ve already been in touch with the local PD from your hometown, Ms. Chandler. Until we’ve apprehended all the significant figures from Mr. Harvey’s group, there’ll be someone looking out for your family. If you have any concerns at all about your own safety, you can call me.”

“Thanks.”

We turn to go, and I wrap my arm around her shoulders while we head out of the police station.

“Are you ready to go home?”

“More than ready. If I never see the inside of a police station again, I’ll be happy.”

“No guarantees. You’re probably going to be a key witness for them. You’ll probably need to identify Harvey from a lineup.”

“What did you do, binge-watch Law and Order while I was gone?”

“Maybe.”

I pull open the door of the town car and let Angelica climb in first. I feel light and free, and I’m not the one who was in danger of going to jail over this ridiculous business.

As I slide in next to her and pull the door shut behind me, a strange expression flickers across her face.

“You know, Jett,” she says slowly, “now that this is all over, I think this might...I think we should probably talk.”

“About what?”

“About whether we both want this.”

“Do you not?”

Her voice spikes high. “Won’t you always suspect me? Won’t it be hard for you to trust me, even if we are together?”

I smile at her, and she frowns.

“Why are you smiling?”

“There’s something I wanted to show you.”