When I walked into the main family room to tell Hannah, Lori, and Kristin that we were done creating new raid locations on the map, I found them hugging and crying on the sofa?

"What happened?" I asked them. "Is everything OK?"

The women broke their embrace and Hannah gazed up at me, smiling through her tears. "Nothing is wrong," Hannah said to me as I sat down beside her on the sofa.

"We’re just getting to know one another," Lori added as she glanced at Kristin with an expression of respect and esteem.

I frowned in confusion. "Getting to know someone doesn’t usually invoke tears," I said to them. They all laughed and glanced at one another. "An inside joke. I get it."

"How did the re-mapping go?" Hannah asked me.

"It went well," I said. "We added a few more locations and figured out the best route to take for the raid. Marcus and Ed need to keep the locations far enough apart that if something does go down at one location there’s limited time for anyone to get the word out to their local friends."

Kristin nodded. "There’s always a plan to get out of the area as quickly as possible if a raid happens," Kristin confirmed. "Usually there are waiting vans to haul the girls and women, and there are also a few people keeping watch during the night for anything suspicious so everyone will be ready to scatter."

I shook my head. "People go through a lot to get away with illegal activities," I said. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

"It’s about power and wealth," Hannah said. "Wealthy, powerful people think they can get away with breaking the law."

Everyone was silent for a moment as the gravity of Hannah’s words set into our minds. "This is depressing," Lori said, and she stood. "I’m turning in for the night. I need to go watch something funny and uplifting."

Kristin stood as well. "I’ll go up to my room and do the same," Kristin said. We all bid each other goodnight and when Lori and Kristin were gone, I turned to Hannah with a narrowed gaze. "What really happened in here?" I asked her.

Hannah curled up on the sofa and laid her head on my chest. I wrapped an arm around her, holding her close to me. "Kristin told us what happened to her. She told us how she ended up as a victim of human trafficking."

I nodded. "That would certainly explain the tears."

"She was only 16, Roman," Hannah continued. "She saw girls and women die needlessly." Hannah let out a choked sob and I embraced her, not knowing what to say. "She was raped for years, Roman," Hannah said to me through her tears. "That could have happened to me." Hannah cried bitter tears of sadness and guilt as I held her in my arms.

"It wasn’t meant for you, Hannah," I said to her gently. "That life was not yours to live." Hannah continued to cry, and my heart ached for her. If I hadn’t been there the night that her father forced her into the sex slave trade, if I didn’t have good intentions in wanting to save her, Hannah would most likely have suffered a very similar fate to Kristin. The thought of what those men did to young girls and women made my stomach churn. The thought of Bernard bidding for Hannah and taking her to his home made me clench my jaw in anger and disgust. Knowing that Bernard was currently in custody, unable to do damage to more women was a small comfort. I was rubbing Hannah’s arm as her tears flowed. She had every right to express her sadness through her tears. There were so many terrible things in the world that should never happen, and human trafficking was one of those things.

As Hannah’s sobs began to slow down she sat up and leveled her gaze with mine. Her green eyes shone with unshed tears and her eyes were slightly puffy from crying. "I’m so sorry, Roman," she said to me. "I was so ungrateful for what you did for me."

I frowned and shook my head, tucking a strand of her red hair behind her ear. "Don’t apologize to me," I told her. "You reacted in a way that was natural. You didn’t know me, and your father had just forced you into a traumatic situation." Hannah bit her lip, an action that would normally drive me wild for her, but right then it was an action to keep herself from crying again. I gently cupped her cheek, running my thumb along the edge of her bottom lip. "I wanted nothing more than to get you out of there, to get you to safety. I could have bid for each one of the women on stage and tried to save them all, but that wasn’t practical. I wish I didn’t have to buy you in that way, but I wanted you, Hannah, and I’m the luckiest man on earth to call you my wife." Hannah parted her lips to say something, her expression full of emotion, but when no words came out I leaned and kissed her. Hannah placed her hands on either side of my face and returned the kiss with a hunger and a passion that ignited a fire within me. I took her waist and pulled her closer to me as our lips moved in a slow rhythm against each other. I wanted to become a part of Hannah, to etch myself into her heart. I wanted her to know that I didn’t regret bringing her into my life. I tugged at her shirt, but she broke the kiss and placed her hands on my wrists.

"Not here," she said quietly. I nodded, taking her hands and guiding her from the sofa. We hurried from the main family room and Hannah followed me up the stairs as I took them two at a time. I met her on the landing of the second floor and pulled her into another intense kiss, parting our lips and allowing our tongues to taste the sweetness of each other’s mouths. Hannah broke the kiss and took my hand, guiding me into our bedroom. She closed the door and turned to me before slipping her shirt up and over her head, tossing it to the floor before wrapping her arms behind my neck and kissing me again. I made quick work of her bra as we kissed, unlatching the hooks and taking her arms away from me just long enough for her bra to slip off her shoulders and onto the floor. The rhythm of our kiss quickened and the feeling of her breasts against my chest made me hard with desire for her. I gripped Hannah’s waist and lifted her up to carry her to the bed. She wrapped her legs around me and we kissed passionately. I held her there in my arms, sliding my hands up the smooth skin of her back before lowering her to the bed. We broke the kiss long enough to undress. I unbuttoned my shirt, watching Hannah unbuckle her belt and jeans, slipping them off her hips. She moved to take off her thongs, but I stopped her hands.

"Leave them," I said in a husky voice. Her thongs were silk and a deep blue color that was beautiful against her pale skin. "I love the way they look on you." Hannah bit her lip in response, staring up at me with her green eyes in a sensual way that I couldn’t resist. I yanked off my shirt, slacks, and boxers as Hannah lay before me wearing only her sexy thongs. I captured her lips with mine and rubbed my hand up her thigh to the thin strip of cloth at her hip. Hannah moaned into my mouth as we kissed, her hands gripping my back as we kissed. I lowered my hand between her thighs and rubbed her clit through the silky material of her panties which were damp with her desire. I broke the kiss and stared down into her green eyes. She was panting with longing and moving her hips against my fingers. "I want to show you how much I love you, Hannah Thaddeus," I said to her. Hannah bit her lip and moaned. I took one of her hard nipples into my mouth and flicked it with my tongue before moving to the other nipple to do the same. Hannah buried her fingers in my hair, moaning with pleasure. I needed to be inside of her, to feel connected to her. As I flicked her nipples again with my tongue, I pushed the material of her panties aside and ran my thumb along her wet slit. Hannah gasped and arched her back. with her panties pushed aside I slipped my dick inside of her slowly, feeling her body close around me. Hannah gripped the fabric of the comforter in her fists and moaned loudly as I rocked my hips slowly and gently between her thighs, taking her breasts into my hands and feeling the intensity of pleasure as my dick sank deep inside of her with each thrust. Our ecstasy grew stronger as our bodies moved together in a slow, deliberate rhythm filled with our need to be connected to one another. As my orgasm closed in, I leaned over and kissed Hannah with a passion that was filled with my love for her. She wrapped her arms around me pulling me closer to her as we made love. Hanna’s moans intensified against my lips until I felt her muscles tighten as she came. I thrust my dick inside of her, feeling the pleasure of her tighten around me. The orgasm gripped my body as I came deep inside of her, needing to fill her with a part of me as the orgasm washed over me like a wave.

Our eyes met and I could see the intense emotions in her green gaze. "I love you, Roman," Hannah said to me, and I knew with every fiber of my being that I would do everything in my power to keep Hannah as my wife.