Chapter Twenty-Six
1. Once she had reached the police department, she ran inside, dropping her Hermès Birkin bag onto the counter. – Sometimes I have to remember when I’m writing that Carmen is rich. Therefore the items she wears, carries, etc. have to have a certain price tag as well.
2. Believe me, Harris; you have a better chance at fuckin’ me than getting me to be an informant.” – This quote by Carmen was intentionally put in this scene to show how feisty and nasty she can get when someone she loves is being threatened. She says this to Lt. Harris after he reveals that the Brookstone PD is working once again to take down Jay.

Chapter Twenty-Seven
1. Once Carmen had gotten everything squared away with Malachi, she called Kane to schedule a late lunch at Old Town Bistro.- There was actually a restaurant called Old Town Bistro in Rock Hill, SC, when I was writing this book. It has since closed down. I used the name of the restaurant only because I liked the way it sounded. The set-up that I visualize for the book is totally different from what the restaurant looked like in Rock Hill.
2. “Whoever catches Jay first will get the most money out the pot.” – Years ago, a guy friend of mine gave me a book on Pablo Escobar called Killing Pablo. In the book, it spoke of how different government agencies were in a race to get Pablo first. I used this same scenario for this situation with Jay. If two agencies were trying to get Jay, in this fictional world, it would be the DEA and the Triad.
3. The first place he took her was to the desk of a man who was drawing out the shape of a ring. He let her watch him for a few seconds before he brought her over to a young woman who was sawing off a piece of carving wax. – I watched a YouTube video on how to make a diamond ring and I incorporated information from the video into this scene for the book.

Cuban Link

4. “Linx,” he replied, looking out the window. – This line is from the scene in which Carmen meets Linx, one of Jay’s new workers for the first time after being attacked by Blu’s men. The idea for this character came solely from the rapper Cuban Link. I’m a big fan of his song, “Flowers for the Dead.” I knew Jay’s new men on his team would be of Hispanic descent and I wanted them to be stocky. I remembered the rapper and felt he looked similar to what I wanted so I decided to name the character Link. Then to jazz it up a little, I took off the k and added the x.

Chapter Twenty-Four
I didn’t want to skip this chapter, but after reading it, there wasn’t anything in it to really dissect. Therefore I’ll be moving right along to Chapter Twenty-Five….

Chapter Twenty-Five
1. Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them. – This is a scripture, which comes from Matthew 7:12. Blu passes this message to Carmen in a note while she is eating with Malachi, her middle son.

1. “It has Jay’s stamp on it. Isn’t that the best news to come back to?” – The stamp idea in regards to Jay’s drugs came from the movie American Gangster. In the movie, Frank Lucas, Denzel Washington’s character stamped his bags of heroin with the word Blue Magic.
2. I paid thirty dollars to some crackhead for that information. – This line was inspired from a scene in The Wire in which one of the Baltimore detectives paid an addict money to get information. Of course, the detective knew the addict would use the money for drugs.
3. “You’re Carmen, right? Carmen Davenport,” he questioned. “You got quite a company here. You’re pulling in some major cake. My name is Shawn,” he said, extending his hand, “Shawn Blumington. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” – Once again, I wanted to show how close Blu could get. This time, he shows up at Flame and even makes it to Carmen’s floor.
4. He opened it and pulled out a pink Cobra pistol. – I saw the rapper Diamond in a picture holding a pink pistol and I figured if Carmen was going to get a gun, it might as well be pink, too.

1. Clad in a strapless black mini-dress, she made him forget all about Blu or King’s question. The dress fitted her to the T, but it was a number that Jay wished was for his eyes only. – Anytime Carmen has to wear something slightly skimpy, I always tend to browse Frederick’s of Hollywood for ideas. That is the place to go for skimpiness!
2. The dress was made entirely of black lace and had a bustier top. – Once again, here’s another description of the dress.
3. She turned around only to find Blu standing behind her. – I intentionally put Blu in this scene to show how easily he could get close to the Kane/ Santiago family. Despite being threatened by Jay, Blu still makes an appearance at Sapphire. Since he does, I wanted readers to see that Blu isn’t scared of Jay.
4. For the first time in his life, King was starting to realize that he wasn’t a killer. – Jay’s father, Hector Santiago, was a killer as was Jay so one would think that King would follow in their footsteps. In this book, it appears that King will not.
5. He also gave me a little something to help with the bills. You know I had a baby last year. – This line is spoken by Ms. Rosetta who is Rico’s mother. She says this to King when he comes to her house looking for Rico. While this will be something that most readers will probably not remember, the baby she is speaking of will become a main character in Book Eight of the series.

Part III- Set It Off- The title of this section is named Set It Off to let readers know that the drama is about to turn up a notch. There will be a little more violence and bloodshed.

Chapter Twenty-One
1. She looked in the direction in which she was pointing, and automatically clutched at her heart as she saw King emerge from the car. He was clad in a tan seersucker suit and looked more like a young businessman than a twenty year-old male who had been released from the county jail. – In this scene, King originally gets out the car and proposes to Coco. I changed my mind before I sent the book to the editor for him not to propose at this specific time. I felt it was cliche to propose at a graduation. To me, proposing on holidays, birthdays and graduations are so expected nowadays.
2. He knew Jay had come close when he saw the slash that had been made in his dress shirt. – If I’m remembering correctly, this idea came from a scene in the Princess Bride, lol. I want to say it is when Westley is dressed as the man in black and is fighting Inigo. I think one of ‘em got their shirt slashed.
3. Blu stepped into the doorway as a .22 was pointed in his direction. “Like father, like son, eh?” – I chose this gun on purpose as a reference to my sorority, which was founded in 1922. The “Like Father, like son,” line is also a subliminal reference to The Game’s song, “Like Father, Like Son.” Game is one of my favorite rappers, right behind DMX.

1. If you want to fuck, get someone else. I’m not doing this shit anymore. I’m forty-seven now. I have three kids and I deserve more than a one night stand.”- This line is spoken by Jay and is a reference to Book Two, Diamonds are Forever. In this book, Carmen gets mad at Kane, and seeks revenge by sleeping with Jay. Now, in The Ace of Diamonds, she is mad at Kane again so Jay assumes she wants to do the same thing.
2. “You’re wearing a twelve million dollar necklace around your neck. It was part of a private collection in Switzerland. My friend in Africa sent it to me.” – I know the necklace described here is a real diamond necklace I found, but unfortunately I can’t locate the name of it.