Kat leaned against the bathroom stall, her phone to her ear. Normally she’d have stepped out into the parking lot to make a personal call, but that was too dangerous right now, especially with reporters still lingering just off company property.

“How serious is it?” she asked Ryan.

The chewing noises on the other end of the phone stopped and he sighed heavily. They were both on their lunch breaks.

“Serious.”

That did nothing to answer her question.

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“Because I’m so damn scared I’ll screw it up.” Ryan sounded exasperated. “I’ve screwed up every other damn thing. And Susan is special.”

“You’re special.”

“Not like her, Kat. You have no idea. And Riley? I love that little girl. Her real father isn’t in the picture. I never thought I’d say this . . .” He paused, seemed to gather up courage. “But I want to be her father. I want to do right by her.”

Kat’s jaw dropped. That was the last thing she’d expected. “I had no idea.” She hadn’t seen it coming, which made her wonder how well she really knew her brother after all. How had he managed to keep it hidden? She visited him all the time. Then again, she was consistent with when she came by, so he easily could have planned his schedule with that in mind.

“I’m trying not to do anything to jinx it.”

“And telling me would jinx it.” She didn’t want to make him feel bad, but she couldn’t keep the sting out of her voice because that was hurtful. Why would telling her jinx it?

She could almost hear Ryan shrug. “Maybe. I wasn’t taking the chance.”

“Well, I’m happy for you. And I hope now that I know, you’ll let me get to know her.”

“She’d like that. We’d like that.”

Kat stared at the phone for a few moments after she disconnected the call. Ryan’s relationship with Susan and especially Riley was a game changer. If those men tracked him down, they could go after the little girl. She would hope they weren’t that ruthless, but there were no guarantees.

Just as she tucked her phone in her pocket, it rang. Her mind cluttered with worry about Riley, she answered without looking.

“Miss Delagrange.”

Her blood chilled at the voice of the man who’d held Ryan at gunpoint. His voice was as smooth as honey, but she knew what lay underneath—poison. She gripped the phone harder. “What do you want?’

“I told you we’d be in touch and I’m a man of my word. You have until Saturday at noon. I’ll text you the address. Bring X or the fifteen million. I honestly don’t care which, although I have to say slitting your dear old dad’s throat would be immensely gratifying.”

“I don’t have that kind of money. And I don’t know where he is. I’ve never even met him.”

“That’s unfortunate. But you’re a smart woman. You’ll figure it out. Saturday at noon.” The man paused, letting out a breath like he was bored with the conversation. “Do I need to tell you what will happen if you don’t show?”

“No. I’ll be there.”

“Bring your boyfriend if you want. Marco Adamo, huh? Quite a catch for a south sider such as yourself.”

The line went dead and Kat stared at her phone again, this time for a different reason. Her hands were shaking as a text came through with an address not too far from her apartment.

Part of her was angry. How dare he bring Marco into this? Except he wasn’t the one who’d done that. As soon as Marco agreed to play her bodyguard, he was involved. But she didn’t like how they were throwing his name around.

“Fuck.” The single word echoed in the empty bathroom.

The more she thought about it, the more this situation pissed her off. She’d done nothing to bring this on herself. A lot of the troubles in her life were her own doing, but not this.

Something Ryan had said to her earlier came back to her—this really wasn’t her problem. It was X’s problem.

Perhaps it was time for her to meet her father face-to-face.

* * *

Kat let herself into Tony’s office, closing the door behind her. She and Marco had planned to eat their lunch behind closed doors so there would be no danger of their conversation being overheard.

Marco gestured to a salad sitting on the desk. She was pleased to see he’d bought a reasonable amount of food for once. She pulled a chair up to the opposite side of the desk and took the plastic lid off the salad.

It was a bit surreal sitting here with Marco like this after she’d woken up next to him in bed this morning. Surreal, but at the same time, it felt right. The disaster with Leo had made her question so many of her decisions, but this was one she didn’t doubt.

No regrets.

“I heard from them,” she said.

Marco looked up sharply. She didn’t need to explain who she was referring to.

“What did they say?”

“I have until Saturday at noon. They sent me an address.” She shoveled salad into her mouth, surprised at how casual this conversation seemed, like they were talking about a Saturday brunch date instead of an ultimatum from dangerous criminals.

“What’s the address?” She passed him her phone and he frowned. “I don’t recognize it.”

“I don’t, either, but it’s close to home. I think . . .” She took a deep breath. “I think I’m ready to contact X.”

Marco leaned back in his chair. “Are you sure?”

Nodding, she put her fork down, having suddenly lost her appetite. She hadn’t been fond of the man who’d helped raise her, but now she’d gladly accept him as her father.

After her mother made her confession, she done research on X, not coming up with a single damn thing that didn’t turn her stomach. He was connected to all kinds of heinous crimes—murder, prostitution, drug distribution. She’d stopped looking, afraid of what she’d find.

The only good thing about learning X was her father was Gram, and it still blew her mind that X came from her.

“It’s the only way.”

“There is another way.”

She shook her head vehemently. “No. I won’t let you pay them fifteen million. That’s ridiculous.”

“Hear me out.”

“No, you hear me out. If you pay them once, that invites them to blackmail you again. It puts you and your family at risk.” She thought about Tony and his involvement in X’s fighting ring. If they found out the Adamos were willing to pay them off, then what would stop them from digging up dirt on the family? Would Marco’s part in disabling Ryan come to light? It had stayed out of the news before, but it wasn’t completely erased from record. She didn’t want Ryan and Marco to have to relive it.

Marco scowled, obviously not liking her response, but that was too damn bad. It wasn’t his decision.

“Okay, we’ll try your way. For now.” His eyes dared her to protest. “Just understand that I will do whatever it takes to keep you and your family safe. And that includes Susan and Riley.”

So he’d also come to the conclusion that Susan and Riley could become targets. She was glad they were on the same page. All the more reason to take action.

“That’s fair,” she said, her heart warming at the lengths Marco was willing to go to protect not just her, but her loved ones. It touched her that he’d risk so much to protect those she and her brother cared about. She realized that to him, it was a given. “I’m going to call Knox and see if he can help.”

“That was my thought, too. Do you think he’d be willing to come by? Now?”

“Probably.” She glanced at the clock on the wall. “The center doesn’t open for another two hours.”

“Make the call,” he said quietly.

She fiddled with the fork. If her appetite wasn’t gone before, it certainly was now. “I’m going to ask Natalie to come, too. She deserves to know that X is my father. And she deserves to hear it from me.”

Nerves attacked her stomach, making her feel like she was going to throw up, and she hadn’t even made the first phone call. How the hell was she going to get through this confession?

Kat made the calls and luckily—or unluckily depending on how she looked at it—both Natalie and Knox would be able to swing by in an hour. Kat immediately excused herself to get back to work, cutting her lunch hour short. If she was going to take time out for a meeting, then she didn’t want to take her full lunch hour.

Back at her desk, though, she was useless, not able to focus on anything. She was doing simple data entry and kept transposing numbers. It was maddening. She pushed the mouse and keyboard away in disgust and rested her face in her hands. So much for not taking any more time. She hadn’t gotten any work done, so she’d have to put in extra hours to make up for it.

In less than an hour, she was going to hurt one of the best friends she’d ever had. How would Natalie react to learning Kat was X’s daughter? Natalie was a kind, reasonable woman, so Kat could only hope she wouldn’t hold that against her.

But the fact that she hadn’t confessed this sooner might be unforgivable. She should have told Natalie after her incident with X last spring. Hadn’t she herself nearly crucified Marco for the same thing—withholding information?

But now, she wasn’t so sure it was a cut-and-dry issue. Perhaps the motive sometimes mattered more than the act.

Her world had been rocked on its axis so many times this past week she no longer knew which way was up and which was down. Her perspective on so many things had changed because she had changed.

Putting her faith in someone else and allowing him to help her was a huge step. After Leo, she’d vowed never to put herself at the mercy of anyone else again. She now realized letting someone in wasn’t the same as being weak.

She hoped she’d gained enough strength to get through the next few days. Something told her they were going to be tough.

* * *

Marco shook Knox’s hand, inviting him to take a seat in Tony’s office. He did so and it was obvious he’d been here before, leaving Marco to wonder how the hell his brother had hooked up with Knox.

Knox was an intimidating man—there was no doubt about that. His match with a society princess was definitely odd, but Marco sure as hell wouldn’t make that observation out loud.

Natalie hadn’t yet arrived, so Marco waited to call Kat. He knew she was nervous enough already, so there was no need to make her sit idly in the office. She might as well continue working to keep herself distracted.

“So, you’re friends with my brother, right?” It was a lame conversation starter, but Marco had nothing better.

Knox sized him up in a way that would make a lesser man squirm. Marco’s drill sergeants had actually used the same tactic. Of course, none of them were as fierce as the man sitting across from him, and that was saying something.

“Yes,” Knox said, not elaborating, and Marco got the distinct impression he was missing something big. When everything calmed down, he was going to have a heart-to-heart with his little brother.

Since Knox obviously wasn’t one for small talk, Marco got down to business. “What can you tell me about X?”

Knox didn’t show any indication that he was surprised by the question. If Marco had that kind of poker face, he’d sweep the table every damn time.

“He’s a corrupt motherfucker you don’t want to get involved with.” Knox leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees. “Why do you ask?”

“I’d rather not say until Kat comes,” Marco said apologetically. “It’s kind of her deal.”

“Fuck.” Knox’s expression grew murderous.

“You can say that again,” Marco muttered.

“Is he giving Kat trouble?”

“Not directly. Like I said, it needs to come from Kat, but I wanted to ask you about him before she got here so I’d know what we’re up against.”

“I haven’t seen him since I left, but I’ve kept tabs on him for personal reasons.”

Marco nodded. He would expect nothing less from Knox. He knew that in addition to Knox being one of his fighters, X had abducted Natalie. That wasn’t something a man could forgive and forget.

“He’s fallen off,” Knox said. “After his dirty cops were outed, he lost a lot of the leverage he’d once had. And the situation with me and Natalie didn’t end well for him, so he lost a lot of credibility. Since then, he’s made even more stupid moves, pissing off the wrong people. I’m surprised he’s not dead yet.”

The look in Knox’s eyes told Marco the other man wouldn’t mind being the one to put X six feet under. Looking at Knox now, Marco was surprised the man hadn’t hunted X down and gutted him.

It would have saved them all a lot of trouble if he had.

“Do you know anything about a person who’d sign a letter with just ‘R’?”

“Rick Roy,” Knox said without hesitation. “He has ties to the city, but he doesn’t actually live here. Although now that Barkov and X are basically out of the picture, he might be considering trying to control the territory. I don’t know. I’m not as in touch with that world as I used to be. Anyway, you’ll never actually see him. He has people do all his dirty work for him while he stays locked away.”

“I’ve had the pleasure of meeting some of those people.” And those people weren’t even the ones responsible for everything. Fuck. Marco would much prefer to deal directly with the guy who held the power. That was the only way they’d know for sure what was what.

“Shit. X and Roy? It sounds like you won a totally fucked-up lottery.” Knox pulled his phone out, running his finger over it. “Natalie’s here.”

Marco punched in the number for Kat’s desk on the intercom. “Time to get this party started, I guess.”