Page 3 of Jay Bird

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, naïve 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.