head to the beach and swim again. If he didn’t get his cardio in he couldn’t think straight. A superior of his once taught him that a special agent was part man, part machine. And the machine needed to work every day to be strong enough for the field.
Jack had time, so after his workout and before driving to the beach, he sat on his balcony again. Shane, we were just here. Feels like a week ago. His brother was in heaven, Jack was sure about that. The kid loved the Lord. They both had back then, they were even baptized on the same day. Jack imagined Shane playing football in some blue field in paradise. He smiled. But then he had to admit something else. If heaven was real, God was real, too.
Because if God wasn’t real, what did that say about heaven?
Jack couldn’t let his mind go there. For now, he would ask for help again. He needed it. If You’re there, You know the situation I’m in. What I’m up against tonight. I won’t ask You to protect me. But could You please protect those girls?
Eliza especially. Jack was still angry with himself for what he had done when Asia opened the bedroom door. Not that he’d kissed her. He’d had no choice in that matter. But something else, something he’d wrestled with and berated himself for since he left the Palace last night.
The fact that he had enjoyed it.
* * *
JACK HAD BEEN in Eliza’s room for two minutes, and already they were under the sheets again, barely dressed, inches from each other. Everything about the situation felt uncomfortable to Jack, but he had no choice. This was the only way he could explain the ever-evolving mission details to her without risking being found out.
“Okay…” Jack looked into her angry blue eyes. “Do you remember everything I told you last night?”
“Sure.” Now that she didn’t have to marry him, didn’t have to please him, Eliza was angry. “You taking off your pants again, FBI man? I mean… you bought me. Or is that not part of the job?”
Jack understood her rage. It was a cover-up for her fear. She had lost control of her life long ago. If Jack was going to force himself on her, she was ready. What choice did she have? If that was part of the business deal she wouldn’t fight. She was too afraid of her father and maybe too afraid of Jack, too.
The only way to speak into Eliza’s victimized heart was to tell her the truth. As many times as he needed to tell it. “Eliza.” He searched her eyes. “Pretending I want to marry you was an act. I told you that.”
“I don’t believe you.” She looked so young, so afraid. “When you… kissed me.” She raised her brow. “I think you liked it.”
She was right about the kiss, and Jack hated the fact. He gritted his teeth and moved a bit further from her. Fine. If she was going to make this difficult he was up to the challenge. She was a teenager, a prisoner. Agent or not, he had no interest in anything but rescuing her.
“Eliza.” He heard the conviction in his voice. “I’m not here for that.”
“All men are here for that.”
“Not all men.” His mind was focused tonight. Nothing but the mission. He exhaled. “I’m an undercover FBI agent, Eliza. My name is Luke. I had to kiss you because we are raiding this place Thursday night.… I kissed you to save your life… and the lives of every girl here.”
“You really mean it?”
Something changed in her eyes. Finally, he told himself. Maybe he was getting through to her. “You are worth more than this, Eliza.”
“Don’t say my name.” She rolled onto her back and stared at the ceiling. “Don’t tell me what I’m worth when you don’t even know me.”
“You’re a child. Every child is worth more than they know.”
That seemed to give her something to think about, as if maybe for the first time it occurred to her that Jack was right. She blinked a few times. “I’m nineteen. I’m not a child.”
“Yes, you are.” Jack studied her. Poor girl. What sort of monster would keep his own daughter locked in a place like this? All while making her wait for a forced marriage? Jack was careful with his words. “You were eight when your father kidnapped you. You haven’t lived a normal day since then. You grew up watching your only