Kat took one last shaky breath before pushing away from her desk and heading toward Tony’s office. She nearly collided with Natalie, who pulled her aside for a hug.

“What’s going on?” Natalie asked, concern in her eyes. “I haven’t heard from you since you canceled your date with Marco. And now we’re all meeting in his office? Well, Tony’s office?”

Natalie wore an appropriate what the hell expression, making Kat feel like even more of a shitty friend.

“A lot’s been going on,” Kat said lamely.

“Okay.” Natalie still sounded uncertain, like her intuition was telling her something was up. “I just wanted to talk to you before going in there to see if there’s anything I need to know.”

Kat nearly choked. There was definitely something Natalie needed to know, but Kat wasn’t spilling the news in the office hallway. Already some of her co-workers were curiously looking on. Natalie was somewhat of a local celebrity. Shit. She hoped those reporters out front hadn’t given her trouble. Although Natalie was used to dealing with the media. It seemed her picture was in the society pages every other week. Kat would never want that kind of attention, but Natalie bore it well.

“Let’s go on up,” Kat said, and they headed for the stairs.

Once in the office, Natalie sat next to Knox on the couch and he casually put his arm around her. They made quite the unusual couple—Knox in his jeans and hoodie, looking very much like a thug and Natalie in her designer suit with her hair elegantly swept away from her face.

But the happiness on both of their features simply from being in one another’s presence was obvious.

“So what’s up?” Natalie said. She looked at Marco, narrowing her eyes at him suspiciously.

“Marco and I have . . . worked out our differences,” Kat said, not wanting Marco to take any heat from Natalie. Her friend may look sweet, innocent, and sophisticated, but she could be a viper if the situation called for it.

“Okay,” Natalie said slowly, looking skeptically between the two. Kat could understand her dismay. Less than a week ago Marco had been number one on her shit list with no sign of falling off.

Things were definitely much, much different now. She looked at Marco and the support in his gaze gave her strength. He nodded encouragingly. She took a deep breath.

Here goes nothing.

“I’m sorry I haven’t been in touch this week, but a lot has happened. It started with my grandmother dying.”

Actually it started back when her mother decided to have an affair with X. It was difficult to fathom her mother engaging in a torrid affair with a notorious criminal. Then again, X probably wasn’t as established back then. Her mother had been an attractive woman at one point—Kat got her looks from her—but years of alcohol, cigarettes, and a variety of other drugs had taken their toll so that by the time she died, she looked easily twenty years older.

“I’m so sorry,” Natalie said. “I didn’t realize she was still living.”

No, because Kat had kept that a closely guarded secret. The only person who knew was Ryan.

“To make a long story short,” Kat said, “I didn’t know about this grandmother until a few years ago. It turns out the man who raised me for most of my childhood isn’t my real father. This grandmother was my biological father’s mother.”

Knox closed his eyes for a moment, exhaling softly, and Kat knew he’d figured it out. She wondered how long he’d been here before she and Natalie walked in. What had he and Marco talked about?

“There’s no easy way to say this,” Kat said, “but X is my father.”

Natalie froze, her only motion a hard blink. “Oh, my God,” she whispered. Several emotions crossed her face, but the one Kat latched onto was hurt—this information hurt her friend. Goddammit, she knew it would, but knowing it wasn’t the same as seeing it.

“I’m so sorry,” Kat said. “For most of my life, I didn’t know. And I’ve never even met him. I only ever talked to my grandmother. X didn’t know I existed until her funeral and I wanted to keep it that way, but a nurse outed me.”

She was blabbering, which was totally unlike her, but she couldn’t stop herself. She’d never understood the saying “the truth will set you free,” but it made sense to her now. Even if Natalie wanted nothing more to do with her, at least she no longer had this terrible secret buried inside her. She didn’t want to live with that lie anymore.

“If X actually did know about you, he never said anything,” Knox said.

“I really don’t think he did,” Kat said. “He’s not listed on my birth certificate. If my mom hadn’t gotten sick, she never would have told me. But Natalie, I should have told you after the incident last spring.”

Kat peered at her friend, trying to judge her reaction now that she’d had a moment to process the news. Her empty stomach churned.

“This is a shock,” Natalie said slowly, then she raised her eyes to meet Kat’s. “But we don’t get to choose our parents. I know that better than anyone. The only thing I’m upset about is that you thought I’d hold this against you.”

The knots in Kat’s stomach loosened as she realized she wasn’t going to lose Natalie. She should have given her friend more credit, but she still wasn’t used to having good, loyal people in her life. Her self-defense mechanism was assuming the worst of people because if she didn’t expect anything, then she couldn’t be disappointed. But she’d been dead wrong where Natalie was concerned. And she was so grateful.

“I’m sorry.” She didn’t know what else to say.

“And for that, I forgive you,” Natalie said. “But there’s nothing else that needs to be forgiven.”

Kat’s eyes began to fill with tears and she turned her face away, embarrassed. She generally wasn’t a crier, although this past week challenged that notion. This was the first time she’d actually cried happy tears.

“I’m so sorry,” Kat couldn’t help saying again.

“Seriously, stop,” Natalie said. “I don’t want to get all mushy with the guys here, but I hope you know how much you mean to me.”

“I do, Natalie. I’m so sor—” Kat stopped herself at Natalie’s stern look. She was the best friend ever. How did Kat get so freaking lucky?

Natalie tossed her head back and if Kat wasn’t mistaken, her eyes were a little damp as well. “Something tells me that wasn’t the only reason you invited us here, though.”

“It’s not,” Kat said. “I never wanted to meet X. I could have gone my entire life without having him in it. But now someone is threatening me because they think they can find X by using me. So I need to find him first.”

Knox leaned forward. “That’s a dangerous game you’re playing. What do you expect from him?”

Kat shrugged. “I don’t know, really. Most likely nothing. But it’s either fifteen million or X. I don’t have either right now.”

“Who’s after X?” Natalie asked.

“Who isn’t?” Knox said. “But in this case, Rick Roy.”

Kat’s eyebrows raised. “That’s what the R stands for?” She’d never heard of him. Marco quickly filled her in on what Knox had already told him.

The more she learned, the more pissed off she became. Roy was no one she wanted to mess around with, and dammit, this wasn’t her fight. Or at least, it shouldn’t be her fight. She’d made the bad choices that led to the disaster with Leo, but she’d done nothing to deserve this.

And fuck if she or her friends and family were going down.

She rubbed her temples with her fingertips, trying to soothe away the beginning of a headache from hell, a result of stress and not eating.

Marco rose and came to stand behind her, lightly rubbing her shoulders. She put her hand over his and her resolve strengthened. She had so much to fight for.

“It’s not too late to let me pay the fifteen mil,” Marco interjected.

“No.” Kat shot him a dirty look over her shoulder. “Your family has enough trouble. Can you imagine if the media found out you’d paid off someone like Rick Roy?”

“She’s right,” Natalie said. “Haven’t you heard the saying ‘don’t negotiate with terrorists’? It’s the same thing.”

“X isn’t going to roll over and take the hit for this,” Knox said. “You realize that, right?”

Kat shrugged. “This is his problem. It’s time I let him handle it.”

Natalie, Knox, and Marco exchanged looks.

Natalie picked up Kat’s hand. “Honey, are you prepared to give X to Roy? He’s your father.”

“I . . .” Her voice shook. She didn’t think of X as her father, but more as Gram’s son. Could she really be responsible for his death? She looked around the room at her friends, who only represented part of the life she’d carved out for herself. She thought about Ryan and his new relationship with Susan and little Riley. All of it was worth fighting for.

“Yes,” she said firmly. “That man is nothing to me. It’s his problem and it’s past time I handed it over to him.”

“Did you say you spent time with Fran?” Knox asked.

“Yes, I spent quite a bit of time with her over the last few years. I called her Gram. She was wonderful. It’s hard to believe she’s X’s mother.”

“I think he kept her in the dark about almost everything,” Knox said. “When I was a teenager though, X would take me with him to visit her.”

“He seriously underestimated her then,” Kat said. “We didn’t talk about X much—not at all, really—but I got the impression she disapproved of him. She loved him, but she wasn’t proud of who he’d become.”

“X is egotistical and arrogant enough not to realize that,” Knox mused. “She was a great lady. And she’s your ticket to X.”

Kat frowned. Didn’t Knox hear the part about her being deceased? “She’s gone.”

“X is—was unconditionally devoted to her. It’s probably his only positive trait.”

“He hadn’t visited her in at least six months,” Kat said. “That doesn’t seem like devotion to me.”

“He’s been in hiding and I bet it killed him to stay away. If he found out you wanted to talk to him about his mother, I guarantee he would take the bait.”

“That somehow seems wrong,” Kat said. “I hate the thought of using Gram against him.”

“It’s your best option,” Knox said simply. “Probably your only one. He’s been below the radar for months. He’s not going to come out without good reason.”

“He was at her funeral,” Kat said.

“Really?” Knox seemed surprised. “Then it’s definitely your best option. You’re his last connection to his mother. I bet you even have some of her things.”

Kat nodded.

“When he realizes that, he’ll beg to meet you,” Knox said. Kat nearly snorted. She couldn’t imagine X begging for anything. But it was worth a shot.

“Let’s do it,” Kat said. The thought of meeting X made bile rise in her throat, but she choked it down. One way or another—please God—this would all be over soon.

“If you’re sure—”

“Knox, I’m sure.”

“Then I’ll find him for you.”