My eyes drifted over his handgun tucked neatly into the holster at his side.

A tension headache pounded in my head and his steel-toed boots clanked heavily across the linoleum floor, making it worse. I worried for Kendra, choosing to send Giselle to the office, hopeful she would find Kendra and Maxwell waiting there.

I followed the security officer down the hall, speculating why Oscar had added a security detail to himself. I assumed he knew much of what Giselle and I had just discovered at Sylvia’s and he, too, was taking added precaution until she could be located.

When we arrived to Oscar’s office, the door was open but the officer knocked lightly regardless. Oscar stood and thanked him. “Kelly, take a seat.” He motioned with his hand.

I nodded to security, walked into Oscar’s office, unbuttoned my sports coat, and lowered myself into the empty seat he’d indicated.

Without saying a word, Oscar took a seat and proceeded to stare. “Turn your phone off, Kelly.”

My brows pinched. “This must be serious. You’re not going to ask me out on a date, are you?”

He snickered. “Just do it, asshole.”

I showed him my palms and slowly dove my hand inside my pocket, pulling my cell phone free. With the battery already dead, I reminded myself that Oscar wasn’t a friend but someone who was working with Madam to reopen the drug market Stone had left behind. “I heard Parker turned himself in,” I said, setting my dead phone on his desk.

He glanced at the blank screen. “We talked.”

“Did you manage to convince him to file charges against me again?” My voice was light. My tone condescending.

“This isn’t about you. Not with another murder needing to be solved.”

“And did Parker open up? Did you get him to talk?”

“Tonya’s death won’t go unsolved.” He clasped his hands over his belly and leaned back in his chair.

Tipping forward, I asked, “You pressed charges?”

“The state has talked to two people of interest.”

I fell back into my chair at his non-answer and pressed further. “Angelina Davis and Timothy Parker.”

The corners of his eyes wrinkled as he gave me a confirming nod.

The irony of Parker turning himself over to talk to the very same person who’d threatened him with financial crimes didn’t go unnoticed. But that just went to prove what I’d suspected since speaking with him. That Parker was the innocent victim in all this and was just trying to do what he thought was right.

“So why did you bring me down here?” I asked, knowing this couldn’t be the reason he needed to speak in person.

“Parker was a person of interest after we learned of him dating Tonya.” Oscar opened a folder on his desk and started pulling images from inside.

“Parker didn’t keep it a secret.”

“Do you recognize these?” Oscar turned the pictures around. They weren’t anything new. I’d seen them before. They were the same images Madam provided me with the day I blackmailed Parker. But was that why Oscar wanted to speak with me?

“And Angelina Davis was last to see Tonya alive,” I said. “So, what did she have to say?”

By the look he was giving me, it seemed as if he preferred not to discuss Angel, and I could guess his reasons why. Their past was not strictly professional. “I think it’s only fair to Tonya if I share with you that I also met with both Parker and Angel.”

Oscar’s face pinched. “Then let’s hear what you were told. Maybe our stories will match and we can move forward with pressing charges.”

I eyed him suspiciously, weighing if it was worth my time or not. When I decided I wanted to see his reaction, I spent the next several minutes explaining everything that happened when I met with both Angel and Parker, saving the best for last. “Angel said Parker came to her after hearing what happened to Tonya.”

The DA’s eyes squinted as he listened.

“But here’s the thing: Parker said Sylvia called him and told him to leave his office. Then he said Angel contacted him and told him Tonya had been murdered.” I nodded. “So, who is telling the truth?”

“Parker will walk.” Oscar sighed. “No matter what the truth is. He has the money and resources to never see the inside of a cell.”

“Then, get this,” I said, deciding to show Oscar the notes I’d received.

Oscar read them over and asked, “Who do you think is behind them?”

Wetting my lips, I said, “Sylvia Neil.”

The DA opened his desk drawer and pulled out his cell. Swiping his thumb over the screen, he pulled up a recording app. “Listen to this.” He pressed play.

I listened and recognized the voice.

Oscar stopped the recording. “Parker wasn’t lying. Sylvia did call him.”

“Don’t lie to yourself. That wasn’t Sylvia’s voice.”

The DA’s brows pinched as he cocked his head to the side.

I knew that voice. Had heard it too many times to forget it. “That was Angel’s voice calling him.” I lunged forward. “And you know it as well as I do.”

“Kelly,” he laughed. “The detectives talked with her. She’s squeaky clean.”

With a red face I barked, “Is that because you fucked her?”

Oscar’s face hardened.

I stared into his eyes, never once taking my gaze away. I remembered what Giselle told me, how Angel was the last person known to be with Tonya just before she was found dead. But somewhere between then and now the story had changed.

Pointing to the notes, I said, “You and Giselle worked a deal.”

He frowned.

“Don’t think that I won’t make you stick to it.” I jabbed my finger at him.

He shook his head as a pained expression moved over his face. “Kelly, that’s why I called you in.”

My heart stopped as my brows raised.

“Mario,” he paused to look me directly in the eye, “was found dead in his cell this morning.”

My eyes widened as every muscle in my body tightened.

Suddenly, there was a knock on his door but I barely heard it.

“Sorry to interrupt, Mr. Buchanan, but I have an urgent request for Mr. Black.”

I twisted around in my seat with a pinched brow.

The man in the suit handed me a sealed envelope. “Blake Stone has accepted your invitation to meet with him.”

A flush of adrenaline zipped through my body as I glanced at Oscar.

The DA lowered his head and smirked. “Be careful what you ask for, Kelly. You might just get what you’re after.”