Read an Excerpt

“Gentlemen,” the hostess purred. “We have a special treat for you tonight. The lovely bachelorette standing before you, our last of the evening, is unspoiled. Utterly unspoiled. See how innocent she is? How pure? And there’s a bonus as well. This lovely young thing has one blue eye and one golden. Very rare, gentlemen!”

A murmur went over the crowd. Brett could feel the excitement in the room like a palpable thing. He stared at the girl, his heart twisting. Poor kid. Poor, poor kid.

“Place your bids for this prize so that you may guide our sweet innocent into a world of pleasure. We will start at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.”

The bidding erupted with paddles shooting into the air and animalistic shouts from some of the men. Brett watched the petite blonde blink rapidly, her gaze darting around the room like a cornered rabbit.

He wanted to act, but he couldn’t save them all. He knew that. He’d known it when he’d taken this assignment. He’d mostly taken it for his mother’s memory. Because nobody else had done a damned thing to help her when she’d needed it. If he could help dismantle this sick event and bring the organizers to justice, then he was in all the way.

As the bidding intensified, he told himself to walk away. To turn his back, get his coat, and slip into the Venetian night. He could find a quiet canal and puke his guts out, then he could head back to his hotel and call Ian.

He could wash the putridness of this night away in a hot shower, or he could go for a run through empty streets until he was ready to drop from exhaustion. Anything to clear his mind of the images currently crowding it.

But the girl stood on the stage, looking younger and more vulnerable than any of the previous ones had, and his heart throbbed. Her gaze met his—or it felt like it did—her eyes pleading with him.

Do something. Help me.

Brett felt something hot flare in his belly. “Goddammit,” he growled.

Then he lifted his paddle and joined the frenzy.