I held Hannah as we sat together on the floor of the corridor outside of the study where Marcus and Ed were questioning Court Macalester. My mind raced as I tried to comfort my wife. If what Court said was true, we were moving from offensive to defensive in our plan to take The Auction House down. Fitzgerald was certainly going to move the women and likely go into hiding. I had no idea what Marcus and Ed planned to do now.

"Let’s get you upstairs," I told Hannah. "Maybe a soak in the tub will help." Hannah didn’t protest as I helped her to her feet. She didn’t say a word as we took the elevator up to the second floor and walked into our bedroom. I turned her to face me and saw the worry in her green eyes. "Will you be OK in here while I go down to talk to Marcus and Ed?" I asked Hannah.

"I think so," she said quietly. "I don’t know what I’m going to do if I lose you, Roman."

I pulled her into a hug. "Don’t think like that," I told her. "Marcus and Ed will have a plan. That’s what they’re here for. They’re experts on this type of thing."

"What if we have to go into protective custody?" Hannah asked me.

I frowned. I hadn’t thought of that. "If it comes to that we’ll go," I told Hannah. "We’ll do whatever we need to do to stay safe." Hannah broke our embrace.

"I’ll be fine here, Roman," Hannah said to me. "Just let me know what happens."

"I will," I told her before planting a kiss on her forehead. Hannah went into the bathroom and I heard her turn on the tap. The sound of water flowing into the tub gave me reassurance that she would at least take my advice and relax in a warm bath. I left the bedroom, closing the door behind me.

When I returned to the study, the interview was over. Marcus and Ed were huddled around a laptop and Court was still seated on the sofa, looking bored as he glanced up at me. I turned away from him, joining Marcus and Ed at the desk.

"What did I miss?" I asked Marcus and Ed quietly.

"A bunch of bulls**t," Marcus muttered as he tapped the touchpad of the laptop.

"Is Hannah OK?" Ed asked me.

"For now," I said, glancing over at Court who watched us. "I’m assuming his story confirms that Fitzgerald knows we’re after him and The Auction House."

"That’s precisely what we’re going to assume," Marcus said. "Fitzgerald has his guys watching you, and they’ve likely been watching you for a while."

"Have you seen anyone following us?" I asked them.

"Not necessarily following you," Ed said to me. "They would keep their distance, but they know where you live and where you work. Any one of Fitzgerald’s thugs could be posted at a distance watching us at any time."

Marcus looked up at me from the laptop where he had been typing on the keyboard. "Fitzgerald had his eye on you as soon as you left that night with Hannah." Marcus glanced over at Court who looked away, pretending that he wasn’t paying any attention to us. "It may have started out as suspicion because of the amount of money that you paid for Hannah, but once word got back to Fitzgerald that you may be involved with the FBI, he started watching you more closely."

"Now Fitzgerald knows for sure," Ed added. "We need to step up our raids and find him and those women."

"Does that mean the police departments will be out openly searching for Fitzgerald?" I asked Marcus and Ed.

"Possibly," Ed told me. Marcus had returned to typing on the laptop. "Once we get this report filed about Court’s interrogation," Ed continued, "we’ll need to get with them and get a plan together as soon as possible."

"I have something to say," Court interrupted. All eyes were on Court now. He had stopped looking bored and despondent, and now I could see a hint of a mischievous gleam in his green eyes. They were the same shade of green as Hannah’s eyes. Marcus had moved the voice recorder to the desk and was about to press the button. "No recording," Court said. Marcus paused and glanced at Ed before turning his attention back to Court, pulling his hand away from the voice recorder.

"We’re listening," Marcus said.

"First, I want a plea bargain," Court said.

"We can’t promise that," Ed told Court, "but depending on what you have to say, we can make sure you have the nicest cell in one of the safer prisons." Court glared at Marcus but didn’t respond to the offer.

Marcus shrugged. "Or you can just sit there and say nothing, but if I were you I’d take the handout. Men like you don’t survive long without a nice cell in an easy prison. I’d make friends with FBI agents if I were you. We can make sure that your life is hell in prison."

"I’m not going to prison," Court said. "I haven’t done anything wrong." I raised my brow at Court’s confidence in his conviction that he was innocent. It always seemed like the stories that criminals make up and the lies that they tell are so unbelievable on TV, but this was real life, and the fact that Court couldn’t admit to crimes that the FBI agents were already aware of was mind-blowing.

"We’ll let the judge decide," Marcus said. "Based on evidence and eyewitness testimonies."

Court scowled in my direction. "What about him?" Court asked Marcus and Ed, indicating me with a wave of his hand. "He’s been to The Auction House and bought two women!"

"He’s also working with us," Ed told Court. "I wouldn’t worry about Roman. Either accept our guarantee of nice accommodations in prison or keep the information you have and we’ll forget you even said anything. Your choice." There was a moment of silence as Court weighed his options and we waited expectantly. When Court chose not to respond, Marcus went back to typing and Ed glanced over Marcus’s shoulder at the laptop screen, completely ignoring Court.

I watched Court as he eyed Marcus and Ed, weighing his options. When Court glanced at me I held his gaze, feeling the full force of his malice and contempt. "Intersection of Cherokee and Ford," Court said. Marcus stopped typing and he and Ed turned their attention back to Court. "Two-story white house. There will be a black, Ford Expedition in the driveway." That was all Court said. Marcus began tapping away on the laptop again and Ed pulled out his cell phone as he watched the laptop screen.

"This one," Marcus said, pointing to the laptop screen. Ed began tapping at his cell phone before holding it up to his ear. "308 Chestnut," Marcus told Ed. Someone picked up on the other end of Ed’s phone.

"Hey chief, this is agent Martinez," Ed said over the phone. "I need you to send a unit out to 308 Chestnut. We got a tip for possible human trafficking activity. Be advised that person of interest, Jared Fitzgerald, may be at this location and inhabitants are likely armed. Agent Delaney will send over the stats now." The chief on the other end said something to Ed before he ended the call. "A unit is being dispatched now," Ed said to Marcus. "They’ll be there in approximately eight minutes."

I leaned over and whispered to Ed. "Do you trust Court? What if it’s a trap?"

"If Court wants a cushy stay in prison, it won’t be a trap," Ed said to me before turning his attention to Court. "Depending on what we find there, you may have guaranteed yourself a gentle prison experience."

"You’ll find what you’re looking for," Court assured Ed. "Just keep this out of my record. You didn’t hear s**t from me."

"We’ll find out here shortly," Marcus said, glancing up at Ed. "I sent the stats to the chief. Now we wait."

"I need to go up and check on Hannah," I told Marcus and Ed. "I’ll be right back down. Hopefully, you’ll have some good news by then." Marcus and Ed agreed. I moved toward the door and glanced at Court who was watching me before I left the study, closing the door behind me. I had to share what little information I had with Hannah, hoping that the information that her father gave Marcus and Ed about the house on Cherokee would lighten her mood. I took the stairs up two at a time and entered the bedroom to find Hannah curled up on the sofa in a pink bathrobe watching TV. She sat up when I entered the room.

"What happened?" She asked me. "Are they taking my father to prison?" Hannah’s green eyes were wide. Clearly, she was on edge and I didn’t like the way this was taking such a huge toll on her emotionally. I sat beside her on the sofa and pulled her into my arms, kissing her neck. The scent of lavender wafted off of her skin from her soak in the tub.

"They’re not taking him in yet," I told her. "Court gave them an address for where Fitzgerald may be hiding with the women. Marcus and Ed are waiting to hear back from the police chief about what they find at the location."

"I hope for once in his life that my father is telling the truth," Hannah said as she clung to me. "I hope Fitzgerald is there and I hope they find those women."

"Me too," I said, stroking her hair. The TV was on the History channel and I had a brief memory of our first night together as newlyweds before all of this started with Marcus and Ed. Our lives would have been so different if I had just forgotten about The Auction House and moved on with my life as a married man. But, this was our reality now and I couldn’t dwell on the difficult aspects of my decision to stop Fitzgerald and his illegal trade. It was the right decision. It had to be the right decision.