Roman ...

It was hard for me to contain my anger after hearing how uncaring The Auction House was about selling women and young girls as sex slaves. Hannah was watching me with concern in her green eyes. "We need to take that place down as soon as possible," I said to Marcus and Ed. "Jared Fitzgerald, Bernard Sullivan, and Court Macalester deserve to be put away along with all the other creeps who think human trafficking is a sport." If justice wasn’t served, I wouldn’t put it past myself to personally see to it that those men paid dearly for what they had been doing.

Marcus was at the desktop computer, typing. "I’m checking our database now for Jared Fitzgerald," Marcus said. "Name sounds familiar." Ed got up and joined Marcus, leaning over his shoulder to view the computer screen.

"What’s this Fitzgerald guy look like?" Ed asked me.

"Tall, slender, dark greasy hair slicked back, big nose," I said, thinking back to meeting the sleazy owner of The Auction House.

"That’s our guy," Marcus said. He waved me and Hannah over as he swiveled the screen around. A full-sized picture of Jared was on display.

"That’s him," I agreed, and Marcus swiveled the screen back around. "Fitzgerald has been in some trouble in recent years. Extorsion, aggravated assault, theft, things like that," Marcus said.

"He hasn’t popped up on our radar in over a year, though," Ed said, "according to his profile."

"Well, that’s definitely him," I confirmed again. "It seems he’s moved on from petty crimes to human trafficking."

"Then you have a reason to find him and arrest him?" Hannah asked Marcus and Ed.

"We have to catch him in the act or at least at the scene," Ed said to her.

"What’s the plan?" I asked them eagerly.

"A decoy to check the place out," Marcus said, leaning back in the desk chair. "If it’s as you say, we’ll likely set up a raid on the place."

"How can I help?" I asked.

Hannah placed her hand on my arm and I met her gaze. "You can help by letting them do their jobs, Roman," she said to me. "This isn’t your fight."

"She’s right," Ed interjected. "This guy, Fitzgerald, he’s known to cause trouble for people who double-cross him. Those aggravated assault charges weren’t random."

"That’s what the contract said," Hannah added. "It threatens the lives of the buyer and their family and friends if word gets out about The Auction House."

"Sounds about right," Ed said, propping himself up on the edge of the desk. "Are you sure you two want to move forward with this?"

"I am a thousand percent sure," I said quickly before turning to Hannah. I took her shoulders and stared into her beautiful green eyes. "I know you want to keep everyone safe, Hannah, and I do too. I will do everything in my power to keep you and our families safe, but if you don’t want to move forward in this with me, I understand. I’ll call the car around to pick you up and take you back to the hotel."

"Roman, no matter if I agree with this or not," Hannah said, "I’m in it with you. I’m not leaving."

I pulled Hannah into an embrace. "Thank you," I whispered to her. "I meant everything that I said to you."

"I know," she responded before we broke the hug. I turned back to Marcus and Ed. "We’re both in this," I said to them.

Marcus made a low whistle. "You’ve got one hell of a woman, Mr. Thaddeus."

"I know," I said, smiling at Hannah. She offered me a small smile before I turned back to the agents. "You can call me Roman," I said. "It’s past time to dispense with the formalities." 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

"Fair enough," Ed said. "Now, before we move forward with this, I suggest you two stay here in D.C. and do some sightseeing. No one needs to know why you were here other than as tourists. I also suggest that you get some security for you and your wife."

"Like bodyguards?" Hannah asked Ed.

"Yes," Ed said. "Guys like Fitzgerald tend to be cautious when new patrons bid on their girls. New faces tend to be watched closely, maybe even followed. That’s how he would know to fulfill the assault threats in the contract. If he finds out you’ve been hanging around police stations and such, he’ll take it as plausible cause to stop you in any way that he can."

Hannah turned to me with worry in her green eyes. "How are we supposed to explain the fact that we need bodyguards?" she asked me.

"We’ll think of something," I said as Marcus and Ed stood.

"You two can take time in here to chat," Marcus said. "Ed and I will be across the hall in his office discussing our part of the deal." They moved to the door together. "We still need to run this by our boss for approval, but I’m certain we have enough information here to get the go-ahead on shutting the place down." Marcus and Ed left the office, closing the door behind them.

Hannah began pacing. "Bodyguards will be such a red flag, Roman," she said to me. "If there is someone watching us like Ed was saying, then they’ll immediately know that something’s up as soon as we have bodyguards."

"You’re right," I said, reaching for Hannah’s hand. "Come sit and let’s talk about it. You’re making me nervous pacing." We returned to our armchairs, facing each other as much as the positions of the armchairs would allow. "We’ll get the bodyguards," I told her. "We’ll do everything they tell us to do. I’ll book the hotel for a few more days and we’ll do an extended honeymoon."

Hannah didn’t look so sure. "But what if they can’t take the case?" Hannah asked me. "What if Fitzgerald’s goons find us anyway? Or worse, what if our family and friends get hurt?"

"We’ll keep Lauren and Lori close," I told Hannah. "We’ll tell them the truth about everything and have the bodyguards keep tabs on them as well. We don’t have all the answers about Fitzgerald, so all we can do is what we can to get things moving on taking him and his human trafficking ring down."

Hannah pressed her lips together and closed her eyes for a moment. I gave her time to take it all in. Finally she opened her eyes and nodded. "It needs to stop," Hannah said. "Those women need help."

"And those men need to be behind bars," I said, moving to kneel beside Hannah’s chair. "In the same way that I promised you that I just wanted to help you when I bid for you that night, we can show those women that they deserve help as well." Hannah cupped my face and pressed her lips to mine. We kissed for a moment, parting our lips and deepening the kiss. She was stirring desire in me, and I would have taken her right there in the office if I had let my baser instincts take over.

Hannah broke the kiss. "You should extend the hotel stay," she said. "I’ll text Lori to give her a heads-up that we’ll be on our honeymoon a few days longer."

"Good idea," I said, returning to my armchair. I found the email with our hotel reservation and I added three more nights with no issue. After extending the reservation, I clicked over to text messages and found my message thread with Lauren.

’Staying gone a few more days. Will update you when we get back.’ I sent the message to Lauren and glanced up at Hannah, who was still on her phone. "How’s Lori doing?" I asked her.

"She’s fine, wondering how we’re doing since we’re extending the honeymoon," Hannah said.

I smirked. "An extended honeymoon usually means a good thing, right?" I asked Hannah, and she glanced up at me, unamused.

"Not in our case," Hannah said. The door opened and Marcus and Ed re-entered the office, closing the door behind them.

"Good news," Marcus said as he and Ed walked around to sit on the sofa. "We got the immediate OK from our boss to get started on shutting this auction house down. The boss wants our boots on the ground ASAP."

"Great," I said, ready to start immediately.

"What does that mean for us?" Hannah asked them.

"We’ll work on getting you some great security guys that we use from our witness protection department," Marcus said. "In the meantime, we’ll meet with you as things develop on our end, but not here. How long are you staying in D.C.?

"Three more days," I said.

"That should work," Ed said. "It gives us time to move our current assignments around and get to work on this one. We’ll give you a call with information on where to meet us in the coming days."

"We’re at your disposal," I said, reaching out to shake Marcus’s hand and then Ed’s. I was ready to take The Auction House down, and even though I knew Hannah had her concerns, it was comforting knowing that she was in it with me.