Sam brought his brothers up-to-date on what had happened since he’d arrived on Santorini and how he’d met Kinsey. He didn’t tell them he’d hired her to be his companion or that she was earning her ticket back to Virginia. “I think the driver of the SUV might have been after the van because Kinsey was in it.”

“Damn,” Wyatt said. “Why didn’t you let us know sooner?”

Sam gave his brother a wry grin. “You were supposed to be on your honeymoon. Besides, we turned over the matter to the police. They know a human trafficking ring is based off this island. They just haven’t been able to capture those responsible.” He glanced around, searching for Kinsey, his pulse quickening. She should have been back from changing out of her dress by then. “I’ll be right back.”

Sam rose from his chair and strode toward the room he’d shared with Kinsey. The haven where he’d made love to her a few short hours ago. Had he embarrassed her by telling his brothers about her tangle with the kidnappers?

“Kinsey,” he called out as he pushed open the door and entered the room. The bed was neatly made, the dark garment bag hung on the closet door and everything was tidy. Too tidy, including the bed where they’d made love before they’d gone out for dinner.

Mrs. D made beds earlier in the day. Had she been in the room while they went out to eat?

That’s when he noticed her suitcase was missing from the closet and there was a folded paper propped on his pillow. A sense of dread washed over him as he crossed the room and lifted it in his hands. He unfolded the note, and his heart sank deeper with every word he read.

Dear Sam,

I’ve loved every minute of our time together. You are the kind of man every woman dreams of, and I was lucky enough to have you for a few short days. But I can’t complete my obligation if, by doing so, I put you and your beautiful family in danger. Don’t come after me. Doing so will only prolong the inevitable. I hope you find the peace you so deserve and someone who will love and appreciate what a wonderful, adventurous man you are. And don’t marry her unless she makes you smile.

Kinsey

“Mack! Wyatt! Ronin!” Sam grabbed his knife and ran out of the room.

All three of his brothers met him in the hallway.

“What’s wrong?” Mack asked.

Wyatt touched his brother’s arm. “Where’s Kinsey?”

“She’s gone.” He handed the note to Ronin, and shoved his Ka-Bar knife into the scabbard strapped to his calf. “We have to find her.”

“We’re with you,” Wyatt said.

Mack nodded. “Damn right. She’s one of us.”

“You really care for her, don’t you?” Ronin asked.

Sam’s heart swelled in his chest. He hadn’t realized until now, but yes, he did care for Kinsey. A great deal. “I know it’s crazy. I’ve only known her a short time, but she’s perfect.”

“And she makes you smile,” Wyatt said. “I didn’t think anyone could do that after Leigha died.”

“Me, either, but Kinsey can. She could make a statue smile just by standing beside it. The woman is amazing, and we have to find her.” He pushed past his brothers and ran out of the building.

He glanced left, then right. Where would she have gone at night? She didn’t have any money, nor did she have the ticket to fly home. She’d left the printed confirmation on the table in their room. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t change the reservation without paying a fee. Without a credit card, she couldn’t do that, either. Her only option was to find someone to ferry her back to the mainland, which meant she’d head for the dock to see if she could catch a free ride with one of the boats going that way.

“Which way would she have gone?” Ronin asked.

“To the port. If she wants off the island, she’d have to go by water.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed the number the detective provided.

“Athan, I need your help. Kinsey is missing. She might be heading for the port. I’m afraid whoever is after her might find her before she gets there.”

“I’m on my way,” Athan said.

“I’ll meet you on the main road. We’re heading down now.”

He and his brothers split up and took different paths through the twisting corridors up to the main road running along the ridge of the island.

“See anything?” Sam asked as he stood on the side of the road, breathing hard, his heart heavy.

Mack, Ronin, Isabella and Wyatt all shook their heads.

“Nothing,” Mack confirmed.

The more time that passed, the more anxious Sam became. Kinsey could be anywhere. What if someone dragged her into one of the buildings he’d passed? He and his brothers couldn’t begin to search all of them.

If she made it to the main road, she could have been picked up by the men in the SUV who’d rammed the van earlier. In which case, she’d be a lot farther away.

A vehicle pulled up to where the four men stood on the side of the road, and Detective Athan Demopolis stepped out. “You didn’t find her?”

Sam shook his head.

“I got a lead over an hour ago. All my units were too busy handling other incidents to check it out. It might be nothing, but at this point…”

“Anything is better than nothing,” Sam finished.

“What do you have?” Wyatt asked.

“There is a small warehousing building near the Port of Athinios. Cargo is staged going in and out at that point. We received an anonymous call today reporting someone trespassing in that area. The yard has a fence around it, and the gate is usually locked, but the lock had been removed and the gate was unsecured. We sent a unit, but they were called away before they could complete a thorough investigation.”

“If they are trafficking people in and out of Santorini, it makes sense they would take them through the port where boats and ships can dock,” Wyatt said.

Sam clenched his fists. The clue was a long shot, but it was the only one they had. “Let’s check it out.”

Kinsey knew as soon as she agreed to follow Lois Martin that she was making a big mistake. But the look on the woman’s face and the tearstains on her cheeks found their way past Kinsey’s defenses. She didn’t care for the woman, but the kids couldn’t choose their parents. “What happened?” Kinsey asked as she followed Lois through the narrow alleys up to the main road.

“We were at the hotel a couple days ago and men took my children. They said if we wanted them back, we had to check out of the Porto Takisi and do everything they said.”

Kinsey’s heart hurt for the kids. They had to be terrified. “Where’s Mr. Martin?”

“They’re holding him, as well. They let me go to bring you back.”

Kinsey stopped in her tracks. “Are you telling me that I’m the trade? Me for your family?”

She nodded. “I couldn’t see any other way around it. They threatened to kill my husband and children if I went to the police.” Lois grabbed her arm. “Please, you have to come with me. Their lives depend on it.”

“What about my life?” Kinsey demanded.

Tears flowed from Lois’s eyes. “They’re children…”

Kinsey half-turned to walk back to the B&B where Sam and his brothers were. But she’d left to keep them safe. Going back would only embroil them further in her situation. How could she make everything right? She was only one person. A woman worth more to the captors than an entire family they were willing to destroy to get her.

If she lived through that evening and managed to escape, she planned to get fat and dye her hair mud brown. Being blond was not more fun when your life was being threatened by human traffickers.

“I’m going to the police,” Kinsey said.

Lois clutched her arm. “You can’t. They’ll kill my babies.”

“Even if you offer me in trade, we don’t know that they won’t renege and take me and the kids anyway.”

Lois’s fingers dug into her arm. “The kidnappers said that if we notified the police, they’d kill them. Please, they’re just children.”

Kinsey didn’t trust Lois, but the woman was very convincing. She’d find a way to help Lois, if not for the woman herself and her husband, then for the children. They hadn’t lived long enough to deserve to be exterminated by ruthless bastards. Or worse, sold into the sex slave trade.

Her heart squeezed hard in her chest at that thought. An image of Lilly and Dalton playing on the beach swam into Kinsey’s memory. They’d played in the surf and sand with joyous abandon.

Kinsey couldn’t turn her back on them. If it meant trading her life for theirs, so be it. But she’d do her damnedest to escape. She had no desire to be sold into the sex trade, either. And she wouldn’t walk blindly into a trap that would sacrifice her freedom and buy nothing for those poor kids.

Her heart heavy and her nerves stretched, Kinsey followed Lois to the main road where a black SUV with a crushed bumper pulled out of a side road and stopped beside them.

Two big men, probably the ones who’d originally kidnapped Kinsey, jumped out.

Kinsey backed up a few steps, ready to run. “What guarantee do I have that you’ll free the Martin family?”

“None.” Lois’s face hardened, and she jerked her head toward the SUV. “Get her.”

Kinsey’s pulse rocketed and adrenaline raced through her veins. She took off running, glad she’d changed into her sneakers. But she wasn’t fast enough. The men caught her all too soon, tackling her like football players.

She hit the ground so hard, the air was knocked from her lungs. As she skidded across the stone walkway, she skinned her knees through her jeans. Pain was the least of her worries. She had to get away from these people.

How could she be so stupid as to trust Lois Martin? The bitch’d been in on the whole heist from the beginning when she’d sat beside her on the bench in Athens.

As the men loaded her into the SUV, she could only be thankful for one thing—this time, Sam wouldn’t have to fight his way through these men. If he read her letter, he’d know she’d left of her own free will. Even so, would he come looking for her? In the back of her mind, Kinsey held out hope.

The SUV drove south, as far as Kinsey could tell. They’d stuffed a rag in her mouth, tied her wrists behind her back, using the scarf Lois had worn, and then secured her ankles with duct tape. Then they’d tossed her into the back of the vehicle on the floor. She tried to sit up to look out the window, but every time they rounded a corner, she was thrown across the floor again, bumping her head against the sides of the vehicle.

She could tell the van was winding downhill, traversing back and forth. From her knowledge of the island, she’d bet they were heading down to the little Port of Athinios where the ferries landed and cargo for the island could be loaded and unloaded. If she didn’t get loose soon, she’d be hauled off in the belly of a ship never to be found again.

How she wished things could have been different. What if the Martins hadn’t been in on the kidnapping and cared about their children and wanted her to be an au pair? Would she have met Sam? And if she had, would they have found the same spark and physical connection?

She wanted so badly to see him again. To have him wrap his arms around her and hold her until this nightmare went away. But she was the master of her fate. Sam might not come to find her. If she wanted to escape the awful plan her captors had for her, she had to make it happen all by herself.

Kinsey worked the rag out of her mouth and, with the tips of her fingernails, tore at the tape binding her ankles. She practically had to contort to reach the tape, but she possessed a strong will and always looked for solutions to her problems. If they didn’t drug her, she had a chance. If she got out of this situation, she’d go back to Sam and convince him of a future where the two of them could be together.

The vehicle stopped, and the big guys got out, opened the back of the SUV and dragged her out, grabbing her arms and legs. They’d parked behind some buildings between stacks of crushed corrugated cardboard and wooden pallets.

Kinsey didn’t scream, knowing that if they were smart enough to figure out she’d dislodged the rag from her mouth, they’d shove it right back in. Instead, she studied her surroundings in the light from the stars overhead. She smelled the salty, fishy scent of the sea and heard waves gently lapping against the shore.

They carried her to a small building with few windows and what appeared to be only one door.

Lois unlocked the door and held it open for the men to take her inside.

The building contained a variety of wooden crates large enough to ship household goods and furniture. Big enough to hold a full-grown woman. Maybe two or three.

Her heart beat faster as her gaze shot around the room, searching for some way to extricate herself from this horrible dilemma.

“Put her in with the others.” Lois nodded toward a door at the far end of the building. “And that’s it. We met our quota. I’ll call for pickup.” She pulled a cellphone from her pocket and turned away.

Her henchmen carried Kinsey across the warehouse and dumped her in a room the size of a walk-in closet. The space smelled of disinfectant and cleaning fluid.

She fell on her side, pain shooting through her shoulder, but she didn’t let it daunt her.

The door closed before she could see who the others were. She lay for a moment, getting her bearings, and then spoke softly. “Hello?”

A whimper sounded behind her. Another from nearer where her head lay against the concrete floor.

“Who’s there?” she asked, her voice shaking. The darkness frightened her more than the people within.

“There are three of us,” a woman said with a decidedly British accent. “I’m Alaina. Brigid and Helene are here, as well.”

“Are you all tied up?” Kinsey asked.

“Yes,” Alaina said.

“With what?”

“My hands are bound behind my back with rope. I can’t get it loose and the more I try, the tighter it gets. I can barely feel my fingers.”

Someone spoke in another language that sounded Swedish or Dutch.

“Brigid and Helene are bound with duct tape.”

“If we help each other, we should be able to free our hands.” Determined not to remain a victim, Kinsey used an elbow to push herself to a sitting position. “Brigid, let me see if I can work the tape loose.”

Alaina translated and a slight figure inched across the floor to sit with her back to Kinsey.

Kinsey pulled and poked at the tape with her fingernails, making minimal progress. But she couldn’t give up. “Alaina, I know you can barely move your fingers, but try and work through the tape on Helene’s wrists. If we can get one of us loose, that one can free the rest.”

Kinsey worked silently and as fast as she could. The tape was on tight, but she finally found the end and yanked to unwind enough that Brigid could separate her wrists. “Hurry, untie us,” she whispered.

They had to be free and ready to make a break for it before Lois’s pickup crew came for them.

Brigid struggled with the scarf, finally working out the knot and pulling it off her wrists. Kinsey let go of the breath she’d been holding, hope surging from within. With her hands unbound, Kinsey ripped the tape from around her ankles and helped Alaina liberate Helene.

While Helene and Brigid worked the knot out of the ropes on Alaina’s wrists, Kinsey felt her way around the room. She found mops, buckets, spray bottles and jugs of cleaning fluid. She gathered items and scooted them toward the door. She couldn’t find another exit so they had to work with the only existing one and be ready to attack their abductors. Whispering commands, she set the other women to work pouring fluid into the spray bottles and dismantling the mops so that they could use the long poles as weapons.

When Lois and her goons opened the door again, they would be in for a surprise. Hopefully, they wouldn’t be armed with guns. Even then, the women were better off dead than sold into the sex trade.

Kinsey prepared her plan of attack, coached her makeshift army and waited for their moment to launch their escape strategy. She’d be damned if she let anyone else take advantage of her or the other ladies trapped in the closet.