Chapter 5

The council room was packed. Everyone was waiting for the truth to come out.

I took my time walking in.

Beth was still in her wedding dress, her eyes red and swollen from crying. She clung to Colton's arm, her gaze fixed on my face.

She kept staring until I turned and met her gaze. Then she looked away in a panic.

In just three days, Colton looked worn out. Dark circles ringed his eyes, and all the confidence he'd had that first day was gone.

He stood in the middle of the council room, still pleading his case. "Don, please believe me. I've worked for this family for years, and I've never taken a single cent from it.

"I've always worked hard running the docks in Miami."

Lorenzo gave him a level look. "We'll know soon enough what kind of man you are. You don't need to keep shouting."

Colton lowered his head and stepped aside.

Dante looked at him, then turned to me. "Donna, everyone's here now, so I have to ask: what exactly makes you so sure Colton can't be trusted?

"If you don't have a reason, the guys aren't going to accept it."

Another member spoke up. "That's right.

"The Donna said he can't be trusted without giving us a single reason.

"This whole mess in the family is her fault. If the investigator doesn't turn up anything today, the Donna should apologize to Colton in front of everyone."

The room murmured its agreement.

Every eye in the room was on me.

Lorenzo cleared his throat, and the room fell silent.

Colton stepped forward and lowered his head. "Donna, I don't know what I did to make you come after me like this.

"But I don't want my personal situation to hurt anyone else in the family or cost them their chance to move up."

Beth was crying too. "He's right. Donna, please stop doing this to him.

"I'll be your servant if that's what you want. Just please let him go."

The people in the room felt even sorrier for them.

Furious, they pointed at me and accused me of treating Colton unfairly and tearing the couple apart.

I almost laughed. I looked Colton straight in the eye. "Lift your head."

Colton took a breath and slowly lifted his head. His gaze locked on mine. He hesitated for a beat, then his expression settled into studied calm.

"You don't recognize me?" I asked.

Colton studied me again. After a moment, he lowered his gaze. "Is this some kind of joke, Donna? I've always lived in Miami. I spend all my time at the docks or the clubs, nowhere else. How would I know you?"

He'd heard the rumors too. Nobody could figure out where I came from.

Colton would rather believe I really was some stray the doctor had picked up, someone who'd gotten into the family with a hidden agenda.

Anything but believe that Alice, the girl he'd sold, had made it back alive.

I looked at Beth. "What about you?"

Beth froze. Shock crossed her face as she stammered, "M-me neither. I hardly ever go out. I barely have any friends. I don't know you, Donna. Please don't joke about that."

By the time she finished, cold sweat had beaded on her forehead.

Then my mother stepped forward and squeezed Beth's hand. She turned to me. "Donna, we're here today to discuss Colton's promotion.

"I watched both of them grow up. They lead quiet lives. They don't go to shady places like that."

I let out a scornful laugh. My mother's story was the same as Colton's.

They dismissed the places where I'd been forced to live as sleazy.

And Colton was the one who'd put me there.

I didn't answer. Instead, I took the tattered scrap of lace out of my bag.

The moment I laid it on the table, my mother's expression changed. She went still, then stared at me in shock.

"You recognize it?" I asked.

"No. But that's my other daughter's name on it. What's going on?"

Beth's eyes went wide. She grabbed my mother's arm. "Th-that's... my sister's name."

Colton snatched the lace. His expression darkened as he studied it.

I spoke slowly. "The daughter you believe fell into the sea didn't die. She was lured off the yacht and sold to traffickers in Southeast Asia. Taken far from home, she was passed from hand to hand again and again and nearly died."

Every word drained more color from my mother's face.

"That's impossible!"

"I'm the girl who was sold. I'm Alice Greco."

Everyone in the room exchanged stunned looks.

Beth was so terrified that her knees buckled and she nearly fainted.

Colton's knuckles went white around the lace.

The blood drained from his face, and his hands began to shake.

I smiled. "I tore that lace from the gown I wore that day. You never thought I'd make it back alive, did you, Colton?

"Take another look. Recognize me yet?"