Melnyk was sitting in the same booth as the night we met, but his calm, collected demeanor was absent. His bejeweled fingers twitched at every sound, and his beady eyes followed the shadows in the room. Double the number of bodyguards were scattered around the room, but my men handled them before I reached the table and slid into the seat across from the man who'd sent me on a wild goose chase.

"Sloan," Melnyk stuttered, his slimy smile snapping into place in an instant.

I appreciated the effort he put in to appear unaffected because it made it even more enjoyable to watch fear creep into his expression when he found his bodyguards disarmed and useless. With a smug smile of my own, I flipped the ceramic white coffee cup right side up to signal to the server I wanted coffee and leaned back in the booth.

"What is this?"

"You know exactly what this is," I answered after the server left. Holding the cup in front of my face, I inhaled the heady aroma without taking my eyes off Melnyk. "This is the find out part of fucking around."

"I told you to talk to Jade."

"Well, I tried, but she was murdered before we had a chance to chat, and then Alex was brought in for questioning regarding the murder." Hot liquid singed my tongue and burned down my throat. "So you can imagine with all that going on that I was pretty fucking irritated to find out you sent me on a wild goose chase."

"Listen—"

I cut him off. Today, I was in charge. "See, you never planned on telling me who killed Millie."

Spittle clung to Melnyk's bottom lip, and he shook his head, a dark gleam in his eyes. "You're stepping in the middle of something that's going to get you killed."

Next to my hand was a fork resting on a thin, white napkin. I picked it up and twirled fit between my fingers, grinning when the man's attention was drawn to it. The hand I'd stabbed during our last conversation was heavily bandaged, and the surrounding skin looked swollen and bruised.

"You and I both know I'm already in the middle of it. I'm going to lay out the details of what we think went down, and you'll tell me if I'm right or wrong. Lie to me and I'll give you a matching set of fork holes in your other hand. Got it?"

Melnyk nodded. "Yes."

"You weren't going to tell me who killed Millie because Millie isn't dead, is she?"

Please god let that be true. We hadn't been able to confirm it one way or the other, so we were throwing it out there and hoping Melnyk would give us the answer. If he said she was dead, I wouldn't know if he was lying or not. I paused and waited for him to confirm, deciding then that I would stab him if he said she was dead.

"No, she isn't dead." I nearly wept with relief.

"But Sara Caulfield is, and you killed her."

"Yes." The word was a single, seething syllable forced through his teeth.

"And you picked her because she looked like Millie. You wanted us to think she was dead. You wanted everyone to think she was dead, and that's why you sent me after Jade, because it was too big to be a coincidence that she just happened to run into Millie."

"Yes. Yes and yes."

The server approached, sloshing coffeepot in hand, but I waved her away and leaned across the table, the fork still clutched in my fist. "Now for you to fill in the blanks. Why did you want everyone to think Millie was dead?"

Melnyk inhaled deeply, his gut pressing into the table's edge. "I'm assuming you know I used to work for Volkov, and that I left New York because we had a falling out. Since you know apparently know everything?"

Ignoring his sneering tone, I nodded. "Yes, which is why I was shocked you were brave enough to come back to the city."

A bit of color returned to his cheeks. "I'm not afraid of that bastard. Leaving and starting my own empire was the best thing I ever did."

"Congratulations. What does this have to do with Millie?"

"Volkov found out that Reed Industries held security contracts for several high-ranking government officials, and he wanted access to the camera systems so he could get dirt on them. As you can imagine, John Reed didn't want anything to do with him, but the same couldn't be said of his partner."

The room tilted and sound faded in and out. "My father."

"Your father owed Volkov quite a bit of money and offered him access to the contracts as payment. When he couldn't get around John, he came to me. We hatched the plan to compromise John, and because of some marriage troubles with Anna, he slipped up. Only that didn't work either because when Roman threatened to release the video and letters to the public, he told him to go ahead. He'd already told Anna. He didn't give a damn what the public said about him."

Even though I was still reeling over my father's involvement, my heart swelled. That sounded just like John Reed. And even better, it meant he had been honest with his wife. He was the man I'd always believed he was. Just maybe a little more human.

"Volkov was pissed. Not only were we failing to deliver, but then he discovered Karen was pregnant. We hadn't told him she was part of the blackmail plot because he would've killed John for touching her. She never wanted anything to do with Volkov, but she didn't dare say no to him."

Melnyk wasn't finished, but the pieces were starting to fall into place. "So, as a last ditch effort to convince John to let Volkov have access, he kidnapped Marianna?"

"That was the plan, yes. Karen was the one who took her that day, but she was trying to protect the little girl. She'd been planning on visiting John to tell him about Millie, but before she went, she overheard your father talking to Volkov. And before you ask, no, I don't know where Marianna is. The last time I saw her, she didn't have her. Wouldn't even talk about her. She told me she was disappearing and to not look for her. That's why Volkov cut me off. Because I wouldn't tell him where Karen went."

Fuck. The blossoming hope in my chest deflated, and the table shook as I slammed my fist against it. A loud chime echoed in the diner, and I fished my phone out of my pocket, eying the name on the screen with confusion. Why was Antonia texting me? I didn't even realize she had my number.

Setting it face down on the table, I put her out of my mind and resumed the conversation. "So Volkov never knew that Millie was John's kid?"

"Not until recently. Your father came to me after she showed up at his apartment. Told me he knew who she was. He told me about the way they drew the will up, and he proposed a deal. I considered it, but a little digging revealed your father is still owned by Volkov. And if it proved convenient, Roman would tell Volkov. So, I faked Millie's death because a dead girl can't inherit a company. I used the connections I have with the media and police department."

"And what about Alex?" I asked, keeping my hands in my lap to stop myself from wrapping them around Melnyk's throat. All this pain and chaos because of greed. "Why frame him? And why have Millie plant that shit on my computer?"

The slimy smile returned. "You were a pain in the ass and in my way. If Alex was convicted of murder and you were under suspicion of harming little Marianna, Reed Industries would be vulnerable. Hedging my bets, I guess."

"For all the good it did you," I snarled.

My phone beeped again, and I snatched it up, hoping it was James with news about Millie, only to discover it was just a reminder that I had an unread message. It was tempting to ignore it because it was Antonia, but then again, after learning how deeply involved my father was, maybe it was the opening I needed. A window when I preferred a door, but I would take whatever I could get right now.

Swiping to unlock the phone, I slid out of the booth and glared at Melnyk, "After this is over, I want you out of this city, and just in case you want to try to get me or the Reeds out of the way again, you should know everything you told me was recorded. If anything happens to me or my family, it's going to be released, and I mean anything. Is that understood?"

Melynk's skin turned a putrid shade of purple, but he nodded. "Understood."

"We good?" James asked when I passed the table he shared with a sullen bodyguard.

"Yeah, we're good," I replied, navigating to my messages as I walked out of the diner, two of men flanking me with their weapons drawn in case Melnyk proved to be a bigger idiot than I thought.

When I came to a sudden halt, they cursed and moved closer, but I hardly noticed them. I was too busy rereading the message from Antonia. She was a cold bitch, and it didn't make sense for my father to use her like this to get to me. All he had to do was call me directly and tell me he had Millie. I would come running.

"What's going on?" James asked, pushing through my human barricade, lips stretched in a flat line as he looked me over.

I held up my phone and read, "It's Millie. Help me."