Chapter 1 - THE PROMISE MY FATHER MADE
“What promise?”
My voice barely came out.
Ravi Greedy looked at the photograph instead of me.
For the first time since I had walked into that ballroom, the most feared man in Chicago did not look dangerous.
He looked guilty.
“Your father saved my life.”
I stared at him.
“My father was an accountant.”
“That was what he told his daughters.”
My stomach tightened.
Ravi unfolded the photograph completely.
Behind him and my father stood an old warehouse near the Chicago River.
I recognized my father’s winter coat.
The photograph had been taken nine days before the car accident that killed both my parents.
“What was he doing there?”
“Trying to stop something.”
“What?”
Ravi glanced toward Catherine.
She was standing twenty feet away with two security guards beside her now.
Her face had lost all color.
“That depends on why she chose you.”
I turned.
Catherine immediately said, “I had no idea who she was.”
Ravi’s expression hardened.
“You paid a waitress ten thousand dollars to kiss me in front of two hundred witnesses.”
“It was a joke.”
“No.”
He stepped closer.
“You don’t spend ten thousand dollars on jokes unless you’re buying something.”
Catherine swallowed.
I looked between them.
“What is happening?”
Ravi’s security chief brought him Catherine’s phone.
She had protested when they took it.
Now I understood why.
The most recent message on the screen read:
Make sure Harper touches him. Cameras must catch it.
My hands went cold.
The sender was saved only as:
P.V.
Ravi looked at Catherine.
“Who is P.V.?”
“I don’t know.”
He almost smiled.
That was worse than shouting.
I stepped between them before fear could stop me.
“No.”
Ravi looked at me.
“No what?”
“You don’t threaten her while I’m standing here.”
“She targeted you.”
“Then we get answers legally.”
His eyebrows lifted.
“You kissed a mafia boss for money and now you’re teaching ethics?”
“Yes.”
For one second, I thought I had finally gone too far.
Then the corner of his mouth moved.
“Fine.”
He handed the phone to his attorney.
“Preserve everything.”
Catherine stared at me.
“You stupid little waitress.”
I looked at her.
“I’m the stupid one?”
She flinched.
Good.
Then Ravi turned back to me.
“Your father, Michael Harper, worked as an accountant.”
“I know.”
“For my shipping companies.”
I stopped breathing.
“No.”
“He discovered money moving through charity accounts.”
“What charity?”
Ravi’s face changed.
“The Greedy Children’s Health Foundation.”
The gala we were standing inside had been raising money for that exact foundation.
I felt sick.
“He found someone stealing from sick children?”
“Yes.”
“And he told you?”
“He tried.”
“What happened?”
Ravi looked at the photograph again.
“He gave me evidence.”
“Where is it?”
“He disappeared before he could tell me.”
“My parents died.”
“I know.”
“Car accident.”
Ravi did not answer.
That silence cut deeper than any sentence.
“You think someone killed them.”
“Yes.”
My knees weakened.
Then his attorney approached with Catherine’s phone.
“Mr. Greedy.”
“What?”
“We traced P.V.”
Catherine started crying.
Ravi looked at the screen.
I did too.
The contact had been linked to a corporate number.
VOSS FAMILY HOLDINGS.
Catherine’s family.
Then the attorney added:
“But P.V. doesn’t stand for anyone named Voss.”
Ravi’s eyes narrowed.
“It stands for a company.”
“What company?” I asked.
He looked at me.
“Paragon Ventures.”
I knew that name.
Everyone in my family did.
Paragon Ventures owned the collection agency that had been calling me for two years about my parents’ unpaid debts.
May you like
The same debts keeping Sadi and me broke.
And suddenly the ten-thousand-dollar kiss did not look like a joke at all.
