Chapter Twenty
The morning sun stretched across the tiled patio behind Chen’s Italian villa, reflecting off the surface of the infinity pool and casting shimmering patterns against the pale stone walls.
Beyond the sprawling grounds, the deep blue waters of the Mediterranean stretched toward the horizon, while rugged cliffs and clusters of colorful homes dotted the coastline in the distance.
It was the kind of breathtaking view people traveled halfway around the world to experience and paid obscene amounts of money to enjoy.
Chen sat beneath the shade of the covered terrace with one ankle resting over the opposite knee, a cup of strong black coffee beside him and a tablet balanced in his hand.
The estate was quiet at this hour, aside from the occasional footsteps of his security personnel patrolling the perimeter and the soft trickle of water from the fountain near the gardens.
It was peaceful, almost picturesque, a stark contrast to the information displayed on the screen in front of him.
Eleven women had arrived two days earlier.
The shipment had been smaller than originally promised, which irritated him, but the quality made up for some of the loss.
Most were young and healthy, and several had already drawn interest from buyers after preliminary photographs had circulated.
Others would need time to become compliant enough to be moved.
Chen scrolled through the files with detached interest, reviewing their ages, nationalities, medical reports, and potential buyers.
They had assigned each woman a number until her placement was finalized.
He preferred it that way. Names encouraged familiarity, and familiarity had no place in business.
At least, that was what he had always believed.
His thumb stopped moving across the screen as his thoughts drifted to the one woman who had somehow managed to become the exception—Willow.
Even after months without a single confirmed sighting of her, she continued to occupy far more of his thoughts than he cared to admit.
Even now, just thinking about her made his jaw tighten. Willow needed to be punished.
He had spent the past few weeks thinking about what he would do when he finally found her, and killing her had never been part of the plan.
Death would be too easy. Willow needed to understand what her betrayal had cost her and that the freedom she had stolen had never truly belonged to her in the first place.
Most importantly, she needed to understand that no one humiliated him and just walked away.
The sound of footsteps coming from inside the house pulled Chen’s attention away from the tablet, although he didn’t bother turning around.
“You’re interrupting my breakfast, Liu.”
“I think you’ll forgive me.”
There was something in Liu’s voice that immediately caught Chen’s attention.
He looked over his shoulder and watched his head of security step onto the patio with a phone in his hand.
Liu’s expression gave little away, but after seven years of working together, Chen knew the man well enough to recognize the subtle tension in his face.
Chen set the tablet aside. “What happened?”
“We heard from Elias.”
Chen’s fingers stopped just short of his coffee cup.
“The one keeping an eye on things in Virginia Beach?”
“Yes.”
“And?” Chen asked, raising an eyebrow.
Liu crossed the patio and placed the phone on the table before sliding it toward him.
“We may have found her.”
For several seconds, Chen stared at him. Then he reached for the phone.
Three photographs were attached to Elias’s message, and the first showed three women standing outside a veterinary clinic. Chen enlarged the image, his attention immediately settling on the woman standing between the other two.
His pulse quickened as he took in her features. Her hair was longer, falling differently around her face, and she had regained some of the weight she had lost during the months before her escape. Her cheeks had more color, too, and even through a photograph he could tell she looked healthier.
But there was no question in his mind. “That’s her.”
“Elias believes it’s a strong possibility, but he hasn’t been able to confirm.”
“I don’t need him to confirm it.” Chen enlarged the photograph even more. “I know what Willow looks like.”
Liu remained quiet as Chen swiped to the second photograph. This one showed Willow in profile, and whatever small shred of doubt might have existed disappeared completely. It was her.
After months of searching, she was finally right there in front of him.
Chen moved to the third photograph, which showed the vehicle she had climbed into after leaving the clinic.
“Where did she go?”
“Elias followed her after she left work. She eventually drove into a gated residential community on the north side of Virginia Beach, but he didn’t attempt to follow her inside.”
Chen looked up sharply before giving a slow nod. “Good.”
Liu seemed mildly surprised by his response.
“You agree with that decision?”
“Of course I agree. I didn’t hire Elias because he’s an idiot.” Chen handed the phone back before reaching for his coffee. “We already know there’s a military connection in Virginia Beach. The last thing I need is some fool drawing attention to himself by tailgating Willow through a security gate.”
Liu pulled out the chair across from him and sat.
“It appears that Willow is working at the veterinary clinic belonging to Mia. We also confirmed that Riley’s fiancé is also a Navy SEAL.”
Chen leaned back in his chair as the pieces began fitting together.
He hadn’t forgotten the operation that had nearly dismantled a significant portion of his network months earlier.
Officially, information surrounding the raid had remained limited, but Chen had enough contacts to hear rumors about specialized military involvement.
Navy SEALs had been mentioned more than once, although he had never been able to confirm it.
Now those rumors didn’t seem nearly as unlikely.
“Willow went to them,” he said.
Of course she had. Willow had helped Riley escape. Mia had been her friend before Chen’s group took her. Once she had made it back to the United States, she had sought out the only people she believed might be capable of protecting her.
It was smart. Smarter than Chen had given her credit for.
That mistake wouldn’t happen again.
“Elias says she doesn’t appear to be hiding. She walked out with the other employees at closing as though it were any ordinary day.”
Chen looked at the photograph again, and this time he noticed something he hadn’t paid much attention to before.
Willow was smiling. Not the carefully practiced smile she had learned to give him when they attended dinners or when he had expected her to perform for guests. This was different. Her head was tilted toward Mia, and she appeared to be laughing at something the other woman had said.
She looked happy.
The realization bothered him far more than it should have.
Willow wasn’t supposed to look happy. She had spent months knowing he would eventually find her, and she should have been terrified every time she stepped outside.
She should have been looking over her shoulder and wondering whether the next stranger she passed belonged to him.
Instead, she worked, drove, laughed with friends, and lived as though she had just moved on.
As though the three years she had spent with him had become nothing more than an unpleasant memory she could leave behind.
As though he had become nothing more than a memory.
Chen’s fingers tightened around the phone. “She’s gotten comfortable.”
“It appears that way.”
A humorless smile touched Chen’s mouth. “That was her second mistake.”
Liu studied him. “Her second?”
“Her first was believing she could leave me.”
Chen saved the newest photograph of Willow to his own phone before returning Liu’s device.
“Has Elias identified the vehicle?”
“He’s working on the registration now.”
“Tell him not to rush it. I don’t want anyone accessing records in a way that raises flags, especially if she’s surrounded herself with military personnel.”
Liu nodded.
“I want her watched, but that’s all for now. I want no contact, no attempts to get inside that neighborhood, and absolutely nothing that could make her suspicious.”
He paused before adding the one piece of information that mattered almost as much as Willow herself.
“What about Lily?”
“Nothing so far. Why? I thought you weren’t really concerned with her.”
“I’m not. But Lily could be a way to Willow.”
Chen stood and walked toward the edge of the patio, staring across the immaculate grounds while he considered his next move. There would be plenty of time for action once he understood exactly what Willow had built for herself.
“Going after her in Virginia Beach won’t be simple,” Liu warned. “Not if she’s surrounded by SEALs.”
Chen turned toward him. “Then we don’t storm in.”
He wasn’t foolish enough to underestimate men trained to find and kill people for a living. If Willow had managed to place herself in the middle of that world, Chen needed to understand the threat before deciding how to remove it.
“We wait,” he continued. “We learn her routine and find the weaknesses in it. Everyone eventually becomes predictable once they become comfortable.”
“And then?”
Chen glanced at the photograph he had saved to his phone.
Willow’s smile stared back at him.
“Then we remind her what happens when she betrays me.”
His anger simmered beneath the calm exterior he had perfected over years of conducting business with men who mistook emotion for weakness.
“She needs to be punished, Liu. She needs to understand that every day she’s spent pretending she was free was only possible because I hadn’t found her yet.”
Liu studied him for a moment before leaning back in his chair.
“You aren’t planning to manage this from Italy, are you?”
Chen looked at him and smirked. “Fuck no. Have the jet fueled.”
A frown immediately appeared on Liu’s face. “Chen.”
“I’ve waited long enough.”
“Going to Virginia Beach personally is a risk, especially if the SEAL connection is real. Plus, you’ve got every international agency looking for you.”
“Which is precisely why I’m not sending a group of men into Virginia Beach without knowing exactly what we’re walking into.
My tracks are well covered.” Chen picked up his coffee and finished what remained before setting the cup back on the table.
“I want to see her life for myself. I want to know who she’s trusting, who she’s living with, and who she believes is keeping her safe. ”
Liu stood. “And after that?”
Chen slipped his phone into his pocket, taking Willow’s new photograph with him.
“Then I’ll decide how much of that life she gets to keep.”
Liu remained silent for several seconds, apparently realizing there would be no changing his mind.
“When do you want to leave?”
Chen looked across the pool toward the sea, the peaceful Italian morning suddenly holding little interest for him.
“Tomorrow.”
Liu nodded slowly. “For Virginia?”
Chen turned back toward him, a cold smile settling across his face.
“Yes.”