Standish Langdon is determining his own fate. He knows exactly what he wants, whom he wants, and why he wants her. What he doesn't know - yet - is where they've taken her. But he won't stop until he's found her and dealt with the men who took her; took her from her father, from her peaceful life in Georgia's Alazani River Valley, and from the dreams of a future they'd share. His determination takes him from his own peaceful life in Boulder, Colorado to the rugged peaks of the Caucasus Major range, through the mouth of the 'River of Des-tiny' in Latvia heading into Russia's frozen isolation, then into Atbara and the Red Sea Hills, where the riches of the oil trade fuel the rancor of the sex trade. He'd promised Natia's father, Davit Burduli, a seasoned soldier and leader of his Georgian people - a proud people equally determined to defend their homeland and forge their future - that he would not stop looking until he found her and brought her back, back to the people who loved her, back to her father, and back to the life they'd planned to share. He'd promised Natia that he'd love her forever, and he intended to keep that promise ... fate be damned.