memory surfaced. The three of them had decided to take a shortcut home from school. Adam had tried to convince them no one would ever know they’d trespassed, but Mr. Sander’s bull had had other ideas. Levi had managed to pull Kayla over the fence to safety, even though she’d quickly assured him after the rescue that she could have scaled the fence on her own.
She’d always been stubborn, even though he’d joked in return that she owed him for saving her life.
“And this photo?” he asked. “You could have been seriously hurt.”
“But I wasn’t.” She shook her head. “And while I could be wrong, I don’t think these texts are from your brother, Levi. They just don’t sound like him.”
He read through the messages again. “I wouldn’t have flown all the way here if I didn’t think Adam was capable of following through with his threats.”
“Maybe, but there’s another possibility.”
He looked up and caught her gaze. “What do you mean?”
“I think the threats could be related to my work.”
“I know some about the nonprofit you work for, but how?”
“We work with exploited and trafficked women, and not everyone is happy about what we do.”
“Have you received threats before?”
“Not personally, but others involved with the work have. We’re combating a hundred-billion-dollar business. We get girls off the streets, which means while there might be someone else to take the place of the girls we rescue, someone’s losing their income.”
She was scared. He could see it in her body language and in her eyes.
“What about the police?” he asked. “Have you told them what’s going on?”
“Not yet. I’m not sure they can help. Traffickers use burner phones and know how to work under the radar.”
“Maybe, but you still don’t know who’s behind this. And even if it is traffickers, the police have got to have resources that will help, or has legalizing prostitution changed things?”
“It shifted the role of pimps and traffickers to businessmen and managers. And while some do choose this life, there are still many who are being imported into this country in order to meet the demand—including children. They are promised work but end up trapped in a world they can’t get out of.”
“And in the meantime, the traffickers are making money,” he said. “I’m just not sure you should shrug this off. You could have been killed when that car hit your bike.”
“But I wasn’t.”
“No, but this clearly isn’t over.”
Kayla’s phone beeped, and she picked it up.
He studied her face, trying to ignore the unexpected feelings he still held for her. Because falling for his brother’s ex-fiancée would not be a good move. He’d tried to tell himself that he was only here because he felt sorry for her. She was simply an old friend, and he didn’t want anything to happen to her. But it was personal, and he wanted to help her. If he had his way, he’d take her back to the US on the next flight if he could confirm her life was in danger.
A second later her face paled.
“What’s wrong, Kayla?”
She stared at the phone. “They’ve got my father.”
“What?”
“They sent a video.”
“Who?”
“I don’t know.”
Her hand shook as she passed him the phone. He watched the ten-second video of Max sitting in a chair with his hands tied behind him as he spoke.
“Kayla...I’m so sorry. They’re demanding that you hand over one of your girls—Mercy—in the next twenty-four hours. Or they’ve said they will kill me.”
The street below blurred as Kayla stared out her apartment window. Car headlights streaked by, houseboats moored on the canal bobbed in the water and the endless rows of houses were lit up by hazy streetlamps and porch lights. Her mind tried to work through the logic of what she’d just seen on the video. How in the world had this happened? Someone had entered her apartment, snatched her father and was now threatening to kill him?
“Why take my father?” she asked, speaking her thoughts out loud to Levi. “He has nothing to do with my work.”
“They need leverage. They’re using him to get to you.”
So those were the consequences they’d meant. If she didn’t find Mercy, they’d kill her father.
How did a job helping people come to this?
She studied the pedestrians and bikes passing below. Were they out there, watching her apartment? It seemed impossible to tell in the darkness. No one looked out of place, but that didn’t mean they weren’t there. A chill blew through her, raising goose bumps across her forearm.
If they were out there now...watching her...
Maybe she was just being paranoid. They’d given her twenty-four hours to find Mercy, which meant for the next twenty-four hours it was to their advantage to keep her father alive. Because right now, he was the only leverage they had.
And when she found Mercy? What was she supposed to do then?
Levi crossed the room, stopping beside her. “Tell me about Mercy. Who is she?”
“One of the girls we’ve been working with the past few months. About eighteen months ago, she was brought to Italy from Nigeria with promises of a job and money to send back to her parents. Once she got there, she found out that everything she’d been told was a bunch of lies.”
“And now her previous...owner...wants her back?”
Kayla nodded. It was an impossible trade. An impossible situation with no easy resolution. Trade Mercy for Max, or let her father die. How was she supposed to do either one?
There has to be another way, God.
“She’s only seventeen years old, Levi.”
“I don’t think this is something you can fix on your own, Kayla.” He stepped up next to her. “You need to go to the police. It’s the only way out of this.”
“They told me not to go to the police.” She was trying not to panic, but while she’d always known there were risks to her job, everything had suddenly spiraled out of control. And now her choices were causing consequences in other people’s lives. People she loved. “I can’t risk them hurting my father.”
“And do you think that not going to the police is going to help?” Levi asked. “At least we’d have more resources on our side.”
“We?” She took a step back, immediately regretting the sharp tone of her voice. “I’m sorry, but you don’t need to get involved in this. Two of my coworkers, Evi and Abel, are on their way back to Amsterdam right now. We will figure out something.”
“I thought they told you not to get your coworkers involved. Besides, the moment I got on that plane to Europe, I was involved. And whether your life’s at risk because of my brother or a bunch of human traffickers doesn’t really matter at this point. There’s no way I can just walk away.”
“What about Adam?” she said. “Do you know where he is?”
“I haven’t been able to get a hold of him.”
She glanced up at him, suddenly grateful to have a familiar face next to her right now. This