by C. J. Thomas
“Looks like she’s been busy doing her research,” Giselle said.
Flipping through her many pages of notes, Sylvia had sheets of paper detailing Madam’s activities, the lives of her employees, and how her business was structured—including her guess to where Madam was working to expand her enterprise next.
My blood pressure rose as I lifted my gaze to the whiteboard hanging above her desk. It was color-coded and filled with lists. Next to it was a mind-map of names of individuals as if Sylvia was working to put together a hierarchy of who controlled whom.
Giselle stepped closer to the wall and tipped her head back.
Together, we stood in silence staring back into the familiar faces Sylvia had hung on the wall.
Madam.
Oscar.
Mario.
Giselle.
Me.
And …
Tonya.
The only difference between them was that Tonya had a red X drawn over her face.
She’s crossing off the people who’d been silenced.
“I think now is a good time to see if we can find anything to connect those notes you’ve been receiving to Sylvia.” Giselle turned her head and glanced up at me.
Without taking my eyes off of Tonya, I nodded and went back to digging through the desk.
It didn’t take me long to find our next surprise.
Sylvia had notes on Kendra’s parents. Where they lived, details of their family life, their financials, and an entire two-page spread about her uncle Marvin. “Shit,” I grumbled when I found a sticky note stuck to the back. This will get her to listen.
I handed it to Giselle to have a look. Her eyes quickly scanned the pages, and when she looked up at me she said, “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
Rubbing a hand over my face, I mumbled, “I’m afraid so.”
“She’s been feeding this to Madam,” Giselle said. Her brow pinched when a new thought entered her head. “But why would Sylvia turn on Madam?”
I didn’t have an answer other than Sylvia just wanted to have a voice. To be heard. To be taken seriously. And after what happened with her and Nash Brooks it seemed like she’d lost her confidence, thought she was the laughing stock of the entire city and film industry.
Looking around, Sylvia had something to prove.
And I was still in disbelief at what I was seeing.
She’d been an ally. A person I could trust. Then, suddenly, overnight she’d become an enemy.
“She’s out to frame everyone she thinks is out to get her,” I said.
“I think you’re right,” Giselle said, handing me our next discovery.
Next on Sylvia’s list was Blake Stone—and her plan to direct the attention of what happened to Maria over to Mario. I wasn’t surprised to see his face. Especially since she was looking into Madam’s business interests. Stone was a key factor in understanding the bigger picture. But what I didn’t understand was, what was she trying to prove by collecting all this information on all of us?
Pulling open a desk drawer, my eye caught a familiar orchid flower.
Bending over, I took it between my fingers and brought it to my nose. I closed my eyes and inhaled the scent that was no longer there.
I remembered the day Sylvia had found it. Memories of my first date with Kendra filled my mind—and heart—remembering the way Kendra looked at me that night behind hooded, seduced eyes. Rubbing my fingertips, I could still feel the way her belly trembled against my touch. I smiled at knowing Kendra was a little afraid of me in the beginning, but let me touch her anyway. Then I shivered when I remembered the trigger I had sparked and how Kendra had left, leaving me with a plate full of fruit and half-empty bottle of champagne to pour down the drain.
“She’s going to publish her story, Kelly.”
I opened my eyes and rolled them over to Giselle.
“Put her spin on it. Make us all look guilty when it’s her who needs to be taken in.”
As I stared into Giselle’s eyes, nodding, I thought about Sylvia receiving death threats when looking into Maria’s murder. There was nothing here about those threats. The threats had stopped and I’d let it go, having to concentrate on Mario and making sure that I didn’t lose Kendra in the process. But now I wondered if her threats were real or if she had made them up to throw me off her trail.
“Sylvia must have learned something that didn’t sit well with her to have the balls to betray Madam.” Giselle thought out loud.
Turning over the trashcan next to her desk, I found the empty envelope Sylvia intercepted from Kendra. The money I had seen was gone and I could only assume that it was enough to hide out for quite some time before having to use her own money that could easily be tracked.
“Sylvia is alive and she isn’t coming back,” I said, holding up the empty envelope.
“Shit,” Giselle cursed. “Without her, Mario continues to take the fall.”
When I set the envelope down on the desk, my eye caught a familiar name. Pulling the hidden paper out from underneath the pile, I couldn’t stop staring at the heavily circled name. Drake Goodman. Turning it around to show Giselle, I said, “This is the guy you’re seeing, right?”
Tears filled her eyes.
“Why do you think Sylvia would be interested in him?”
Giselle shook her head. “I don’t know.”
I cast my gaze back to his name. “When’s the last time you spoke to him?”
“Last night.” Giselle lifted her head and pressed her palm to her forehead. “On the phone.”
Turning to look at her, I asked, “What does he do for a living?”
“Advertising.” She pulled her brows together. “Why?”
“Now, why would Sylvia need an ad man?” I flipped the paper over to show Giselle Sylvia’s notes. She had his number listed as someone to contact.
“I’m calling him.” Giselle pulled out her phone just as my own started ringing.
Pulling it out from my pocket, I realized that I had missed a call from Kendra. I cursed myself for not hearing it ring and answered the call from Oscar Buchanan. “If it isn’t LA’s finest.”
“Kelly, are you busy?” Oscar sounded exhausted.
“What’s this about?” My phone beeped. The battery was nearly dead.
“There is something I need to tell you.”
“Then tell me.” I looked to Giselle who was on the phone with Drake.
“I think it’s better if you hear this in person.”
Then my phone died.
45
Kelly
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 sa
id, 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.”
46
Kendra
I ran straight up to the door and pounded my fist against it.
Maxwell killed the engine and I turned back to glance at him.
He hadn’t liked my plan at first, thought that we needed to consult with Kelly before heading south. But when neither of us could reach him, I told Maxwell he didn’t have a choice in the matter.
Maxwell kept a watchful eye on me as I turned back to the door and sent my fist flying against it again.
Not a second later, Mom opened the door with a reddened face and sharp brows.
“Where is he?”
“Jesus, girl. You’re knocking on my door like you’re the damn cops.”
“Show him to me. I want to see him.”
Mom’s chin tucked into her neck as she looked at me like I was crazy.
I pushed past her and made my way inside, not having time for formalities of invitations. Mom started to shut the door but stopped short when she caught sight of Maxwell. She eyed him for a minute before finally closing the door and turning back to me.
“Is that your new boyfriend?”
“What?” I breathed.
“That man outside.” Mom marched up to me with narrowed eyes. “Is that one of your customers?”
The hair on my nape stiffened as I put my face in Mom’s. “You have some nerve accusing me of something I’m not when you keep having your brother stalk me.”
“Marvin is loyal to this family, unlike some of us.”
My breathing grew louder. “You have my number. You can call. Yet you keep choosing to violate my privacy by sending your brother to do your dirty work.”
“I don’t approve of your lifestyle, Kendra.” Mom sighed and pointed to the door.
“It’s not your decision to make.”
“Maybe not, but as your mother,” she reached up and touched my arm, “I will do whatever it takes to get you off the streets.”
“I’m not on the streets.” I threw my hands down by my side and cried. “I want to see Dad.”
Mom turned her back and stepped away.
I watched her move to the kitchen table with her head down.
Turning my neck, I glanced to the back room I assumed Dad to be resting in.
“Now is not a good time.” Mom stood behind a dining table chair and gave me a hard glare.
There was something on her mind, and I feared that it had something to do with what my uncle said. But I hoped to God that it wasn’t about the money and instead something about Dad. “Now is the only time,” I barked.
She diverted her eyes and angled her head to the side. “Your father is in bad shape, baby.” Her eyes found mine once again. “His body isn’t functioning the way you remember.”
Arching a brow, I moved closer to the table and asked, “How is his mind?”
A sparkle twinkled in her eye. “His mind is as strong as ever.”
Dropping my gaze, I was drawn in by what Mom had spread over the tabletop. My feet were heavy as I dragged them closer to the magazine headline I couldn’t look away from. “What is that?” I began to panic.
Mom glanced to the table. “I suppose there is no sense in waiting to tell you.”
My heartrate spiked and I couldn’t stop myself from moving closer.
“But I had a lawyer draw up papers to take back the money given to you by your father’s mother.” She picked up the papers and held them between her hands. “I told you I would do whatever it took, and I’m afraid that I learned some terrible news in the process.”
I kept my eyes on the supermarket tabloid, barely listening to what my mother was saying. My muscles quivered and I wanted to explode in a fit of violence.
She held out her hands and said, “Take it. This is your copy.”
I swatted her hand away and turned the magazine around to read the article.
“You’re guilty of inheritance fraud, Kendra.”
My eyes widened when I tipped my head back up to meet Mom’s stare.
She inhaled a shaky breath as I thought how I would have helped. But this wasn’t the way to go about it. I hated the manipulation that surrounded me. I despised how this was what our relationship had come to. My parents didn’t know how to love and, because of them, neither did I. Our definition was skewed to benefit ourselves, and it all started with Mom and Dad not being there for me when I needed them to protect me against Uncle Marvin as a child. They had all known what was happening but turned a blind eye because it was the easy thing to do. And now they expected me to forget all that and just hand over the money that was given to me? Unbelievable.
“No. What is that?” I jabbed my index finger into the middle of the article.
Mom looked down to my face printed on the page of Hollywood Reporter and frowned. “Another missed opportunity.”
“What the hell does that mean?”
Mom glared. “I heard what your boyfriend did to Marvin’s pictures. He shouldn’t have deleted those.”
