Chapter One
Present Day
“And the little rabbit said good night to the moon, because even though he couldn’t see where tomorrow would take him, he knew the moon would still be there when he woke up.”
Willow smiled softly as she closed the worn children’s book and looked down at the little girl curled against her side.
Her daughter Lily’s tiny hand rested on Willow’s stomach, her fingers curled into the fabric of her shirt, while her other arm was wrapped around the stuffed gray elephant she had carried everywhere for nearly a year.
Her lips were parted slightly, and every few breaths she made the sweetest little snuffling sound that Willow had teased her about more than once.
At two years old, Lily was the brightest light in a world Willow had once believed would never hold anything beautiful again.
She carefully set the book on the nightstand before brushing several strands of light brown hair away from Lily’s face, allowing her fingers to linger against her daughter’s warm cheek.
“You missed the ending again, bug,” she whispered.
Lily didn’t move. Willow’s smile grew even as the familiar ache settled around her heart.
She looked so much like her. Everyone said it, although there weren’t many people in Willow’s life these days who were allowed close enough to make the observation.
Lily had her light brown hair, her big brown eyes, and even the tiny heart-shaped birthmark low on her back that Willow had always joked was proof she had been born with more love than she knew what to do with.
Thank God those were the things Lily had inherited from her. Because there were other things Willow prayed every night she never would.
Willow bent and pressed her lips against her daughter’s forehead, breathing in the faint scent of the lavender shampoo she had used during Lily’s bath earlier.
“One day we’re getting out of here,” she whispered against her soft hair. “I promise you, baby. One day we’re going to be free, and you’ll never have to see this place or that man ever again.”
The words had become something of a nightly ritual, spoken so quietly that only Lily ever heard them, and maybe that was foolish considering her daughter was usually asleep by the time Willow made the promise. But Willow needed to say them.
More importantly, she needed to believe them. Because without that promise, she wasn’t sure how she would have survived the last three years.
Sometimes it felt like she had been trapped in Chen Pham’s world for an entire lifetime, while other times she could close her eyes and remember that fateful morning in Central Park with such clarity.
She remembered the needle. She also remembered waking up somewhere she didn’t recognize, terrified, confused, and so sick she could barely lift her head. She remembered learning exactly what kind of monster had taken her.
Chen Pham wasn’t simply some wealthy criminal with too much power.
He controlled one of the largest human-trafficking networks in the world, moving women and girls across borders as casually as other men moved merchandise.
By the time Willow understood what had happened to her, she had already been stripped of everything that had once made her Willow Beckett.
They had beaten and trained her, so she was ready to be sold.
She hadn’t understood what that meant at first, not really, because some small, na?ve part of her brain had refused to accept that human beings could actually do the things she was seeing around her.
Then Chen had noticed her. Even now, Willow didn’t know why. She had stopped asking herself a long time ago.
He had taken an interest in her before the transaction could happen, and instead of being sold to another monster, she had become his. His woman, he had called her. Mistress was another word she had heard. But slave was the most accurate.
Willow hated every second of it, but she had learned very quickly that surviving Chen meant understanding what he expected and giving him enough of it to keep breathing.
So she had learned when to speak and when to remain silent, when to smile and when to disappear into the background.
She had learned how to read the smallest shift in his expression and how to tell whether the sound of his footsteps coming down a hallway meant she had seconds to prepare herself or minutes to hide.
She had played the part because she had wanted to survive.
Then Lily happened. Willow hadn’t even known how to process the pregnancy when she had found out about it.
She had cried for days, terrified of bringing a child into this nightmare, and then somewhere along the way, as her belly grew and she felt that first tiny flutter beneath her hand, everything changed.
Lily became her reason to wake up each morning, the quiet strength that helped her endure everything she was forced to survive, and the hope that one day she would finally find a way to escape.
Chen had shown little interest in his daughter from the beginning.
He wasn’t affectionate toward Lily, but thankfully he wasn’t violent with her either.
To him, she seemed to be little more than an inconvenience that happened to share his blood, and Willow had done everything possible to keep it that way.
In Chen’s world, staying invisible was the safest way to survive, especially for Lily.
Willow carefully eased herself out from beneath her daughter and pulled the blanket over her small body.
She was reaching for the lamp when the bedroom door suddenly burst open, and two men walked in. She recognized both men as members of Chen’s security detail, though neither was someone she regularly dealt with.
Her heart raced, but instinct took over, and she immediately positioned herself between them and the bed.
“What are you doing?” she demanded quietly, glancing back at Lily when her daughter stirred. “She’s sleeping.”
“The boss wants to see you.”
“Now?” she asked, feeling her stomach start to knot.
“Now.”
Willow glanced at Lily again. “Where is he?”
“He’s in his office,” the larger of the two said.
A cold sensation worked its way down Willow’s spine. Being invited to Chen’s office was never good.
If Chen wanted her for dinner, an event, or simply because he expected her at his side, someone told her where to be and what to wear. If he wanted her in his office, particularly this late at night, it usually meant she had done something wrong. Or someone had convinced him she had.
Willow glanced at Lily again. She didn’t like leaving her daughter at all, but refusing Chen wasn’t an option, especially when she had no idea what this was about.
Willow bent over Lily and kissed her forehead once more before straightening, forcing herself to walk toward the door when every instinct she possessed screamed at her not to leave her child behind.
As she stepped into the hallway, another thought slipped into her mind—the women. No, it couldn’t be that. Chen couldn’t know.
Willow had helped several women over the years in small ways whenever opportunities presented themselves. Sometimes it had been information. A door conveniently left unlocked. A warning about a guard’s schedule. Once, a key had somehow ended up where a frightened nineteen-year-old could find it.
Willow never allowed herself to know what happened afterward, because knowing was dangerous.
The most recent had been a woman named Riley.
Willow hadn’t known much about the woman except that she was American and, unlike most women who came through Chen’s hands, Riley hadn’t been taken randomly. Chen had wanted her specifically, and Willow had eventually learned she was some kind of federal agent.
She had been with Chen the day Riley was supposed to be sold, and even now Willow could still see the terror in Riley’s eyes as if it had been burned into her memory.
In that moment, something inside her had shifted, and she had made a decision.
A dangerous one. One that she hadn’t fully thought through, but knew she had to help.
And somehow, against every expectation and every rule she was supposed to follow, that choice had been enough to help Riley get away.
The fallout afterward had been unlike anything Willow had witnessed during her captivity. Chen’s operation had taken a significant hit after Riley’s escape, and he had become obsessed with discovering how she had managed it and who had helped her.
But he had never suspected Willow. At least, that was what she had always believed. She had clung to that thought for the last few months, using it like a fragile shield to convince herself she was invisible to him.
Her pulse quickened as she followed the two men down the sweeping staircase, and she tried to steady herself, telling herself to stop it, that if Chen knew, she would already be dead. That thought should have reassured her, but it didn’t.
Willow forced herself to concentrate on her surroundings instead.
The mansion was enormous, an obscene display of wealth hidden behind towering walls and armed guards.
Chen owned homes all over the world, though very few were actually registered in his name.
This estate sat outside Marrakesh, Morocco, concealed behind a tall, solid wall that felt suffocating.
She knew the layout of the mansion like the back of her hand. She knew which hallways had cameras and which had blind spots. She knew the guard’s schedule.
She had spent the last few months memorizing everything, because she intended to escape.
She wasn’t foolish enough to believe it would be easy. Chen watched her closely, and Lily made disappearing much harder, but Willow had been quietly preparing anyway.
A bag sat hidden in an old storage area near the kitchen. Nothing impressive, just clothes for Lily, a change of clothes for herself, bottled water, a few snacks, basic toiletries, and every bit of cash she had managed to get her hands on.