Ficorpio
Chapter 1
After my best friend, Vanessa Cross, got hooked on gambling, she suddenly called me in a fever of excitement and said she was taking me to Las Vegas.
“I just hit it big,” she said. “My treat. We’re staying at the Wynn.”
But the moment our plane landed, she led me straight into a private room deep inside a casino.
Only then did she tell me the truth.
“I lost fifty million,” she whispered, her face gray beneath her makeup. “If I can’t pay it back, they’re going to ship me off to some trafficking compound across the border…”
“But the boss is looking for a woman with a crescent birthmark. If someone brings him one, all their debt gets wiped clean.”
Her eyes landed on my stomach.
“You have one, Tessa. I saw it when we changed after swimming. I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry, but I don’t want to die.”
Four men pinned me down against the sofa.
And then I saw the childhood crayon drawing hanging on the wall.
A family of three flying a kite. A little girl with pigtails in the middle.
It was the drawing I had made for my father before I was abducted. He had treasured it like something priceless and said he would keep it forever.
Strength rushed back into me.
Vanessa Cross, I thought with a cold laugh.
This time, you really did make the right bet.
Too bad you won’t be the winner.
By the time I realized something was wrong and tried to leave, it was already too late.
“Tessa, it’s fifty million,” Vanessa said, her voice shaking. “I couldn’t pay that back in ten lifetimes.”
“But God didn’t leave me with no way out. You having that crescent birthmark on your stomach—maybe that was fate. Maybe you were meant to help me pay this debt.”
A cold breath caught in my lungs. Fear seemed to close around my throat until I forgot how to breathe.
“Vanessa,” I said, staring at her. “Did you sell me?”
“We’ve known each other for over ten years. You’re my best friend. And you sold me for fifty million?”
My accusation made her stumble back. She shook her head again and again.
“Don’t look at me like that… The owner of this casino is richer than anyone can imagine. The only women he’s interested in are the ones with crescent birthmarks on their stomachs. For women like that, he’ll forgive any gambling debt…”
“He has that kind of fetish, and you happen to have the exact mark. Bringing you here is… it’s good for you too. What if he likes you? Then you could become the boss’s woman.”
A disgusting image flashed through my mind.
I shuddered, shoved her aside, and headed for the door.
“If you want to be his woman so badly, go do it yourself. I’m going home.”
But before my fingers could touch the handle, something slammed into the back of my head.
“Tessa Reed, you forced me to do this!”
The room spun. I staggered and collapsed to the floor.
Vanessa bent over me and snatched the pink bead from my pocket.
Chapter 2
“Don’t think I don’t know why you came with me. It wasn’t for a vacation. You came because you wanted to find your birth parents.”
Her fingers closed around the bead.
“Well, since you’re already here, help me clear my debt and I’ll help you find them. But if you dare run…” Her face twisted. “Then forget ever seeing your family reunited in this lifetime.”
Pain tore through the back of my skull. I struggled to move my lips, but despair dragged me under.
I had been abducted when I was five. The trafficker had been afraid of being caught, so he changed my clothes, shaved my head, and threw away everything I had on me. The only thing I managed to keep was that bead, the one engraved with my childhood nickname. I had hidden it under my tongue.
For sixteen years, I had forgotten the way home. Even my memories from before I turned five had faded.
That bead was the only thing I had left that connected me to my parents.
Without it, all my hope was gone.
“That’s more like it,” Vanessa said.
The private room door opened.
Several hard-faced men walked in.
“You Vanessa Cross?” one of them asked. “Heard you brought collateral for your debt.”
Vanessa immediately pointed at me and nodded.
“Mr. Vance, the boss is looking for a woman with a crescent birthmark, right? This is my best friend, Tessa Reed. She has one on her stomach.”
She forced a smile. “I brought her here, so about my fifty million…”
The man at the front did not even raise his eyelids. He pulled out a chair and sat down.
“What’s the rush?” Marcus Vance said coldly. “Inspect her first.”
His men lunged at me.
They dragged me up and shoved me onto the sofa. In a few rough motions, they stripped off my coat.
When one of them reached for the hem of my T-shirt, I gathered every ounce of strength I had and kicked him in the shin.
“Let go of me! Don’t touch me!”
“You little bitch. You dare kick me?”
He spat, then slapped me twice across the face.
Stars burst across my vision.
Before I could speak, a terrifying gunshot cracked through the room.
The man’s lower leg exploded with blood. He screamed and fell backward.
Marcus Vance held a gun in his hand, his face expressionless.
“Putting your hands on her before the inspection is finished?” he said. “You tired of living?”
He gave the others a glance.
“Get him out of here. Don’t stain the boss’s carpet.”
The remaining men answered quickly, shaken, and dragged the wounded man away.
No one was holding me anymore, but my entire body had gone rigid.
They had guns.
If I kept fighting, the next bullet would be for me.
Chapter 3
In the corner, Vanessa had gone pale with fright, but there was something even more determined in her eyes now.
“Mr. Vance, she really does have a crescent birthmark on her stomach. It’s exactly the kind the boss wants.”
Marcus Vance gave her a chilly look.
Vanessa immediately lowered her head, trembling.
“You four,” he said impatiently. “Do it. And make it quick. Don’t waste my time.”
Four more men came toward me.
I shrank back with all my strength—and then I saw the drawing on the wall.
A familiar crayon drawing.
A family of three flying a kite.
Above the little girl with pigtails in the center was a name I would never forget, even if I died.
Lily.
I had drawn it just before I was taken. My mother had loved it so much she couldn’t bear to put it down. My father had smiled and said he would keep it for the rest of his life.
Dad.
It was Dad.
All these years, he had been looking for me too.
Emotion surged through me so violently I could barely contain it. I braced my hands against the sofa and tried to sit up.
“Is your boss’s last name—”
“Too much talking,” Marcus Vance cut in, annoyed. “Most of you fakes start running your mouth when you think you’ve found an angle.”
He raised the gun and aimed it at my forehead.
“You. Shut up.”
Then he looked at his men.
“Strip her. Inspect the mark.”
My scalp prickled.
If he could shoot one of his own men without blinking, what chance did I have?
Vanessa Cross trembled beside me. In a small, pleading voice, she said, “Sophie, just cooperate. Once they finish checking you, I can leave. If you keep fighting them, I’m going to die here with you.”
Even now, all she cared about was herself.
I looked again at the childhood crayon drawing and forced myself to stay still.
If Dad came after they confirmed the mark, then we could recognize each other. Once that happened, every danger in this room would disappear.
I clenched my teeth and swallowed the humiliation as they lifted my T-shirt.
Below my navel, the crescent birthmark was clear as day.
“Vance,” one of the enforcers said, startled. “This one looks real.”
Marcus Vance strode over at once. The moment he saw the mark, surprise flashed across his face. Under his breath, he muttered, “It’s exactly like the boss’s drawing.”
Vanessa knew she was safe. She immediately put on a fawning smile.
“Boss Vance, since you’ve checked her now, about my fifty million…”
Vance kept his eyes on my birthmark and flicked his hand.
“Cleared. Now get out.”
“Yes, yes, of course. I’m leaving right now.”
Vanessa nodded hard and turned to run.
But my pink bead was still on her.
I jumped down from the couch and grabbed for her clothes. “Vanessa, you can’t leave—”
“Don’t let her run!”