"I'm not sure if it's relevant, but I'm pretty sure he's trying to get Cheryl off the board too. I overheard some conversations with other board members. He was campaigning pretty hard to get rid of her."

She arched an eyebrow as if that part was news. "Cheryl's whole life is that organization. She took it over and turned it into what it is. Reilly put in the money, but she made it happen."

The bartender swung by with my hamburger, not bothering to ask me if I needed anything. Didn't matter, I was starting to lose my appetite the more we talked about Reilly.

"Would he kick her off just out of spite? I thought they had parted amicably."

Jia took a sip of her water and set the glass down. "Maybe he has something to hide. Or something to gain."

I waited, but she didn't continue. I sensed that she knew more than she was telling me.

"If something shady is going on, I need your help to know what to look for."

"The question is, what do you want, Vanessa? This only works if we both get what we're after."

I stared at my hamburger and took a nibble on a fry. What did I want? I'd started digging with no idea what the consequences could be.

"I've dedicated my life to Reilly and to this job for two years. Every day, with very few exceptions. If he's doing what I think he's doing, I don't want to be a part of it anymore. I mean, this is really wrong. Not to mention illegal."

She stared at me a moment without saying a word. "About a week after Reilly's divorce was final, Dermott transferred a large sum of money out of TriCorp into an offshore bank account."

"How much money?"

She pursed her lips. "The transfer was in the amount of twenty million dollars."

My jaw fell. I hadn't had the time to look through all the invoices, but... "Oh my God. If what you're saying is true, half the money that passed through TriCorp is technically Cheryl's."

"I can guarantee it wasn't on the table in the divorce. So, yes, technically, it's hers, or the organization's. However you want to look at it, it's in the wrong hands. Cheryl never knew about it because she's always been on the ground floor of the organization's operations. He's been managing the finances at the top, setting up kickbacks for Dermott and Donovan and anyone else who he didn't want talking about the millions he was skimming off. So while Cheryl's tapping all her friends to keep donating to the cause, he's skimming as much off as he can into an account that Dermott managed up until a couple of months ago. They've both been using the initiative as a tax shelter for years. The CFO at the initiative is in completely over his head. It's a gold mine for everyone else."

"This is horrible."

I swallowed over the huge knot that had formed in my throat. Reilly was a monster, and suddenly I felt like the biggest fool for ever doubting my instincts.

"How do you know all this?"

Jia shrugged and stole a fry from my plate. "Dermott talks too much."

"You haven't known him very long."

"I think I know him better than his wife does at this point."

She winked, and even though I found her casual attitude toward his implied infidelity unsettling, it did explain why Dermott would confide all of this to her. It would also explain why she was so angry to have been passed over after Dermott's promotion. She was indeed a woman scorned.

"So what do we do? I mean, this needs to stop. It's fraud. So many people are getting ripped off."

"Like you, I have a ton of paperwork showing money passed between him and the initiative. It looks shady and would cause a scandal, but at the end of the day, these are smart finance guys. Even if no one's been paying attention, they probably aren't going to cook the books to the point where they can't loosely justify the expenses in a court of law. That's not the smoking gun we'd need to really take them out of the game."

"What is?"

"I can prove that Dermott wired the funds. But it doesn't matter unless you can find where the money went."

"And what if I find it?"

Her lips pursed slightly, and I could see the calculating in her eyes. "If you can find me that account's records, Dermott and Reilly are both finished. I'd take it to the top of the firm, and I'd have Dermott's job within a week."

"You want revenge," I said simply.

"I like to think of it as my own personal brand of justice."

"What if you're wrong? What if all of it's legitimate? I lose my job over nothing." Not that I wanted to keep it, in light of all of this.

"Go to Cheryl. If she thinks your heart is in the right place, she'll never tell Reilly. Life goes on. And if I'm right, she's got ten million reasons to believe you."

"I'll get blacklisted if Reilly knows I'm behind it."

"Maybe. Maybe not. I could probably get you a highly paid administrative position back at the firm. I could hire you directly under me, if you'd like."

I appreciated that Jia was trying to sweeten the deal, since the future was looking bleak regardless of the outcome. But I couldn't think of anything worse.

"No offense to you, but I don't want to run around after overworked execs anymore. If I leave Reilly, I need to start over."

"I'm not sure how I could help you there."

I thought it over. The possibility of starting over had featured more prominently in my thoughts lately. Still, I wasn't sure what my next steps would be. I had a couple years of solid work experience to add to my resume and some savings to get me by for a while. "I'll figure out a way to land on my feet."

"Whatever you decide, just don't let Reilly catch you snooping around. If he gets wind of any of this, he'll move the money and start covering his tracks. Sounds like he may already be trying to do that by getting Cheryl off the board."

"The meeting is at the end of the month."

"Clock is ticking." She slipped her blazer back on. "I'll courier the wire transfer statement and anything else I can find to your apartment later tonight. That way you'll have everything you need when the time comes."

"Will this come back to you?" I looked up as she rose.

"The only way this comes back to me is through you. Take the information to Cheryl. When everything blows up, I'll make my move."

Jia was the only one who was really going to win. I cared more about justice than vengeance. And if everything she said was true, there was a lot of justice to be served to David Reilly.

She was about to leave but stopped mid-turn.

"How's Maya doing anyway? Someone told me she got married."

"She did. They're expecting a baby boy in the fall."

Her expression softened. "I'm happy for her."

"Me too."

"Do me a favor, and send her my best."

I nodded. "I will."

"Good luck."

"You too."

I replayed my conversation with Jia in my head at least a hundred times. I was still in shock. All of this information had fallen heavy on my shoulders. If what she said was true, and if I could find that smoking gun, I'd be responsible for exposing something bigger than I could really fathom. I was a personal assistant. I was not cut out for this.

Reilly strolled into the reception area, breaking my focus from the computer screen and my tumbling thoughts. The sky outside had grown dark and the office was empty. I was only doing time until he left.

He slowed at my desk. "I'm heading out. Do you have any plans tonight?"

I shrugged. "Probably not."

"How are things going with Darren?"

I could tell him the truth, but I didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing that we weren't together. No doubt, he'd had a hand in Darren's decision to push me away so suddenly.

"It's complicated," I said finally.

Satisfaction glittered in his eyes. "We had an interesting chat."

"So I heard."

He canted his head. I hoped he couldn't see how broken I was inside.

"We'd make a great team, Vanessa. I hope you've thought about that."

I looked down, doodling circles on my notepad. "I'll be here a bit longer. Call if you need anything." Please leave.

"I'll be across the street grabbing a quick drink before I head home. Come down if you need a break."

I nodded, trying my best to ignore him and end this conversation. But he didn't leave. He circled the desk slowly and leaned in behind me. I cringed when he rested his hand on my shoulder, squeezing me.

"David..." I tensed, shifting away from him as much as my desk would allow.

"I pushed you too fast, I know. After waiting for you this long, I can accept a slower pace. But we need a place to start."

I swallowed hard, searching for a way out of this situation that could easily spiral out of control. Adriana and Bill were long gone already. Reilly wasn't drunk this time, but that circumstance didn't make me feel any safer being alone with him.

"Vanessa... When you ask me what I need, the answer is always you."

I closed my eyes. "I'm going through a lot right now. Let me think about it, okay?" I hoped he couldn't hear the tremor in my voice.

He kissed my neck, and bile rose in my throat.

"Good," he whispered. He straightened and walked out of the office.

Once alone, I willed myself not to cry. Not to break down.

I couldn't make excuses for him anymore. This had to end.

Chapter Twenty.

DARREN.

I'd been nursing my hangover for hours, and my head was still throbbing. But no amount of shots last night could have gotten me to go home with another woman. Catching a glimpse of Vanessa with that guy had been an unlucky circumstance that had only made me drink harder and longer, well into the night. I couldn't stop thinking about who he was and if they'd left together.

She couldn't have moved on that quickly.

I sure as hell wasn't able to.

I was ready to call her again, because not knowing was killing me. Then the tones went off. The other guys on Ladder 9 went for their truck. I followed suit and went through the motions. A routine I'd done a thousand times, thank God, because my mind was all over the place. Pining over a woman I'd pushed away like a goddamn fool.

The dispatcher's voice scratched through the radio at my hip. "Four-alarm fire at East Ninety-Second and Clarkson. Reports of flames from the windows and occupants inside."

I grabbed my gear and started to dress quickly, forcing my aching brain to think about the task at hand. We loaded up, hit the sirens, and pulled out toward our destination. Ian was at the wheel, dominating the road and cussing the whole way as we maneuvered around traffic.

Hundreds of calls and dozens of fires had trained my body to stay calm in the worst situations, but already I could anticipate the adrenaline rush coming. Someone with nerves of steel couldn't stay unaffected when he was running into a building that everyone else was running out of. All my life, I'd wanted nothing more than to do that very thing.

In the distance, a string of black smoke billowed up into the sky, dissipating high above the tops of the buildings.

The radio continued. "Engines 2 and 7 are en route. Occupants on the first and third floors."

Ian's eyes were dead on the road. In the back, one of the new guys was looking a bit green as we pulled up in front of the three-story building. The engine trucks pulled up quickly behind, and their crew started working the hydrant.

"All right guys. Let's roll," Ian said.

On the sidewalk, a woman was crying hysterically. I went to her. "What's wrong? Who's still inside?"

The woman started speaking Spanish quickly, too quickly for my weak command of the language. I kept making out a name though. Leo.

Ian came up beside me and listened for a moment.

"Who's Leo?" I asked him.

"Her little boy. He was playing hide-and-seek, and they couldn't find him. He's inside on the third floor. Let's go."

"Move!" I shouted at the crew, moving away from the woman who had every right to be hysterical.

Two cop cars pulled up, and an officer immediately went to her, pulling her away to a safe distance.