“Please mister, buy this painting so we can buy bread,” three dirty triplets begged. The billionaire mafia boss stared at the canvas, his heart stopping. The woman painted on it was the wife he mourned for years. With shaking hands, he pulled out a black card and whispered, “Take me to her.”

a warlord. If I brought them back to you, I wouldn’t be saving them. I’d be sacrificing them to the very monster I ran away from!”

I opened my mouth to defend myself, but a ragged, violent cough suddenly tore through Elena’s chest. She bent double, clutching the doorframe, a wet, rattling sound echoing from her lungs. I saw a spot of blood on her pale continue reading …