Page 5 of Jay Bird

Tonight he wanted her to look, and Willow wished more than anything that he didn’t.

His expression was almost calm, but there was something cold and vicious beneath it, something that made every survival instinct Willow possessed scream at her to run.

Chen reached out. She forced herself not to flinch as the tip of his finger touched the hollow at the base of her throat. Slowly, he dragged it downward along the center of her chest.

“For three years, I have kept you here with me. I could have sold you that first week for a considerable amount of money, but I chose not to.” His finger stopped, and his gaze remained locked on hers. “Do you know why?”

Willow swallowed. “No.”

“Because you were different. You learned quickly. You understood loyalty. You understood your place.” His mouth curved into a smile that held no warmth. “I rewarded that loyalty by allowing you privileges very few women in my world receive.”

He used that word, allowed, as if he hadn’t stolen every single choice she’d ever had. Willow forced the thought down, keeping it carefully hidden from her face.

“I have protected you,” he continued quietly. “I’ve kept you alive. I’ve given you a beautiful home, and expensive clothes. I even allowed you to keep that child. But there is one thing I cannot tolerate.”

Willow saw his expression change a fraction of a second before his hand moved. The slap sent her head whipping to the side, a sharp burst of pain exploding across her cheek as she staggered backward, barely managing to stay on her feet.

“Betrayal!” he shouted.

Willow’s heart seemed to stop in her chest as the words sank in, and after a moment of stunned stillness, she slowly turned her head back to look at him.

“I don't know what you’re talking about.”

His hand struck her again, and the force of the blow sent her crashing to the floor.

Willow caught herself with one hand, her palm scraping against the polished surface while a metallic taste filled her mouth.

“Lying to me now only makes your betrayal worse.”

Fear surged through her, but she forced herself to look confused.

“I swear, Chen, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Chen crouched in front of her. “Riley. The FBI bitch who escaped from me three months ago.” His voice remained frighteningly calm. “Did you truly believe I would never discover who helped her?”

Willow stared at him, her mind racing through every mistake she might have made, every person who might have seen something, every tiny detail she could have overlooked. But in the end, none of it mattered. He knew.

Whether someone had talked or Chen had finally pieced it together, it didn’t really matter anymore. Either way, the outcome was the same, and Willow knew it deep in her bones. She was screwed.

Riley’s escape hadn’t simply embarrassed him. The information she had gotten out with had apparently damaged portions of Chen’s operation, costing him money, contacts, and routes he had spent years building.

He would never forgive Willow for that, and there was no doubt in her mind that he wasn’t going to let her live.

A strange, unsettling calm settled over her as the realization sank in. Not because she wasn’t afraid, because she was terrified. But because, suddenly, there was no longer any reason to keep playing the obedient woman. Not anymore. There was only one thing that still anchored her, one reason left that mattered above everything else. That was Lily.

Willow’s gaze snapped toward the door.

“My daughter.”

Chen stood. “What about her?”

Willow pushed herself onto her knees. “Whatever you’re going to do to me, Lily has nothing to do with it.”

Chen gave a dismissive sigh. “The brat will be taken care of.”

Every drop of blood in Willow’s body turned to ice as the meaning of his words sank in. She didn’t need him to explain further. She already knew exactly what he meant. She had heard it before, seen it happen before. In Chen’s world, people who became inconvenient were “taken care of,” and that was just a polite way of saying they disappeared without a trace.

“No.”