R unning into the office, I screeched to a halt once I got to Giselle’s desk. “I got here as fast as I could .”

Giselle reached for the clicker and pointed it at the flat-screen on the wall. The volume muted as she handed me a cold water .

Wrapping my fingers around the top, I twisted the cap off and emptied the bottle in three swigs. “Well, are you going to tell me or not ?”

Giselle eyed me from under her brow. “You better have a seat for this .”

Panic settled in my chest as my eyes bulged .

“Judge Smith wanted to be the one to tell you in person .”

“Tell me what?” I rooted my hands into my hips .

“It’s about Mario.” Giselle also refused to sit. “The judge has no choice but to accept his plea deal .”

My heart stopped and my knees buckled. Collapsing like an accordion I fell into the nearest seat, letting my throbbing head fall into my hand. Pinching my eyes with my fingers, I thought I had more time .

“Kelly, we can fight this .”

Opening my eyes, I stared at the water bottle still in my hand. My blood pumped through my veins like a runaway freight train. Slowly, I curled my fingers, crumpling the plastic in my tight grip. A feeling of hopelessness settled over me and I felt like I had let Mario down .

“We have to fight this.” Giselle’s eyes were wild with determination .

Staring at her with a heavy brow, I knew Nash wasn’t the one to murder Maria, but I knew who did .

“We have the information connecting Nash.” Giselle started pulling files out from her organizer .

Shaking my head, I was at a loss of where it went wrong. The judge gave me his word he would hit pause before moving forward .

“You said the judge needed a name that would stick?” Giselle flickered her gaze at me. “The name we give him is Nash Brooks. He’s our best alternative. I know you think I’m stuck on this, Kelly, but hear me out.” Giselle shuffled more papers as if putting them in order of the timeline she had going in her head. “We have photos of Maria and Sylvia. The injuries are nearly identical. We don’t know who did this to Maria, but we know who did it to Sylvia.” She paused to fix her eyes on me. “We’ll get Sylvia to testify .”

“Stop, Giselle.” I let out a long, low sigh. “It’s over .”

“Nash,” she said, dropping her eyes back to the paperwork. “It’s him. He did this. The Judge will see it. He has to .”

“It’s not him.” My brows raised and I motioned for her to sit .

She hesitated, but eventually she found her way into her desk chair .

Giselle listened intently as I explained what happened at Mint. How I found Nash there with Alex just the way Sylvia said it would be. And as I continued on with my story, sharing how Wes hired Julia to uncover the truth of Sylvia’s whereabouts the night of the murder, Giselle asked, “And what did she find ?”

She couldn’t look me in the eye when I told her. Then I finished by saying, “If Angel is also involved, then we need to know how she and Sylvia are connected and if she also has motive to kill Maria .”

“Shit.” Giselle openly stared at her desk. “This is heavy .”

Nodding, I mumbled, “You got that right .”

Giselle’s forehead twisted as she lifted her gaze up to meet mine. “How does that explain the photos of Sylvia ?”

“She did some of that herself .”

“God, I hope you’re right, Kelly .”

Quickly, I scanned my cell phone in search of newly released articles by Sylvia. I needed to know if she’d moved forward with the story she threatened to publish. Not that it mattered after my conversation with Parker, but a small part of me wished she had. Because with him retracting his charges against me, her credibility would be shot .

After a long moment of silence, Giselle said convincingly, “None of this seems right .”

“Never does .”

Faintly shaking her head, she added, “All I can think about is how you saw Oscar bring Mario to visit with Madam .”

“Parker is dropping the charges against me.” A small smile sprouted on my face .

“That’s great,” her eyes briefly lit up. “But how is that related ?”

“Oscar pressured him to do it .”

“Which means,” Giselle leaned forward, “Madam convinced Oscar to find a way to go after you .”

Nodding, I knew she was seeing the larger picture of what we were up against .

“So, what do we do now ?”

“Get Sylvia to confess .”

“That won’t solve Mario’s problem .”

“No,” I sighed as my ribs squeezed my lungs. “But it will relax my guilty conscience.” I turned my head to the television on the wall. Standing, I moved closer. “Turn up the volume .”

Giselle hit the mute button on the clicker, bringing back the volume .

“The death of a twenty-three-year-old woman is leading police on an investigation of what happened only a short while ago outside the nightclub, Echo.” We both listened intently to the newscaster relaying the information as it came in .

“She was at Ty Lemon’s party.” Giselle’s voice was light as she folded her arms across her chest. “But I didn’t catch her name .”

“Tonya Craig,” I grumbled just as her name populated the screen .

Turning around, I pulled out the original images Madam had given me to blackmail Timothy Parker. There Tonya was again, except now I couldn’t stop from wondering if I might have been the reason she was dead .