Black Escape

by C. J. Thomas

  It had to be her.

  My heart hammered harder.

  She had to be the one telling Drake secrets in bed.

  Clenching my jaw, she gave a weak-ass smile that sent me boiling over. She couldn’t be trusted. I didn’t know her as well as Kelly, but I knew enough. Just when I was about to confront her, I heard Kelly end his call with Madam.

  I jerked my head toward him.

  He faced the office with a furrowed brow, a distant stare dulling his eyes.

  I watched him for a moment, wishing I could ease the suffering that was tearing him apart inside. Maxwell felt he let Kelly down, and I did to. I couldn’t be there for him the way I once could. That hurt. I knew he had needs that must be met.

  Kelly flicked his gaze to me and smiled.

  Pointing his toes to me he floated over, lowering his chin as he locked his gaze with mine. “You were right.”

  I arched a brow.

  “Madam admitted to sending the cops here to find what she’s after.”

  “I wish I wasn’t right,” I said.

  Kelly pulled me into his chest. My ear fell over his heart. It pounded fiercely against his ribs, echoing a deep hollow sound that reflected the collective mood clouding over us. Sometimes it felt like Kelly was trying to hold up a collapsing ceiling, and it was too much weight for one man to bear.

  I stood there in his arms as we listened to the police finish up their work. Kelly held me like he knew I would soon be taken. I didn’t ask what he knew—what he wasn’t telling me—because I didn’t want to know.

  “You know that I can’t do better than you, right?” His words fell over me like a soft blanket.

  “What’s this about?” I asked.

  “You’re the only one I want.” Kelly’s words had me worried that he was about to call it quits on me. “No one can take away how I feel about you.”

  His eyes were dark and sad and everything he said caused the prickles on my scalp to grow in intensity. “What’s this about, Kelly? You’re scaring me.”

  His Adam’s apple slid up and down his throat. “Whatever Oscar did to you—”

  The floodgates opened and filled my eyes with new fears. Not now. Don’t do this to me now. There are too many people here. I don’t want to cry—can’t lose you like this. You’re my rock. Don’t you know that?

  “—doesn’t change the way I feel.”

  Air flooded into my lungs as I gasped against his buttoned-up chest. I locked my hands behind his back and squeezed him as tight as I could. Then he hit me with new worries.

  “You have to prepare yourself for if I get arrested.”

  “This isn’t you. You have done nothing wrong.”

  His chest swelled with a heavy sigh. “Oscar was given the official toxicology report of the night of the accident. It’s on his desk now.”

  I reached up and touched his face. “Oh, baby.”

  “At the time, it went away because Madam paid off a cop to make it disappear, and now I’m wondering if that cop could have been O’Brien.”

  “But if he’s building a case against you and broke into your apartment…” I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. Giselle strode toward us and I felt myself go cold.

  “I can’t deny it because it’s true.”

  The last of the police vans closed its doors and drove off the block, leaving us alone for the first time since arriving.

  Giselle held out her hand. I glanced to the new cell phone Kelly had requested she bring for me. “I almost forgot to give it to you.”

  I snatched it from her hand. “Who were you talking to?”

  Giselle’s brows pinched.

  “On the phone.” I pushed off Kelly and squared my shoulders with hers. “You were making call after call while Kelly was distracted. Who was it?”

  “I’m not the enemy here.” She returned my hard stare. “What are you suggesting, Kendra?” Giselle flicked her round eyes to Kelly.

  “You fucking rat.” I stepped forward and put my face in front of hers. “You’re the only one who knew where we were hiding out, why the cops seem to keep finding ways to hit us when it counts.”

  “You’re insane if you think that I’m out to destroy my boss—my friend,” she barked back.

  “How do they,” I snapped my elbow straight and pointed to where the cops were parked just a minute ago, “know exactly where to look? You’re the only one who could have told them the details to what we’ve been up to.”

  Giselle slapped my hand down to my side. “You are just like they say, a dumb bimbo who doesn’t know when to shut up.”

  My hand swiped through the air, slapping her across her face. Her head spun around and I immediately reached for her hair. Taking a fistful for myself, I tugged her head toward the ground. “Me, the dumb bimbo? Try me, bitch!”

  “Kelly was great until you came around,” she yelled.

  Strong arms wrapped around my shoulders, constricting my movements. I tightened my fist even harder on Giselle’s hair. She screamed. I growled. And, soon, Maxwell was there to pry my hand off of Giselle.

  “Not here. Not now.” Kelly’s booming voice shouted over our heads. Stepping between us, he held his arms out, making sure the fight was finished. “We’re in this together.” He breathed, his eyes wild.

  “You must have forgotten that I’m a friend. An ally. Someone you need,” Giselle sang. “Don’t forget what I’ve done to help you with your own family bullshit.”

  “Stop it,” Kelly said. “That’s enough.”

  I stared into Giselle’s Pitbull eyes, refusing to back down. Only after she turned away did I turn my back. Staring up at the office, I started thinking about Drake once again. “Drake never did relay my message to you the other day, did he?”

  “Giselle, go inside.” Kelly nudged her forward. “See what’s left of our office.”

  Slowly, Giselle turned around, skirting around me out of arms reach, and did as she was told without saying another word.

  Kelly snapped his head around to me. “What the hell was that about?”

  “Where is he?” My heart hammered. “Why haven’t I seen Drake?”

  “This doesn’t have anything to do with Drake.” His eyes narrowed.

  Stretching my neck, I looked him directly in his eyes and said, “After you hear what I have to say, maybe you’ll see that it does.”

  36

  Kelly

  Kendra was furious, and deservedly so. But what she did to Giselle was uncalled for. She needed to cool off before I listened to anything she had to say about Drake Goodman.

  “You’ll wish you didn’t wait, Kelly,” Kendra’s muffled voice said from behind the closed car window. I stashed her there to cool off—giving me time to assess the damage of what the cops left me to work with.

  Without looking, I held up my index finger indicating to her that I would be only a minute. Then she could tell me everything she needed to say.

  Maxwell marched up and followed me to the office entrance. “The stress is spilling over, Kelly.”

  “Tell me something I don’t already know,” I grumbled.

  “I must admit, after what I saw happen here today, I have to ask…” He paused.

  I stopped to listen.

  “Should I be worried about getting arrested?”

  “Do you break the law?”

  He glanced through the glass door toward Giselle sifting through the pile left on her desk. “Maybe I’m an accomplice in something you did.” His eyes rolled and locked on mine.

  Madam knew that putting us behind bars was safer than having us all killed. Maxwell wasn’t stupid. Though I was certain he had nothing to worry about.

  “I’m sure I’m not the only one wrestling with the same questions,” he said.

  “Then don’t ask too many questions. That way, if you’re ever brought under the light, you won’t have anything to say.”

  He rested his hands on his hips and nodded.

  “In the meantime, after I’m d
one assessing what’s left inside, please keep an eye on the place. Will you?”

  “Yeah,” he breathed. “What about Giselle?”

  “Help keep an eye on her, too. I’m not sure what that was about with her and Kendra, but Kendra might have a point in wanting us to look further into who exactly Drake Goodman is and what Giselle may have shared with him.”

  “I’m here for you, you know that, right?” Maxwell rolled his gaze over to me.

  I patted Maxwell on the shoulder before entering my office. The place was a complete mess, a reminder of how my apartment looked after getting ransacked. It could be simple harassment, or it could be that the cops were seriously building a case against me. I was hoping it was only harassment.

  Moving to my office, Giselle barely looked when I passed. Entering my quarters, drawers were left opened, important files were gone. Even my computer was taken. Shaking my head, I wondered how I’d let it get this far.

  Suddenly, my eyes landed on Nora’s photo and everything stopped.

  Her eyes stared, watching my every move. Don’t forget who did this, I heard her say.

  Taking her photo from the frame, Patrick’s photo floated off from behind. Keeping them close, I stepped into Giselle’s office and said, “Look, I don’t know what happened with you and Kendra out there—”

  “Water under the bridge,” she said, barely taking the time to look at me.

  “We’re all under a tremendous amount of stress.”

  “I know.” She fell into her chair and relaxed her shoulders. “They took everything on Mario and Stone.”

  “Yeah. I noticed that, too.”

  “It could be a strategy Oscar will use to take you off of Stone’s case.”

  Staring at the mess of papers laying across Giselle’s desk, I said, “I want that asshole put away, too. Despite my feelings about Madam, that hasn’t changed.”

  “But maybe she thinks it has and you’ll fight for him just to spite her.”

  I flicked my eyes up to Giselle’s. We were learning Madam’s tactics. Except it was too late to know how royally fucked we were. “I’ve got to figure out who Fletcher is and what he has to say about his perp being released because paperwork wasn’t filed properly. If he’s a good cop, it should surely piss him off. In the meantime, I need you to see if you can track down any video surveillance that might have caught me going in and out of Sylvia’s apartment.”

  “Shit.” Giselle tipped forward. “You think there is?”

  “If there is, Madam would like to know.” My tongue wet my lips. “And so would I.”

  “Maybe that is why the police were just here?” Giselle speculated. “So she doesn’t have to keep looking for the one thing that will prove Oscar is bought by the criminal underworld.”

  “They were here because Oscar is corrupt,” I said, loosening my collar. “Madam called. Said she wants what we have. And if she can link me to Sylvia’s apartment first, I’ll be the one needing a lawyer.”

  Giselle fell back into her chair, letting her head fall into her hand.

  Lowering my tail to the edge of her desk, I said, “Giselle, I need to know if Kendra is right.” Her hand fell away from her face as she lifted her eyes to mine. “Do you know Drake as well as you think you do?”

  A sudden bolt of betrayal flashed over her eyes. “I thought you believed in me.”

  “I don’t know what I believe anymore,” I murmured, cringing at the cliché.

  “You can believe me.”

  I held her stare. “Then get me any video surveillance you can find. Street corners. Nearby shops. Anything linking me to that day.” She nodded, jotting down notes on the back of a paper. “Also, I’ll need the copies of what we found in Sylvia’s apartment.”

  She blinked rapidly as she frowned.

  I knew by the flushed look on her face that she felt cheated, like I thought she couldn’t be trusted. But after what happened here today, I couldn’t take my chances.

  “I see how it is.” Her head bobbed.

  “It’s not like that.”

  “Kelly,” her eyes roamed the room, “they’re clearly building a case against you—probably me, too.”

  Following her line of sight, I nodded. “Then we need to stick together.”

  There was a pause before she said, “Then I’ll get you what you need.”

  Making my way to the door, I wasn’t sure handing over what we had against Oscar would help our cause, seeing as I was the one on everybody’s radar. But things were getting too hot to keep secrets away from those I needed to trust. Madam would go after my career next, taking away my access to those who had the power to make changes. It was a plan to go all-in. Gather all the evidence we could and take it to the mayor.

  “Kelly,” Giselle called just as my hand hit the door handle. “Be careful.”

  I nodded, silently wishing her the same. Then I turned and left.

  Sliding my sunglasses over my eyes, Kendra was tucked in the front seat of my car, seeming to have finally settled down. I opened the door and, before I was buckled in, I noticed her hands still shaking.

  “Did they leave much behind?” she asked.

  Turning the key, the engine fired up. “Not much.” Backing out, I said, “Tell me why I should worry about Drake.”

  “Where are we going?”

  I knew by the tone in her voice she wouldn’t open up about Drake until I gave her something. So I told her. “Downtown. To speak with O’Brien. Ask him why he needed the security tapes from my penthouse.”

  “Do you think he’ll agree to see us? I mean, I’m sure he knows about the search warrant that brought his colleagues here to your office.”

  “We don’t have a choice.” I reached for her thigh. “Now, tell me about Drake.”

  Kendra was slow to open up but, as I drove, her words picked up pace. “I’ve always been curious to how Giselle could charm Oscar so easily. Just watching her over the course of our relationship, I began questioning where her loyalties lay.”

  “I don’t understand. Giselle has worked with me a long time.”

  “She’s loyal to you, no question. But Drake came out of nowhere and became her everything.”

  “What are you saying?” I adjusted my grip on the steering wheel. “That Drake was planted?”

  Kendra’s shoulders shrugged. “Drake came to me, offering me his help.”

  Kelly took his eyes off the road and flicked his gaze to me. “When?”

  “When we were looking for Sylvia.”

  Kendra told me about him always finding her alone, planting seeds of suspicion in her ear. The final straw to make me want to take a second look came when she said he saw she had my revolver.

  “But it gets even more bizarre, Kelly. He knew I was on a date with Oscar, and when Madam had me inside Echo while she tortured me, Drake appeared out of nowhere and insisted I give Madam what she was after or I’d die with the secret you held.”

  I slammed on the brakes. The tires squealed. Pulling off to the side, I turned to Kendra with sweat pouring down my back. “Drake works for Madam?”

  “I don’t know,” Kendra whispered.

  As I stared into Kendra’s intelligent eyes, I thought back to Giselle’s break up with John and her sudden involvement with Drake. No doubt, I could see why Kendra was so suspicious of the man. But could he have been planted by Madam?

  Turning the car around, I peeled out and headed back to where we’d come from.

  “What are you doing?” Kendra asked.

  “I need you to tell Giselle everything you just told me.”

  Kendra pushed herself up in her seat. “No. Why? I can’t without tearing her hair out. This won’t go well. I promise you that.”

  Rolling my head to her side of the car, I said, “We need to see how she reacts. Then we’ll know if she’s a mole or not.”

  37

  Kendra

  The car lurched forward, pressing my spine further back into the seat.

  I held on, th
ankful that I was buckled, and prayed we would arrive safely.

  Kelly dropped the gear, hit the accelerator, and sped even faster. “Let’s hope Giselle hasn’t left the office yet,” he said with renewed determination.

  It wasn’t my intention to turn Kelly against Giselle, but her relationship with Drake sounded even more suspicious when I heard myself explaining it to Kelly. Of course Drake wanted to help me. Of course he worked for Madam, telling me to do as she said. Everyone was whispering Madam’s secrets into our ears, manipulating our thoughts one conversation at a time.

  It was eye-opening to learn how weak we were when threatened with death. We would do anything to survive—even if it meant living only one more day.

  The engine revved as Kelly slowed the car. Spinning the wheel, we turned onto the street of Kelly’s office. We caught Giselle just in time. She was opening her car door just as we arrived. Kelly skidded to a stop, blocking her car in her spot. He stepped out first. I was more hesitant, not looking forward to explaining my theory on how she got played.

  “What is it now?” Giselle asked.

  Kelly stormed around the hood and yanked my car door all the way open. “Tell her what you just told me.”

  Giselle rolled her eyes. “Really? This again?” She flicked her gaze to Kelly. “I told you. I had nothing to do with the cops coming today. I’m. On. Your. Side.”

  Kelly snapped his arm up and pointed at Giselle. “Tell her, dammit!”

  Both Giselle and I froze. Our eyes wide, our breaths held with lungs burning. Kelly rarely let his emotions spill over. We knew he meant business when he yelled.

  Swallowing my surprise, I exited the car, stood, and said, “This isn’t personal.”

  Giselle folded her arms beneath her breasts and quirked a brow.

  It was clear she didn’t believe me, and I couldn’t blame her for having doubts. But if what I thought about Drake was true, she might know more about what we should be looking out for.

  She blew out a heavy sigh of annoyance.

  I blinked and stared.

  Then I told her everything.

  Her eyes perked the further along in my theory I went until she was falling back into her car with a hand resting over her forehead. She kept quiet throughout it all but it was clear she had things she wanted to say. Finally, she turned to Kelly and asked, “Kelly, do you actually believe all that?”