CHAPTER FOURTEEN
## MELINDA
The text came through at nine in the morning, jolting me awake from a restless sleep: *Meet me at Café Russo, 2 PM. Come alone or I tell him everything.*
I stared at the screen until my eyes burned, my stomach twisting into knots. Café Russo. The irony of the name wasn't lost on me. Someone with a sense of humor was toying with me, someone who knew exactly how terrified I was.
I couldn't ignore this. Couldn't pretend it would go away if I just deleted the messages like I had yesterday. Whoever was behind this had photos of Belinda, had evidence of her wild life, had proof that could destroy everything. If they went to Kieran with what they knew, my family would be finished. I would be finished.
Maybe I could buy their silence. Maybe if I met them, reasoned
