to claim his bride and to seal their deal with a marriage that would last forever. The way their crime conglomerate would last forever.
Every day since he’d flown into Belize, Henry Thomas had visited the Blue Breeze and the beach just below the Palace. Even still, the guards had been instructed to keep careful watch on him. “He will have spent two nights with Eliza by the end of the week,” Anders had told them. “I want to know if you see any real connection between the two.”
And the guards had done their job. According to their report, Henry Thomas showed up at the beach yesterday, like usual, and as he walked to his favorite spot, north of the Palace steps, he took a long look at Eliza. As any man would do. But Eliza had only buried her pretty face in a book.
Like she wanted nothing to do with him. Which was exactly what Anders would’ve expected. Nothing unusual.
The other report had come from Asia, the first night Henry was in town. Unannounced, Asia had pushed the bedroom door open while Eliza was celebrating her “honeymoon.” And what the burly guard saw was proof enough. Henry was happy with his wife. He would pay up and sign the deal.
Anders’s long-term plan, the one he’d made more than a decade ago when he sent for his then wife and children, was finally coming to fruition. He had paid the guards to get rid of Susan and Daniel. He didn’t need them. But Lizzie… Eliza… yes, Anders had always known he would make a fortune off her. Not by selling her to the Palace’s nightly customers. But by grooming her and prepping her… saving her for such a time as this. Of course Eliza didn’t like the setup. Which was why Anders didn’t expect his daughter to enjoy Henry Thomas.
If there had been a connection, Anders would’ve been concerned.
Instead, every report back from the guards was good news for Anders. As long as the young millionaire wasn’t somehow conniving secretly with Eliza, all was well. Because Anders had one very troubling problem with his daughter. All that reading had made her the most intelligent girl at the Palace. As a father, he was proud of the fact. But now—when he needed her unwavering obedience—her book smarts made him nervous.
A smart girl could work with the police. She could express doubts about what happened when Palace girls turned twenty. And as such she could find a way to bring down Anders’s entire multimillion-dollar operation.
Even if that smart girl was his own daughter.
Anders sat on his white leather sofa in his private room on the fourth floor of the Palace. His view was the best in Belize—a thin stretch of white sand and the prettiest ocean water anywhere in the world.
He leaned back and sighed. If only little girls didn’t grow up, if only they never left their teens.
But they did, and so he’d figured out a plan from the beginning. He treated the little girls like so many daughters. He bought them pretty dresses and bows for their hair and made them feel like princesses. So long as they did what they were told.
Anders believed the younger girls loved him. Much like a father. When the customers frightened them, the girls had Anders to turn to. He told them the same thing, year after year. “In the nighttime hours, if someone ever hurts you, come to me. I’ll take care of them.”
And—as children do—the young teen girls believed him.
Also the children looked up to the older girls, who had no choice but to make the younger ones feel at home. One big happy family, that’s how Anders saw it. Until the girls grew up.
When the girls became teenagers, Anders could watch their attitudes change. In the mornings, when he tried to comfort them or ask about their nights, they would turn away at his touch. They didn’t look forward to seeing him.
Which was why the awakening was so important.
After the awakening, the teenage girls better knew their place. They would make the younger girls happy, please the customers, and never—not ever—cross Anders McMillan. Otherwise the next awakening would be worse.
The fear he instilled in them from their fourteenth birthdays usually lasted till the girls turned nineteen. Then, somehow, another switch seemed to flip. Fear turned to sarcasm and obedience became arrogance. At that point, the girls clearly hated their existence and were smart enough to plot their escape. Whether they were reading