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“Explain. Now.”

“You’re the one who needs to explain,” she snaps. “Did you or did you not kill my mom?”

“I had nothing to do with it. I wasn’t even involved in that hit – on either side. I had nothing to do with it. When that hit happened, I wasn’t the Don of the Family. My brother, Luka, was. Why would I be there? Listen to yourself. You think I would hurt an innocent woman?”

She blinks, her eyes growing glassy. Even wearing a baggy T, her hair damp and loose around her shoulders, with no makeup, she’s more beautiful than any woman at that party.

“No,” she whispers. “I can’t believe it, but I saw it… in, in black and white.”

She shudders, trying to move away from me again, but this time, I won’t let her. I pull her against me so she can feel my tense muscles. The outrage burning inside me. “You need to explain, Sienna.”

“Adrian found me in the bathroom. He hurt me. He grabbed my throat. Showed me a police report. Then gave me this bug to catch you and Gianna talking about anything mob related, but I knew I couldn’t wear it. It would feel…” She laughs humorlessly. “Too much like a betrayal. So, I was looking for somewhere to plant. But even then, I wasn’t sure I could do it.”

My rage takes a different shade when she tells me this.

“Adriangrabbed your throat?” I snarl. “He cornered you in the bathroom – alone?”

She nods. “He said I would be a Bratva plaything if I didn’t do what he said. They would make me their toy.”

I let her go as my hands curl into fists. I don’t want to hurt her. “I’m going to kill him. And I’m going to make it slow.”

“Nico,” Sienna whispers, staring at me as if she doesn’t recognize who I am.

“I know,” I tell her. “I don’t want you to see this side of me, but what he did is unacceptable. I don’t care what that police report says. I had nothing to do with your mother’s death. I wasn’t even in Dallas. I was in Austin for a work meeting.”

“Really?” she asks.

“Really. I can’t believe you think I would do something like that.”

“I didn’t,” she murmurs. “Well – I don’t know. He showed me apolicereport.”

“It was fake,” I tell her flatly. “Go to my website, go to the company blog, and you’ll see photos of me with several Chinese investors taken in Austin on the weekend your mother was killed. I’ve been looking into your mother’s death, digging deeper. I’m waiting to hear back from a contact. Hell, Sienna.”

She groans, gripping her hair like she’s going to rip chunks out.

Rage gives way to sympathy when I see the pain she’s in.

“Hey – calm down.” I take her hands, holding them tightly, holding her still. “Look at me, Vignette. I promise you. I had nothing to do with it. I’ll show you the website right now.”

“Maybe I should show you the report, too.”

“He gave it to you, didn’t just show you?”

“It’s upstairs.”

“That amateur,” I growl. “Let’s take a look at this report, then.”

Holding her hand, we head upstairs together. She goes to the bedside table and opens the drawer, showing me a police report.

“While I look this over,” I tell her, “go to my website. Check the dates.”

She sits cross-legged on the bed. Even now, lust blooms when I see her thick thighs on display. I focus on the task at hand, scanning the report.

“Oh,” Sienna mutters. “There you are – that was the day it happened.”

“Yes,” I snarl. “Because I don’t kill women.”

Her shoulders slump. “I feel like an idiot.”