A ridiculously handsome man was seated against the back wall of the cab. He had dark, neatly styled hair and a beard that was short and well-trimmed. He wore a cream-colored suit that had to have been worth more than her entire college education, paired with shining leather shoes and a dark gray pocket square. His eyes, shining like black diamonds, were gazing at her curiously.

Jenna swallowed hard and leaned back against the seat. She kept her jaw clenched tight and glared at this man who thought that a price could be put on her.

“Hello,” the man said, and Jenna blinked in surprise when she realized that he had addressed her in English.

She didn’t allow her surprise to show on her face. She crossed her arms over her chest.

The man smiled at her, and Jenna could see that there was no malice there, no lust.

The man turned to the little window separating the back of the limo from the driver, and knocked on it with one knuckle. She saw a silver ring on his forefinger. The driver apparently understood what the knock meant, for they started to move. Jenna looked out of the window, up at the mansion, and felt torn.

She was so glad to be out of that situation, but being out of it meant that she was where she was now, with who she was with. And she had no idea if she was safe or not.

The man straightened his jacket and settled his hands in his lap. He looked at her intently, his thick brows furrowed, as if he were surveying a young girl who had just come inside covered in mud from playing outside.

“What do you want from me?” she asked, her hands clenched at her sides. Her fingernails were digging into her palms, and she thought the pain she felt was the only thing keeping her from passing out from fear.

The man bowed his head for a moment, and then spoke.

“My name is Sheikh Balal El-Djourani, and I am here to help you.”

Jenna shrank back against the seat.

“Please, you do not have to be afraid,” he said, his voice calm and his expression gentle.

Knowing the name of her buyer did not help; if anything, it made it that much more real. Jenna’s eyes stung, but she wouldn’t allow him to see her cry. She would not give him the satisfaction, if that was what he was looking for. Something else registered in her mind, though, even if it was brief.

Recognition.

“Djourani…” she murmured.

The man arched an eyebrow and nodded his head, appearing amused.

“Yes, Djourani. My cousin is the ruler of this country.”

And somehow I got myself mixed up in a royal family? What in the world is happening?

Now that some of the shock had worn off, Jenna could see that he was rather handsome. His skin was tanned, but less sun-weathered than some of the other people she had seen in Al Mezinda, as if he had spent more time indoors. But she did not linger on it. He could stop being handsome at any moment, and turn into a monster.

“Now, I know what you must be thinking,” Balal said, leaning forward slightly.

Oh yeah? Try me, you creep, she thought, crossing her arms across her chest.

“I’m not sure what exactly happened to you, but I can assume that some men grabbed you when you weren’t paying attention.”

She glared at him.

What does that mean, when I wasn’t paying attention? How was I supposed to know that getting kidnapped was a realistic possibility?

“Then they brought you to a house somewhere in the city; somewhere where the cops are paid not to check.”

Jenna shifted uncomfortably, chewing on the inside of her lip.

He’s being vague. It can’t be that hard to guess what happened.

“And then, you were dropped off at the mansion to get prepared before the auction.”

It was still hard to believe that all of this had happened to her. It was so surreal, and she wondered vaguely if she was in shock. She wondered if maybe it would all hit her eventually, and then she would have to roll up in a ball and cry until she couldn’t cry any longer.

“Does that sound about right?”

She looked up into his face and nodded, her eyes still glaring.

Balal nodded, and smiled. “This is not the first time that I have seen this.”

He reached down into a small cabinet along the side of the limo and pulled out a chilled bottle of white wine and two glasses. Jenna’s mouth watered without her control, and she scolded herself. She hadn’t eaten anything in almost two days—she needed food, not wine. But she could see the condensation beading up on the bottle, and she dreamed about what it might taste like on her tongue.

“Can I offer you a drink?” he asked.

She shook her head violently. How do I know that you haven’t poisoned it?

He found a corkscrew in the same cabinet and drove it into the cork. When he finally pulled it out, she realized that there was no way that he could have tampered with it, since it was obviously just opened for the first time.

He poured a glass and offered it to her. Jenna looked at it, her physical thirst tempting her, but she shook her head once more.

“Suit yourself,” Balal said, and he leaned back against the seat, languidly holding his own glass of wine.

“Your English is great,” Jenna said, suspicious of every word, every motion he made. “I haven’t met many people here who can speak it as well as you.”

The corner of his mouth twitched.

“I went to college—Yale—in the States; I think that might have helped a little.”

Yale? Who the heck is this guy?

“I got my master’s in business before I returned to Al Mezinda and started my company. Fast forward three years, and here we are.”

Jenna studied his face, everything starting to come into focus as she contemplated the fact that he had spent so much time on the East Coast. Even some of his mannerisms were familiar.

Jenna swallowed hard, the lump in her throat unrelenting. She couldn’t understand why he was treating her like an equal—like a guest, even—considering he had just bought her at a human auction.

“Well, if you don’t want to talk, then allow me. I think you will find what I have to say most interesting,” the Sheikh said, breaking the silence that had stretched out between them. “First of all, what is your name?”

Jenna looked at him, and she could almost believe she could have passed him on the street in the States. He was confident, and tall, with long legs, muscular arms, and a wide smile.

“J…Jenna,” she managed to get out.

“Jenna,” he repeated, and Jenna watched as his face grew serious.

“It has come to my attention that a group of people—a sophisticated crime syndicate—has recently started operating in the city of Yordan, and they are starting to become a bigger problem than the police can handle.”

Jenna stared at him. She had imagined that he would have told her where they were going, or what he was looking for in a woman he had just purchased.

“Why are you telling me this?” she asked hesitantly.

“Because these men are targeting women like you, women who are alone, women from overseas.”

Jenna gaped at him, some of her pretense fading away.

“Are you with the FBI or something?”

The Sheikh laughed. “No, nothing like that, but I believe they would have the same motives and desires as I do.”

“So, these are the men who kidnapped me?”

Balal nodded gravely.

“Jenna, I went to the auction to rescue you from some other filthy scumbag who could have taken you home. I bought you so I could save you from a terrible fate.”

Jenna couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“So, you…you don’t want me as your wife?” she asked, not daring to hope. She wasn’t sure if she had heard him correctly, or if somehow her brain had completely changed what he had said.

“Not at all,” Balal gently affirmed. “No. This isn’t the first auction that I have gone to and bought a woman’s freedom. In fact, I have helped rescue a dozen or so women in your situation by attending these auctions and bidding anonymously, always in cash. Unfortunately, I can only bid on one woman at a time.”

Jenna’s mouth went dry.

“But there’s another girl there—” Jenna looked out of the back window, knowing full well that the mansion was out of sight by now.

Balal held out his hand to calm her. “I have friends there who will see her and bid on her. She will be safe, don’t worry.”

“I just can’t believe this…” Jenna stuttered. “I…” She pulled at her hair, feeling a giddy sense of relief and horror wash over her. “I thought I was going to be someone’s mistress, or…worse,” she said, wrapping her arms around herself.

She tore the tulle scarf that encircled her waist from around her and tossed it on the floor of the limo, giving it a kick for good measure.

“Well, believe it,” the Sheikh said. “You’re safe now.”

Jenna looked at him a little more closely. “How do I know that you’re telling the truth?”

“Because we are on our way to the airport so that you can fly back home,” Balal responded, and he pointed out of the window at a sign.

It was the sign for the airport that she had flown in to just the day before.

“But I don’t have any of my things! They’re all back at the hostel I’m staying at.”

“Was staying at,” Balal corrected. “I will make some calls and get your things collected for you. Shouldn’t take more than an hour.”

Jenna felt relief like she had never felt before. She was going home, when a few hours ago she had thought that she might never be able to tell her parents what had happened to her. But now, she was going to be able to leave and put this entire trip behind her.

In a jolt of panic, Jenna remembered her purse had been taken from her. How was she supposed to get home without a passport or any money?

“My purse! They took it when they captured me. I don’t have my passport, or my wallet, or—”

“Way ahead of you,” Balal said, then reached into another cabinet in the side of the limo. From it, he pulled out her purse, a triumphant expression on his face.

“I told them I needed your passport as I’d be traveling out of the country with you immediately. I didn’t go through it, except to check that the IDs matched what you look like. Hopefully, everything else is intact.”

Taking the purse from him, Jenna let out a sigh of relief, along with a slight shudder—was it her anxiety flooding away, or the electric spark that shot through her at his touch?

“Thank you so much. You are a literal lifesaver. Looks like everything is still in here, thank goodness,” she breathed.

Jenna spotted the necklace she’d bought, sitting in the zip pocket of her bag, and was flooded with a feeling of how bittersweet her situation was.

“I was supposed to be here for three months,” Jenna said, laughing hollowly. “This was going to be the trip I took before I went back to school for my master’s. I was going to explore Al Mezinda, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon. I had so much planned, and then…”

The tears welled up before she could do anything to stop them.

“Jenna, I have one thing to ask of you before I send you on your way,” Balal said, his tone quiet.

Jenna looked up at him. His voice was smooth, like water lapping up against the shore of a lake.

“What is it?” she asked, finding it hard to look away.

He was her savior. The fact was not lost on her. He had put himself in danger, and had done all he could to ensure her safety. He must have spent an exorbitant amount of money to secure her freedom.

“I want to try to identify the men who kidnapped you, so then I can bring them to justice. Is there anything that you can tell me about them? Anything you can remember?”

Jenna looked down at her hands.

“No, I’m sorry,” she whispered. “The men who…” She couldn’t even bring herself to say it out loud. “They had their faces covered. Full masks.”

Balal nodded. “They all have been that way, it seems.”

The limo pulled to a smooth stop, and Jenna could hear the rush of the airport outside. She looked over at Balal, seeing he had a reserved smile on his face.

“Well…” Jenna began. “Thank you. For everything,” she said. “I wish there was something that I could do to help you more, to catch those psychos.”

Balal shrugged.

“The only thing that might help would be if you were to testify against them and stand witness in their trial, but that would mean staying here for the time being. But don’t worry; we will find them. Go home, and be safe. You will be traveling home on my jet. I won’t be accompanying you, but my assistant will meet you inside. He will get you through security, and accompany you on the flight JFK. Do you think you can get home from there?”

“Of course,” Jenna said, still overcome with horror at what she had just gone through. She was sure that a long flight back across Europe and the Atlantic would be torture, thinking of nothing but what had happened. She was also saddened by the loss of her entire trip, and the fact that it had been taken from her so unfairly.

Jenna looked at Balal.

“All I would have to do is testify? And it would help protect other girls who might be in the same situation I was in?”

She thought of the dark-haired girl, the sadness and fear in her eyes. Determination and anger filled her again.

Balal was telling the truth, she realized. He had rescued her, and all she had to do was leave the limo, step into the airport, and then she was home free.

She looked at him, and then out at the sliding doors of the airport.

“Look…” Jenna said. “I don’t know what is happening here. I don’t know why you even care.” She laughed in spite of the fear she was feeling. “I don’t understand these vigilante motivations that you have, but…I can relate, especially now.”

Balal looked at her, confusion passing over his face.

“I might not be able to testify against these jerks,” she said, with more calm than she could have ever thought possible, “but I think…”

Am I really doing this?

She took a deep, steadying breath. “I think I would like to help you. That is…if you could use my assistance.”

The Sheikh seemed flabbergasted.

“I’ve just given you the chance to get out of this nightmare, and you are thinking that you want to stay here instead?”

Jenna took a deep breath, and thought for a moment.

“Yes,” she replied, surprising even herself. “Yes, I think I would feel better if I could help end this. Make this right. So that other girls don’t have to suffer the way I have.”

Balal grinned at her. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

Balal reached over the seat again, and knocked against the window to let the driver know.

“Let’s head to my place. We have a lot of work to do.”