by Liliana Hart
Axel nodded. “The auction for the girls begins this afternoon at four o’clock. An invitation arrived at our room this morning, guiding me to the boathouse on the north side of the island. They’ve assigned each of the bidders a separate room number. Each room will be equipped with a screen and a button. The girls will be presented one at a time on the screen, and if you wish to bid, all you have to do is push the button. Once there are no more bids and the girl has been purchased, she’ll be taken off-screen and replaced with a new girl.”
“I hope every one of these bastards goes down in flames,” Dante said.
“We’ll take down as many as we can,” Axel said. “New monsters crop up every day. I was able to plant the seed in Mittal’s head that Fedoryevski wants in on the bidding, so I know Deacon received an invitation this morning. And Levi confirmed that he also received an invitation. We’ll be wired to each other and have our codes worked out to know who is bidding on what. They’ll auction off three of the girls each day until they’re gone. Mittal said it was the appetizer to the big auction on Saturday.”
“Going down in flames is too humane a punishment,” Liv said. “I want that fucker to hurt.”
“He will,” Dante told her. “I promise. If you’ve got anything else, make it quick. Everyone will think you ordered the whole menu.”
“I had breakfast with Raj Mittal and some of the other major players this morning,” Axel said. “Mittal made it a point to let us know how great the security is around the launch codes. His bungalow and his son’s are joined by a pergola, and armed guards walk the perimeter. Then, once inside, the briefcase is in a locked safe, secured with a thumbprint and retinal-scan passcode.”
“Nothing I can’t handle,” Dante said.
“That’s not all,” Axel said. “The briefcase is sitting on a pressure trigger. Unless it’s been properly disarmed, the moment the briefcase is lifted, alarms sound all over the island and everything is shut down. There’s no leaving or entering the island from that point.”
Dante sighed. “Still nothing I can’t handle.”
“The first formal event is tonight,” Axel said. “Liv and I will attend, and it’ll give you a chance to switch out the briefcase for the dummy.”
“You say that as if there’s a problem,” Dante said, leaning forward to point at random foods on the menu.
“The problem is that we’re still not sure where they’re hiding the girls. The ones we purchase at the auction will be safe with us. We’ll slip them off the island with Elias and Miller. But the others are being kept somewhere. If something goes wrong during the briefcase switch-off, it’ll put Mittal on high alert that there’s a traitor on the island. He’ll start doing closer checks, and we won’t have as much freedom as we do now. He might even start sending home some of the minor players.”
“Then we need to find the girls, and we need to make sure nothing goes wrong during the switch-off,” Dante said.
“Piece of cake,” Liv said.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Liv had never been to a party where ninety-five percent of the attendees would have no problem murdering someone in their sleep.
Three open-air cabanas had been set up along the beach, the white filmy drapes, billowing in the breeze, lending each one to the illusion of privacy. The first tent was where the food was being served—high round tables were spread around and white chairs lined the walls so people could eat comfortably—and there were also chairs and tables scattered along the beach. The second tent was set up for gambling with green felt poker tables, a bar that served hard liquor and cigars, and four armed men—one at each corner—to make sure everyone played fairly. And the third tent was nothing but a large dance floor, music wafting along the beach and getting lost in the sound of the waves.
But the jovial mood didn’t keep a chill from running down her spine.
“Relax, darling,” Axel said, bringing the champagne to his lips. “You look tense.”
“I feel tense,” she said, rolling back her shoulders. “Do you know how much firepower is under this tent? I’ve never seen so many ill-fitting tuxedos. And that woman in the red dress isn’t even trying to hide her thigh holster.”
“Which woman in the red dress?” Axel asked, taking a canapé from a passing tray. “There are two.”
“The one who isn’t wearing underwear. When she bent over to adjust her shoe, I got a better view than her gynecologist.”
“I’m sorry I missed it,” Axel said, smiling. “I was distracted by the woman in black whose dress is missing the top part.”
“She does have lovely breasts. I suppose when they look like that, it’s best to show them off.”
The woman in question wore a long, flowing skirt made of sheer black material. Instead of underwear, jewels were adhered to her bared pubic area. As Axel had pointed out, there was no top to the dress. She was completely bare except for matching jewels that covered her nipples. Her black hair was piled high on her head, and diamond earrings dangled all the way to her shoulders.
“Is this your first time at a party like this?” Axel asked.
“You mean where everyone is a criminal? Yes, this would be a first.”
“You’re doing fine,” he said. “You’re the equal of all the arm candy in attendance. You’re very good at the haughty bitch look.”
“You should’ve met my mother,” Liv said, draining her champagne. “She was an actress. I learned from a master. I feel overdressed.”
He snorted out a laugh. “I’d hardly call you overdressed. I’d be careful bending over if I were you too.”
She smiled and felt herself relax. She was used to working with a team, but not a team like The Gravediggers. That was special. She could see it in the way they communicated. How each of them seemed to know exactly what the others needed without having to speak the words. She couldn’t imagine having that kind of relationship with LeBlanc or Petrovich. She did have that sort of rapport with Donner, but they weren’t always on the same assignments. She was used to relying only on herself. Which was why she’d felt comfortable going into Shiv Mittal’s palace alone.
When Liv had stepped out of the golf cart that had dropped them at the tents, she’d felt like Daniel walking into the lions’ den. But she wasn’t alone. She was surrounded by The Gravediggers.
She’d chosen a gown of emerald green. Sheer material tied behind her neck and crossed over her breasts, leaving her back and most of her front bare. Her skirt was elegant, reminiscent of old Hollywood glamour, except that it was sheer as well. She wore full-coverage satin underwear beneath in a matching emerald green, and strappy, glittering Louboutins. Her bronzed skin glowed and she wore her hair in a high ponytail that trailed halfway down her back. Her makeup was natural, her lips plump and glossy. Her 9 mm was tucked away in her Chanel clutch.
“You didn’t prep her on what to expect?” Dante asked through their earpieces.
She looked around the tent and saw Deacon and Levi engaged in different conversations, though she knew they could hear as well.
“I’m briefing her now,” Axel said, putting his hand to the small of her back and leading her to the dance floor. “Aren’t you supposed to be doing a little recon?”
“I’m in position,” he said. “I just need to establish the guards’ pattern, and then I’ll do a dry run to see how easy it is to get in and out of the house. There are formal parties every night this week. I’ll have plenty of chances to get in and get the briefcase. Any luck on determining the location of the girls?”
“None,” Axel said. “We’re moving through the tents to the dancing area.”
“Be careful,” Elias said from his vantage point out on the water. He and Miller were watching every move that was made and making note of every person that disappeared from the party. “I’ve heard there will be more going on in that tent than dancing later on.”
“Liv should be long gone by that point,” Axel said.
“What am I missing?” Liv asked.
“And I thought he was such a nice man,” she said sarcastically.
Axel laughed and took her into his arms to dance. Her first reaction was to tense up. She hadn’t felt any man’s touch besides Dante’s in two years. She caught a glimpse of Levi and Deacon settling in at one of the poker tables in the center tent. Shiv Mittal was at the same table as Deacon.
“We’ve used thermal imagery on every bungalow and structure on this island,” Axel said. “The girls are not in any of them. We think there might be an underground bunker somewhere. Elias and Miller will question the three girls we removed this afternoon and see if they can give us a clue, but so far they’re too scared to talk.”
“The rescued girls are being fed and taken care of,” Elias said. “Miller will try to talk to them again by herself in a little while. We think they might respond better if no men are present.”
The music was something slow and sultry, and she tried to relax against Axel, but he just didn’t feel right. And then he turned her and she saw the one person she’d been looking for all week. There had been a part of her who still believed Dante hadn’t been telling her the truth. That she and Elizabeth hadn’t really been at the palace at the same time. A twin would’ve known such a thing, right?
But there she was—unmistakable—standing at Shiv Mittal’s shoulder. He reached up absentmindedly and squeezed her hand, and Liv realized Dante hadn’t been exaggerating their relationship. There was affection there. It was easy to see in the way he touched her, the way she looked at him with love in her eyes.
She’d always thought Elizabeth the more beautiful of the two of them. And the sweetest. There was a gentleness of spirit in Elizabeth that Liv had never managed to achieve. Even at a young age, Liv was constantly going head-to-head with their mother, and Elizabeth would be right there, trying to smooth things over. There had been such absolute goodness in her sister—pure light—and Liv had always wondered why it had been Elizabeth who was taken and not her.
Of the two of them, Elizabeth was the one her mother would’ve preferred to be safe. Every time her mother looked at Liv, she could almost hear her thinking that she wished it had been the other way around. Their father had loved them both, and his grief for Elizabeth had been real, but he’d never made Liv feel inferior or that it was her fault. Although they all knew it was her fault. If she hadn’t led her sister away from their nanny that day, they’d both be leading very different lives.
She couldn’t take her eyes off her sister, and she realized she was having trouble breathing. She’d never thought past the point of finding her. What it would actually feel like to see her again after all this time. There wasn’t exuberant joy, or a heartfelt reunion. She was staring at a stranger. A stranger who seemed to be very much entrenched in the life she was living, and not a prisoner at all. It was a hard concept to wrap her brain around.
Elizabeth wore a gorgeous gown of royal purple. She looked like the queen reigning over the evening’s festivities. The dress was gathered at each shoulder by an amethyst clip and veed low between her breasts, all the way down to her navel. The long skirt pooled at her feet, and it was slit all the way to her hip on one side. A diamond and amethyst choker encircled her neck, and matching earrings sparkled at her ears. Her white-blond hair had been braided like a crown around her head, and diamonds glittered between the woven strands.
She watched the crowd impassively, her head held high as she sipped what looked like water. She nodded demurely at guests since she was acting as hostess, but she didn’t engage them in conversation. What was this world Elizabeth lived in? And had she really been afraid Dante had been at the palace to take her away? Maybe she’d been brainwashed and she truly did need rescuing.
Elizabeth touched Shiv’s arm and leaned in to whisper something to him, and then she pulled away and left the tent.
“I think I need a breath of fresh air,” Liv told Axel, stepping out of his arms. “I’ll be back.”
“Stay to the lighted paths,” he told her. “Are you armed?”
“As long as I have my clutch, yes,” she said.
“Good. Tomorrow night make sure you wear your thigh holster. And try to carry at least one knife on you at all times. There’s a reason these women are armed.”
“Lovely,” she said, holding her clutch close.
Liv headed in the same direction she’d seen Elizabeth go, pausing at the edge of the tent where the hard flooring stopped to lean down and take off her shoes. The sand was cool beneath her feet, and she carried her shoes in her other hand as she followed Elizabeth. She was headed toward one of the docks that led out over the water.
Her sister hadn’t once looked behind her to see if she was being followed, and Liv shook her head, glancing back toward the tents to check whether anyone had followed them out. The party was in full swing, all three of the tents occupied, though there seemed to be a great deal of interest in whatever was happening in the poker room.
Liv climbed the wooden stairs up to the dock and saw her sister at the very end, gazing out over the crashing waves at the full moon. As she came up behind Elizabeth, Liv said, “I hope you don’t mind if I join you. I needed some air.”
Elizabeth didn’t turn around. “You’ll miss all the fun,” she said.
“I can only take so much fun before I start to go crazy. Besides, my feet were hurting and it’s getting drafty. Maybe we could have a party where everyone wears warm-up suits.”
The woman laughed, and Liv could see her smile in profile. “I’ll pass it along to the party planner.”
“I’m Genevieve, by the way,” Liv said, using the cover The Gravediggers had established for her.
“You’re here with Joaquin Logan,” she said by way of answering.
“In a manner of speaking,” Liv answered vaguely. “You’re good at remembering names and faces?”
Elizabeth still hadn’t looked at her. She leaned against the dock railing and stared out over the water, the wind blowing wisps of hair around her face.
“Yes, I’ve always been,” she said, “Even as a child. I never forget a name or a face. Will you be joining the ladies at the main house tomorrow for spa treatments?”
“I will,” Liv said. “It’s not often I get to enjoy time with other women. And there seems to be many fascinating ones here.”
“Your words speak something much different than your tone of voice. Am I to take it that you’re different than most of the women here?”
“I made the choice to attend, if that’s what you’re asking. And I could leave at any time. I’ve always found Joaquin a fascinating man, though I’m intelligent enough to know him for who he is. Nevertheless, I’m an independent, educated woman who travels the world and makes her own decisions. But the sex …” she said, her laugh low and husky. “That’s not something I can do on my own. And he’s phenomenal at it.”
Elizabeth’s smile grew. “That I can understand completely. There are some needs someone else needs to meet.”
Liv couldn’t stand it anymore. This was the moment she’d been waiting for since she was six years old. It was what she’d every worked for and dreamed of—to see her sister again.
“Elizabeth,” she whispered, wondering if she’d even said it aloud. But Elizabeth’s shoulders stiffened, and she turned slowly to face Liv—two identical faces, one with an expression of hope, the other with an expression of horror.
“That’s not my name,” she said, her face pale in the moonlight. She took a step back. “If you’ll excuse me, I have to go.”
“It was your name once,” Liv said, blocking her way. Her heart was pounding so hard in her chest she could barely breathe. “You remember it. You remember me.”
Liv had been standing in the shadows, but she took a step forward so she was illuminated in the moonlight. “You’d lie to your own sister?
”
Elizabeth was utterly still for a moment, taking in Liv’s every feature. And then her shoulders straightened and she said, “I don’t have a sister.”
Liv felt as if she’d been slapped in the face. “I deserve that, I suppose,” she said. “It was my fault you were taken. I’ve blamed myself every day. Relived the nightmare in my head.”
“Let me pass,” Elizabeth said. “I have no desire to get caught up in whatever scheme you’re up to. If you want money, you’ve come to the wrong place.”
“No, I don’t need your money. Our parents left me plenty after they died. Does that even matter to you?”
“I can’t even bring up their pictures in my head. Whatever you came here to accomplish, it’s not going to work.”
“I just want to tell you I’m sorry.”
“Why? So you can clear your conscience? You were always getting us into trouble. I should’ve known better than to go with you that day. But I never could resist the temptation. It’s as much my fault as it was yours. Now, let me go back to my husband.”
“Your husband?” Liv asked, stunned. “He’s your husband?”
“Of course. Do you think I’m one of the call girls you hold in such disregard? Many of them started out like I did. Slaves. Sold to the highest bidder.”
Liv shook her head in denial. “I don’t understand, Elizabeth. You could be free. They stole you from us! They sold you into slavery. Used you. You’d stay with a man who bought you?”
“My husband saved me,” Elizabeth said, emotion ringing in her voice. “And stop calling me Elizabeth! That’s no longer my name.”
“Fine,” she said, “what is your name?”
“Yasmin.”
“Yasmin,” Liv repeated, trying to associate the name with the woman who stood in front of her. Maybe there was no longer any sign of Elizabeth in her. “You’d have been a child when he bought you. What they did to you was criminal. It was wrong on every level. And no one can make you stay in bondage. Not even if they’ve made you think what they did to you was okay.”