Arnell Rayford's mother, Esther, is where she's always wanted to be. Ensconced in the mansion where her own mother once worked as a housekeeper, she runs a thriving business that's surely making the previous owner turn in her grave. For Esther, money is everything, and no one will stand in the way of her making it--not even her only child. While some may call Esther's live-in employees prostitutes, she prefers to call them ladies of charm--or tenants. There are no laws against renting out rooms, after all. Of course, there are laws against prostituting one's own underage daughter. It's a devastating secret Arnell and Esther have kept for years. Esther calls the jobs "favors," but Arnell recognizes them for what they are: demands couched in blackmail. Now that Arnell is engaged to a pillar of the community, Esther's latest request may well send her over the edge--but she won't be going alone. Because while Esther is holding Carnell's past overhead, her own is coming back to haunt her--and the lines between love and hate, parent and child, sex, profit--and even murder--are about to become dangerously blurred.
