by C. J. Thomas
Slowly, I rolled my eyes away from Madam’s snack and went to staring at her cappuccino.
Madam was expecting me. Maybe not now, but sometime soon. With the news of what happened to Tonya, it was only a matter of time before I confronted her with what she did to get her killed.
I lifted my gaze up to her.
“You’re concerned, Kelly,” Madam’s voice chimed against the silence.
Lowering my jaw, I glared at her smug smile. It disgusted me to smell the delight she seemed to relish in. The news of Tonya’s death should have fallen over this office heavier than anywhere else. Yet it seemed like nothing had changed.
“I understand,” she said.
But I knew she didn’t. It was business as usual around here. Girls coming and going, deliveries being made, and moves Madam was making behind everyone’s backs to further establish herself in the market left open by Blake Stone as he awaited trial for drug trafficking. If she didn’t have it in her to shed a single tear for Tonya, she didn’t understand shit.
Tipping forward, I reached toward her desk, plucking a pen out of the holder. When I fell back into my chair I inhaled again, knowing Kendra had been here not long ago. Not only could I smell her, but thanks to Maxwell keeping me informed on her whereabouts, I knew I had just missed her.
Spinning the pen between my fingertips I thought about how my world had turned upside-down in just a matter of hours. It was because of Madam that the pain in my side wouldn’t go away. And since my meeting with Giselle, I couldn’t stop thinking about how imperative it was for me to find Timothy Parker. If he was the one to leave me that note, then it shouldn’t be too hard for us to track him down before he made another deadly decision.
“But you shouldn’t be,” Madam continued, reaching for her baked good.
Tiny flakes fell as she nibbled off the corner. She dabbed her mouth afterward, washing it down with her coffee. My stomach hardened, but I wasn’t hungry.
“You knew Tonya would die the moment you gave me my way out.” My chest heaved. “Didn’t you?”
Madam casually set her mug down next to her plate. “Tonya was one of my own.”
My jaw ticked as I tightened my grip on the armrest of the chair.
“You made the decision to use the photos.” Her mouth pinched. “I only offered them as a solution to your troubles. Who would have thought Timothy would go to those lengths?”
I started breathing heavily. That wasn’t how I saw it. She knew exactly what she was doing, what her end goal was when snapping the photos—which I was sure she’d done—knowing I would eventually use them against Parker to get on to representing Stone.
“Kelly, darling.” She folded her hands out in front of her. “You know me. I wouldn’t knowingly put any of my girls in a dangerous position.” She paused to flash me a sympathetic look. “Not even Kendra.”
Fisting the pen inside my grip, I squeezed. “And that’s why you’re making her do deliveries?”
Madam didn’t even flinch. “Sweetheart, you made Kendra do deliveries the moment you insisted you had to have her.”
“Bullshit.” I slammed my fist down on top of her desk.
Her eyes drifted to my hand and I watched her gaze travel up my flexed arm.
“Kelly, baby, you knew it the moment you agreed to sign on. It’s the price you had to pay.” Her brows drew together. “What? Did you think that I would give her to you for free?” She cackled.
“Emmanuel is no good.” My words were clipped. I was pissed that the money I gave Madam to have Kendra for a month meant nothing. “This must stop. You can ruin my life, but not Kendra’s, too.”
Madam’s lips flat-lined. “Is that what you think? That I ruined your life?”
Feeling the blood coursing in my veins, I knew what I said had hit a cord with Madam.
“Let’s not remind ourselves the state of mind you were in when I found you.” Madam brought up some old memories, stories I preferred to forget. “Kelly, I picked you up. You were in a very dark place. And if it hadn’t been for me pulling you back on your feet after Nora died, I don’t think you would be here with us today.”
A scratch in the back of my throat made it difficult to swallow.
“You are nothing without me.” Her tone was sharp as an arrow.
My nostrils flared as I gritted my teeth.
“Sorry, Kelly.” Her gaze was unwavering. “The wheels are spinning and can’t be slowed down.”
I knew what she was referring to. And it all started with me falling in love with what I saw the day I ran into Kendra. But I refused to let Madam manipulate me into thinking going after Kendra was a mistake.
“In fact,” Madam’s eyes brightened, “you just missed her.”
Everywhere I looked I saw reminders of why I felt regrets stacking up inside my ever-tightening chest. When it came to Kendra, I was weak. From the beginning, I would have done anything to have her. And I did. That was the reason we were here today. I’d lost sight of everything and people were taking advantage of my mistakes.
“Where did you send her today?” I asked.
Madam set her snack back down and said, “The question is, Kelly,” her gaze met mine, “what do you think will happen when Kendra’s thirty days are up?” She licked her lips but didn’t give me a chance to respond. “Do you think you’ll have any say in what happens to her then?”
“I want her out.” My brow furrowed.
“Who she dates?” Madam continued despite my growing anger. “Where I send her on errands?”
“How much?” My heart knocked against my ribs. “How much more do you want from me to get her out?”
“Money,” Madam laughed and waved her hand. “It will only complicate matters. Besides, truth be told, I’m rather looking forward to your contract coming to a close.”
My neck stiffened and my forearms strained.
“It will be good for Kendra. She needs time to get her family life in order.”
As my gaze darted across Madam’s desk, I was reminded of the will I had found this morning. It had to be what Madam was referring to. Family life. The only family I knew Kendra had was her—
“Her uncle is in town—”
My head snapped up as if Madam had read my mind. The whites in my eyes grew with each additional word she spoke. Madam knew about her uncle? My jaw ticked angrily. Did she know what I knew? That he raped her? That he was the reason Kendra experienced triggers and was keeping her emotions bottled up?
“—and I hear one of her parents isn’t doing so well.” Madam glanced at me. “Oh, dear.” She covered her round mouth. “You didn’t know?”
By now my blood pressure had shot through the roof. Rolling my neck, I heard my bones pop. She was getting under my skin and, if I wasn’t careful, she was going to make my head explode. If I didn’t kill her first.
“I’m gossiping.” Madam guffawed.
“Where is she?” Standing, I hovered over her, demanding she tell me where Kendra was. “Tell me where you sent her today.”
She held her palm out, demanding I hand over the pen I was still clenching. Taking a deep breath, I handed it to her, peacefully. Madam quickly scribbled down an address and said, “You can find her here. But you must not wait too long.”
Taking the paper from her, I turned on a heel and headed for the door.
“Kelly, before you leave—”
When I glanced over my shoulder Madam was standing.
“If I were you, I would get my kicks in now.” She gave a crisp nod. “It won’t be long before I have her back on the open market. And I know it won’t be easy for either one of you when that day does come.”
Heat flushed through my body feeling the sudden urgency to get moving before the clock ran out.
“Especially now that both of you have clearly let your hearts get involved.”
16
Kendra
Angelina Davis.
She was here.
The one person I had been dying
to speak with.
When she motioned to sit down next to me on the bench, I nodded.
Now that I had her within my sights, I was at a loss for words. It wasn’t like we had the best history. And we certainly were not friends. She had been nothing but a bitch to me from the moment I first met her. But there were some questions I needed to ask.
When I brushed my bangs to the side, I could still hear her original warnings to not get attached to Kelly. Angel cautioned me early on that Kelly would leave me after the first time we slept together, just as he did all the women who’d come before me.
Except that never happened. Kelly and I were only growing stronger by the day. And it wasn’t something only I could feel. Kelly reminded me with his actions, too, and I could only think that Angel’s notices were her desperate attempt at finding a way to get Kelly to look in her direction.
Glancing down at her thighs, I feared when she would strike next.
An uncomfortable silence settled between us and I wondered how she’d found me. Especially since my visit to the park to call Mom was a spontaneous stop before I got on with fulfilling Madam’s request.
Clearing my throat, I was intimidated by her beauty. She was dazzling. Her leather jacket and tight tank top did little to distract me from her perfectly proportioned face framed in sparkling, expensive jewelry. And even though she towered over me when standing, I felt like sitting here, side-by-side, somehow leveled the playing field and made us equals.
Turning my neck, I watched a couple of young children chasing each other around the slide. I admired their innocence, going about their day without a care to the world.
The silence settling between us only deepened as I struggled to come up with ways to break the ice.
There was so much I wanted to ask her. I wanted to speak to her as if we were friends. Had she heard about Tonya? Did she know how Tonya got hooked up with Timothy Parker? And would she also know who might have reason to want Tonya dead? My mind wrestled with these many questions and, instead of being open, communicative, and without worry of saying the wrong thing, in the end all I could say was, “I’m sorry.”
Angling her head toward me, her gaze landed on Madam’s package as she nodded.
Picking up my head, a tinted-windowed sedan slowed to a stop and parked on the opposite side of the playground. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end, fearing that suddenly we were being watched.
“You two looked amazing at the party,” I whispered, wondering if Angel knew that Tonya was Madam’s girl.
My foot bounced as I twisted Kelly’s promise ring around my finger. I wanted to tell her what I’d seen. How Timothy could be behind Tonya’s death. But every time I opened my mouth, the words would get stuck in my throat. A part of me knew to be vigilant. Angel hadn’t earned my trust but I was eager to know what she knew.
Glancing back to the vehicle parked across the way, I noticed a window had been cracked open. A shadowy figure sat behind the dark window, the sun’s glare making it impossible to see who it was. Just when I was about to ask Angel if she knew who was watching us, she said, “Look, Kendra I’m here because you need to know about this.”
I followed her finger subtly pointing to the package resting against my thigh between us. Pulling it away I hugged it to my chest, not wanting her to get too close.
Her eyes landed on me for the first time since arriving. “Do you even know what’s inside?”
I knew. But I lied anyway. “No.”
She clucked her tongue. “It’s money. Lots of money.”
I cast my gaze down and sized up the package as if I didn’t already know.
Without taking her gaze off of me she said, “Madam is having you launder it.”
My brows pinched as my entire body froze. I couldn’t look her in the eye. Didn’t have anything to say. I opened my ears and waited to see what else she was willing to dish out before responding.
“Any guesses as to why?”
Feeling trapped with nowhere to go, I distracted myself by glancing at my cell phone. Filled with hope that my ride would be arriving soon, I wanted nothing more than to have Angel keep quiet about what I was unknowingly doing for Madam. With my heart hammering in my chest, I was stunned that Angel knew any of this.
I rolled my eyes to her and quickly looked away when they landed on hers.
The less I knew the better. Glancing to my phone, I prayed Kelly would call. I needed to be reassured that I was imagining things. That everything was going to be all right. Standing, I said, “I’m sorry but I have to go.”
“Do you think Madam gave Kelly to you without receiving something in return?”
Angel’s words stopped me in my tracks. Slowly, I lifted my head, coming to the realization that Angel wasn’t the escort. Tonya was. I’d had it all wrong when I asked Angel who she worked for at Lemon’s party, and now I wondered what else I’d gotten wrong.
Slowly, I turned to face her. “You knew Tonya was working for Madam?”
Her brows flickered. “Kendra, get out while you still can.”
Turning to look over my shoulder, the car I thought was watching us was still there. “Why are you telling me any of this?”
Standing, Angel stuffed her hands inside her jacket pocket and came to stand next to me. “I don’t want to see you get caught up in something that doesn’t concern you.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I looked away, hiding my damp eyes, and sighed.
“And, if you’re curious,” her words floated over my shoulder and into my ear, “trust me when I say that Madam won’t get what she is after.”
I didn’t even know what Madam was after. Nor did I care to know. “All I ever wanted was to have my chance with Kelly.”
“At what cost?”
My head snapped up to look at her.
“Even your time with Kelly is ticking away. What will you do when you can’t have him?” She glanced to the package still tightly clutched to my chest.
My brows furrowed as I scrambled to understand. “How do you even know—”
“About your contract?” She chortled. “The same way I knew you were the one to be assisting Madam with her money laundering.”
My vision blurred and I withdrew into my head.
“Your relationship with Kelly won’t last past that agreement. Even if Madam okayed it, which she won’t, Kelly Black is too broken to have a relationship. And trust me when I say, girl, you don’t need the extra baggage he comes with.”
Now I knew she was here to throw me off course. This wasn’t about Tonya. Or a warning for me to keep vigilant. Like all the times before, her tracking me down today was to make me doubt my relationship with Kelly.
My feet started moving, but I couldn’t take my eyes away from her.
“Things are happening around you and you don’t even seem worried,” Angel called after me.
I turned toward the vehicle I thought was spying on us just as it was driving away.
“You should be.”
Tonya was dead. So was Maria. Girls with ties to people I knew and associates I was working with. Of course I was worried. Frightened I could be next. But what could I do? There was nothing. Not without a solid plan going forward, and without Kelly’s assistance, I was stuck in the crosshairs. The same place I’d always been.
Suddenly my phone vibrated with a message. My insides jumped and I knew my ride had arrived. “I have to go.”
“This isn’t a game, Kendra.” Angel raised her voice as I hurried away. “You think those deliveries are innocent, but you don’t know the half of it. I’m serious, Kendra. If you’re not careful, I have little doubt you’ll end up just like Tonya.”
My pulse raced as I ran away with thoughts that any day could be my last.
17
Kendra
I ran and never looked back.
Angel’s words left me feeling spooked.
We were too close to Madam’s for comfort. And I couldn’t stop thinking a
bout that dark-windowed car. It certainly could have been Madam’s hired hand keeping an eye on her investment. Or maybe they were with Angel. Either way, Angel seemed to know what she was talking about, even if it was tough for me to swallow.
My arms pumped as I picked up my pace in a hurry to leave. With the package tucked under my arm, there was nothing more I wanted than to rid myself of its burden.
Realizing it was Lucky who was waiting to whisk me away, I was filled with a renewed sense of hope. Reaching for the door handle, I yanked the back door open and dove inside saying, “If it isn’t my favorite driver coming to rescue me from danger.”
“Ms. Kendra,” he greeted me with a huge smile. “Always so good to see you.”
Buckling myself into the back seat, Lucky put the car into gear and set the wheels in motion.
I couldn’t look at him without thinking about Tonya. I wondered if he had heard the news. And if I had guessed right about her being the woman he was dating, then my heart went out to him.
“Yes, good to see you too, Lucky,” I replied. “But I bet you wish it was that new girl of yours you’ve started seeing.”
When his lips turned downward, I regretted my decision to not just come out and ask him what he knew. It wasn’t my style to beat around the bush. I was direct, but I also wasn’t the compassionate type either. Which was why this conversation was getting off to a rough start.
“Did I say something wrong?” I asked.
“No.” He readjusted his hand on the wheel and kept his gaze forward. “That’s not it.”
“Then what is it?” My stomach flipped, hating myself for having to play ignorant. But I needed to know what he knew—if anything. “Is there trouble in the house of love?” I teased.
His friendly eyes glanced at me in the rearview mirror. They were lined with pain, perhaps even uncertainty. “I haven’t spoken to her since the last time I told you about her.”