34
Kelly
“Mr. Black,” Janine greeted me as I tapped my knuckles on her desk.
“Things good?”
She nodded and smiled.
“Staying out of trouble?”
“Haven’t called you, have I?”
I laughed and turned to find Kendra scowling at her. “Well, aren’t you going to say hello?”
“Hey.” Kendra waved at Janine.
“The Madam is expecting you.” Janine’s eyes flickered back to Kendra. “You too.”
I closed my fingers around Kendra’s arm and towed her up the stairs. She winced. “What’s this about, Kelly?”
Stopping at the exact spot we’d first met, I turned to face her. Her beautiful green eyes pleaded with me to tell her what was going on. “You’ll find out soon enough.”
“Why do I have the feeling that I’m in some kind of trouble?” She breathed hard and her skin was hot against my touch. “Like I did something wrong?”
Raking her gorgeous—and irresistible—body over with my eyes, I thought to myself how I should have seen how difficult she would become. I should have known the problems she would present. But I didn’t. And now it might be too late. “Because maybe you did.”
She skirted around me and marched up the rest of the stairs. Jerome was waiting outside the office as usual, and as I passed I patted him on his shoulder. “Keep an eye on her, will you?”
Jerome shifted his eyes over to Kendra and nodded.
“I thought you said I was coming with you?” Kendra crossed her arms and cocked out her hip as she pleaded with her eyes to come along.
“I said you’re coming inside. Now we’re inside and you will stay with Jerome so I can meet with the Madam alone.”
Kendra pursed her lips and turned her head away.
Stepping close to Jerome’s ear, I whispered, “Don’t let her go far.”
Jerome agreed as I stepped through the door into Madam’s office. I found her sitting behind her desk. She lifted her head when I shut the door behind me. “You’re a minute late.”
I moved to the wall and took a seat on the small couch. Stretching my arms over the back, I smiled at the Madam. “Kendra stopped me on the stairs up.”
“Why did you bring her?” Her eyes blinked quickly.
I flipped my palms to the ceiling and shrugged. “Where should I begin?”
“You’re not having your doubts, are you?”
I inhaled a deep breath through my nose as I thought about her question.
“Because I told you from the beginning that she could be problematic for you.”
Without hesitating, I said, “She’s not the problem.”
“If not her,” Madam set her pen down and folded her hands on top of her desk, “then what is?”
I couldn’t help but notice the paperwork and images she had open on her desk. “Are those files on the Maria Greer case?” I asked, leaning forward and peering down at her desk.
Without looking, she nodded.
Pushing off the couch, I lunged one foot forward and jabbed my finger down hard on an image of Maria. “That’s the problem.”
Madam’s spine straightened as she cocked her head to the side. Question marks flashed across her eyes and it was clear to me that she hadn’t heard the news.
“Mario has refused Cobbs’s counsel.”
“Cobbs?” Her brows pinched, searching to recall who he was as her head titled further on her shoulders.
“The man I chose to oversee Mario’s defense.” I fell back into the couch and draped one arm over the back, settling in once again.
Madam cast her gaze to her desk, clearly thinking of the consequences of us losing control of Mario. “I thought you had this under control, Kelly?”
“Believe me, I thought so, too.”
She leaned back, threaded her fingers together, and rested them over her stomach. Licking her lips, I watched her eyes move back and forth like she was deciding which option was the better choice on how to proceed.
“Anyway, I thought I would let you know.” I sighed. “I wanted you to hear it from me first.”
She nodded, still staring at the paperwork that covered her desk. “I’ve been going over the files—”
“And?” I arched a brow.
Her eyes flicked up to me. “I’m convinced Mario knows the details of Stone’s operations.”
My stomach dropped. It wasn’t about getting justice for Maria. It never was. The Madam only saw dollar signs and Maria’s murder was her way of getting at what Mario knew about Stone and the drug operation he was conducting.
“Logistics, drop off points, points of entry,” Madam’s voice grew with excitement with each point she listed off, “even the businesses used to launder money.” She lifted her eyes and fixed them on me. They sparkled like diamonds—like the riches she was after.
Turning my head to the window, I ran my hand through my hair.
“Kelly, are you listening?”
I rolled my eyes back to her.
“We have to get Mario to talk.”
“What do you suggest we do?”
“Convince him that Blake Stone murdered Maria.” She stood and stepped in front of the mirror. “It will work as long as the story is told properly.”
My face drooped as I frowned.
“What is it?” she asked, looking at me in the mirror’s reflection. “Kelly, darling,” she turned to glance over her shoulder, “you don’t look too sure of yourself.”
“It’s not going to work.” My voice was flat and barely audible.
Her body twisted fully around, the lines on her face tying themselves into knots with the questions swirling between her ears.
“I can’t toss the case on purpose.” I glanced at her from beneath a sunken brow.
“You’re not thinking of backing out now, are you?”
Madam’s eyes hardened and I recognized the look she was giving me. I couldn’t say it outright, but she could see it on my face. “I don’t like our plan, there has to be another way.”
“Kelly,” she took two steps forward and hovered over me, “I’m afraid if you leave me out to dry on Stone’s case, I’ll be forced to use my wild card.”
Swallowing down the stone in my throat, I resented her for threatening to reveal my secret to the world. It would destroy me—my career—if it was ever revealed, and she knew it. Without saying anything more, we both knew that wouldn’t be necessary. “You know I wouldn’t do that.”
“Good.” She cheered up and spun around, taking her desk phone into her hand. Her fingers dialed a number. She turned around and rested her tailbone against the edge of her desk and kept her eyes on me when she finally got through. “Oscar, darling.” She winked at me. “How are you? It’s Maddy.”
My eyes widened as a dark tunnel blurred my vision.
I couldn’t believe it. Madam had called the DA.
The walls of the room closed in as I sat with my elbows on my knees, trying so hard to listen past my thrashing heart.
Was this her plan all along?
They were discussing Mario’s case, the case I was supposed to be overseeing.
I blinked and gently cast my gaze to the floor, thinking.
The Madam was giving the DA ammunition he could use to make a full-on assault against me—and my reputation. What was she doing?
By the time I had snapped out of it, she had hung up. When the room stopped spinning I said, “What was that about?”
“Oscar will knock some sense into Mario,” she said, stepping around her desk and floating down to her chair. “You know, threaten him with a bleak future without having strong representation.” Her face scrunched with added thrill. “All the juicy stuff DAs do to get people to make the decisions we want them to be making.” Her cackle filled the room.
Leaning back, I blew out a weighted breath. And without taking my eyes off of Madam, I knew she had more strings to pull than I ever thought possible.
“I need to know what Mario knows about Stone.” She picked up a pen. “And if you can’t convince Mario to accept Cobbs’s counsel, then I will.”
An intensity zapped the room that wasn’t there before.
“I hate to say this, Kelly,” she sighed, “because you rarely let me down, but if Kendra is the reason you’ve failed to find a way to work with Mario, then perhaps I’ll have to nullify the month-long agreement I allowed you to have with her.”
“Don’t be ridiculous.” I waved her accusation off. “That’s ludicrous.”
“Then do me a favor.” She set her pen down. “Send her in. I’d like to have a word with her.”
My tongue swept across the seam of my lips as my heart paused in my chest.
Her brows raised. “Alone.”