Even though she was so high up there was almost no chance of making out any features of the people below, Willa still looked out the window and scanned the streets, looking for anyone that even remotely resembled James.

She’d been back in Chicago for a week, and even though there’d been no sign at all of her former protector, she couldn’t shake the feeling that he was there, about to pop out of the shadows and.... Well, she didn’t know what she expected him to do. Punish her for leaving. Drag her back out to the middle of the desert. Kiss her on the spot.

Okay, maybe the last one was more of her little fantasy. She’d assumed that her fascination with the man would fade with distance, but if anything, it had just gotten stronger over the past week. Maybe that was why she kept on expecting him to pop out at any given moment.

The door to the conference room opened. Willa jerked around as though she’d been caught snooping. But she knew for certain this paranoia was justified, because the person walking into the room had been the one person she’d hoped to never see again. Her father.

Jadon Belli was an imposing figure. His hair had gone prematurely gray years ago and now was a dignified white in his mid-fifties. He wasn’t a fan of the gym, but he tended to get hyper focused on his work, so it was common for him to forget to eat and that kept his figure slim enough to still look good in suits.

His intimidation factor didn’t come from size or pure menace, like James. It came from the fact that he was oozing money and wasn’t afraid to use the power that riches brought him. Something she’d inherited from him.

However, ever since she’d seen him murder Jules right in front of her, he’d become imposing in a completely different way.

He unbuttoned his gray suit jacket in a quick, practiced movement. Something he often did around her because they had an informal father-daughter relationship. At least they used to.

She remained standing as Jadon excused the entourage that would normally follow him around. A lot of the faces revolved, but Willa caught a glimpse of his assistant and a beefy guy in a suit. Willa immediately thought of James. Was Jadon traveling with protection? How many of these guys had she seen in the past and assumed it was just a security guy?

What if it was some shady associate of her father’s? A partner in whatever crime they were involved in? Well, it was about time she found out the truth about her father.

Jadon pulled out a chair at the eight-person conference table and took a seat. She followed suit. She had dressed for the occasion in a knee-length gray pencil skirt and a loose black sleeveless silk blouse. Because she knew more than most that if you wanted people to take you seriously, including family, you needed to dress seriously.

“Willa,” said Jadon simply.

“Hi, Daddy.” The familiar term of endearment felt like poison on her tongue, but she wasn’t just here as a daughter. She was here to get to the bottom of this, and to do that, he’d need to think that she wasn’t absolutely terrified of him.

Jadon looked across the table at her and she knew he was trying to get a read on her mood. She wanted him to think that she was the same girl he knew from two weeks ago, so she played up guilt for running off. But Willa also knew that the old her didn’t do guilt. She did anger, manipulation, and utter indifference.

So Willa drummed her fingers on the table and played up the annoyance. “I haven’t been able to leave my place for the past week.” She added an edge of anger to her tone. It wasn’t all that hard to do. It wasn’t as if she had a super open relationship with her father before.

“I was worried about you,” he said.

“Worried about me or worried about who I was talking to?” There it was. She was going to throw the elephant in the room, right out in the open. No use pretending it didn’t happen.

He narrowed his eyes and she knew he was still looking for any sign of betrayal from her. “I’m sorry you had to see that. I know you and Agent Charleston were close.”

Agent Charleston. He’d chosen his words carefully. Openly acknowledging what had happened while reinforcing why he thought he was justified. Willa steeled her nerves before she continued. “If Agent Charleston was truly a friend, she wouldn’t have lied about who she was.”

The barest hint of a smile touched his eyes and she knew she’d played him just right. But she wasn’t out of the woods yet. “I was worried when you took off.”

This would be the tricky part. Because before she left, she hadn’t been as calm and collected about the whole murder thing. She had even come to his office to confront him and demand explanations about why he was being investigated by the feds in the first place. An argument that led to her throwing a coffee mug at his face in the middle of his office. Maybe not her proudest moment, but she’d panicked.

“I was....” She winced. She’d practiced this story in her head so many times. She needed to get the facts right and she needed to do it perfectly the first time. “Daddy, I was scared.” She rubbed at the corner of her eyes as though tears were welling up. “I’d never seen you like that before and I really believed Jules, er, Agent Charleston and I were friends. I needed to go. I needed clarity.”

“And who did you talk to when you left?”

She gasped in mock shock as she looked him right in the eye. “What kind of question is that, Daddy? Why would I talk to anyone? We’re family. I just wanted to leave. So I hopped in Ashley’s car and we went right to Vegas.”

“Ashley?”

Willa waved a dismissive hand. “Her family is in real estate or oil or something. I don’t know her that well. I just wanted to get out and I knew that if I used my cards or anything, you were going to find me and I needed time alone.”

“But you did use your cards.”

“Yeah. After Ashley hopped on a private jet with some whale she met at the casino and abandoned me. Serves me right for traveling with someone I barely know. But it’s okay now. I’m ready to come back home.”

“Really?”

Willa fiddled with her nails in desperate need of a manicure. “Daddy, you scared me. But I think I understand it. We’re family. You were protecting me in a way that only someone who truly loved me could.” He was staring intently at her still so she made sure the next words really had impact. “Daddy, I need you to know that I have your back too.”

He nodded and leaned back in his chair. She knew it would take more than a pretty speech and made-up story that was nearly impossible to fact check, but it was a start. “Well, I’m happy to have you here, sweetie.”

“I’m glad to be back.”

“And we can go back to how things were... before?”

She had to hide her surprise. How could he possibly expect her to pretend nothing had happened? To act as if he was her doting father and she was the spoiled child and she hadn’t seen the blood stains on that overpriced Persian carpet? “I can’t accept that.” She could see her father stiffen, so she continued before he freaked out. “I mean, you’ve been keeping things from me, Daddy. I know that Jules was lying to me, but you were too. It might take time, but I want you to be able to open up to me. I’m going to love you no matter what, but I want to be a part of your life. Your real life.” She hadn’t planned to tell him this so quick. She had planned to be slow and steady to get to his criminal secrets. But her mouth once again moved faster than her mind.

Because she couldn’t just disappear for days and then come back and ask him to tell her all the crimes he’d committed. She might as well have a neon sign above her head screaming I’m going to report you to the cops. She needed to get this back on track. “I just keep thinking about what happened with Mom, you know?”

“Honey, you know I would never do that to you.”

Whew. The Mom card seemed to have worked. She didn’t play it often, partly because the woman who gave birth to her wasn’t her favorite subject in the world. But luckily Jadon seemed to hate any mention of Susan as much as Willa did. And if there was anything that bonded two people, it was the mutual hatred of a third. “I know. I do. I just.... All these thoughts go through my head and sometimes it’s hard to sort through what’s a gut reaction and logical.”

“Get back to your normal routine. Hang out with your friends. I’ll see what I can do about giving you a... behind-the-scenes look at the company.”

Willa gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Thank you, Daddy. I appreciate it. Does this mean your guard dogs will back off now?” In truth, the men sitting outside her apartment building for the past week while her father had been doing business overseas hadn’t been much of a bother. It allowed her to stay inside and mope instead of pretending to be happy and carefree like she had in Vegas. But old Willa would hate being confined to her apartment and being deprived of freedom and privacy for so long.

Jadon’s jaw tightened and she knew he was about to give her bad news. If he wanted to spy on her, let him. Once she gained his confidence again, she’d be able to get all the dirt she needed to bring him down. He’d never see her betrayal coming.

“Honey, I want you to know that I trust you. I do.” She didn’t believe him for a second, but she let him continue. “But things have changed. The feds aren’t the only people involved. There’s this band of vagrants who have started a vendetta against us. I want to make sure you are protected.”

“I’ve had a security detail before,” she pointed out.

“Good. Just think of it like that. A bit of extra security. You won’t even know he’s there. And he’s got some of the best references in the business and will be a complete professional.”

She couldn’t wait to see the slice of beef with as much personality as a slice of cardboard. She projected wearing out the security detail within a week. “Whatever you think is best, Daddy.”

“Good.” He leaned over the table and hit the intercom button. “Can you send in the new point man?”

Willa once again fiddled with her nails as she looked at the door. The person who walked through the door was officially going to be her first job. If she made one wrong move, they were going to report it right back to her father. But if she could fool Jadon, she was sure whatever patsy walked through that door would be easy enough.

So when James Weston walked inside the conference room and stood next to her father, the shock was enough to have Willa jumping right out of her chair and falling on her ass.