Hannah and I woke the next morning, got dressed, and had breakfast with Lori in the kitchen.

"I’m so excited about today," Lori said between bites of her bagel. "Me and Lauren should be able to finish the guest house.

"Nice," Hannah said, smiling at her sister.

"Which reminds me," I said, "I need to make a phone call to Freddy." I met Hannah’s gaze. "I’ll step out into the corridor. I’ll be back shortly. I kissed Hannah and stepped out of the kitchen to call Freddy. The phone rang once before he answered.

"What do you want now, Thaddeus?" Freddy asked me.

"Good morning to you as well," I said. "I need you to send Lori’s things. I’ll pay for-"

"My father told me not to have any dealings with you or Hannah," Freddy interrupted. "We’re not sending anything."

I frowned. "You would treat your own sisters that way?" I asked Freddy, knowing the horrible truth of his answer.

"I’m done talking to you, Thaddeus," Freddy said before ending the call. I looked at my cell phone as if I had imagined that the call ended and cursed under my breath at the recent call history display. I slipped my cell phone into my pocket and stood in the hallway for a moment to try and get a grip on my anger and disbelief before having to break the news to Hannah and Lori. Despite my best efforts to conceal my expression, Hannah knew something was wrong when I entered the kitchen and sat down beside her.

"Freddy didn’t answer, did he," Hannah said. Lori stared at me expectantly.

"He answered," I said, "but he’s not sending anything over. Hannah nodded knowingly, but Lori groaned.

"I can’t believe this," Lori said.

"You can borrow clothes from me and Lauren," Hannah told her sister. I pulled out my wallet and handed a credit card to Hannah.

"You and Lauren can take her shopping," I said. Lori squealed in delight and Hannah smiled at me as she took the credit card, kissing me.

"Thank you, Roman," Hannah said.

"It doesn’t make up for s**tty parenting," I said, "but it’s the least I can do. I have to get to work." I kissed Hannah and stood. "You ladies have fun." We said our goodbyes and Marcus and Ed met me outside as the car pulled around to take me to work. "You two have a good night?" I asked them.

"Splendid," Marcus said, unenthusiastically.

"I slept well," Ed said. "We actually need to revise our plan from last night."

"Really?" I asked. "What gives?"

"I want you and me to go to The Auction House tonight," Marcus said. "Either me or Ed need to be inside that place and you’ve been there, so we decided that it’s best for you to take me."

"Hannah is going to kill me," I said to Marcus. "You know she’ll be against it."

"We were hoping you would stay late at work tonight as your cover story," Ed said. "Better to ask forgiveness than to ask permission." I pressed my lips together. I didn’t like the idea of lying to Hannah.

"Think about it," Marcus said. "We’ll talk about it on your way to work." Marcus and I climbed into the car and waved at Ed before he went back into the house. I stared out the window as my driver pulled out of the driveway and onto the street. How could I lie to my wife?

"I want to tell Hannah," I said to Marcus, "but if she knows, she’ll want in on it somehow."

"We don’t need her getting hurt," Marcus said.

"I’ll make sure Hannah doesn’t get hurt," I said, but I wasn’t ready to give Marcus a definitive answer on whether or not I could lie to her.

When we pulled up at my office building, I was about to step out of the car when I noticed a man waiting near the building entrance. I peered closely at the man before turning to Marcus.

"That’s Bernard," I told him. "What the hell is he doing here?" I glanced back out the window to see Bernard looking off in another direction.

"He could be a spy for Fitzgerald," Marcus confirmed. "Or, he could just be an annoying prick."

"I’m hoping for the latter," I said.

"I’ll keep an eye on the perimeter to make sure no one sneaks up when he confronts you," Marcus said. "He looks unarmed, but that doesn’t mean someone isn’t waiting nearby to do the dirty work.

"God, I hope not," I said as my heart quickened its pace. "What do I do?" I asked Marcus.

"Just be casual," he said. "You’re going to work but watch his body language. I doubt he plans on attacking you in broad daylight, but don’t get too close to him. I’ll be close enough to step in if there’s trouble."

I took a deep breath and stepped out of the car, strolling to the building. When I was halfway to the door, Bernard spotted me. He approached me and I stopped, my heart pounding in my chest.

"Roman," Bernard called out to me.

"What are you doing here, Bernard?" I asked him, eyeing him to watch his body language as Marcus suggested.

"You shut me out yesterday," Bernard said. "I stopped by to apologize and you treated me like a nobody." Bernard’s hands were visible and I was getting the feeling that he was just being his annoying, petty self.

"You’re right, it was rude of me," I said, resisting the urge to glance behind me to see where Marcus was. "But, like I said you weren’t welcomed."

"I screwed up, OK," Bernard said. "You didn’t need to have your guards hound me. And what’s up with the new security anyway?"

I was getting irritated now. Bernard just wanted to pry. "My cousin has a stalker that has been threatening me," I said, trying to remember Lauren’s story.

"You have a stalker threatening you?" Bernard asked, confused.

I sighed. "My cousin, Lauren, has had issues with stalkers. He showed up at my place, lit a fire while I was on my honeymoon," I said. "Could be more than one person, we don’t know yet for sure. Hence, the bodyguards."

"Damn," Bernard said. "Well, I knew you’d be here so I wanted to try my apology again. I’m sorry, Roman. Are we cool?"

I met Bernard’s dark eyes, knowing that we would never be cool, but I didn’t have time for his games. "We’re cool," I said, "but don’t show up to my house or job like this again."

"Fine," Bernard said and he walked off, just like that. I watched him go to see if he turned into a building or met with someone, but he just kept walking. Marcus stepped up beside me.

"Annoying prick," Marcus said. "I didn’t see anything suspicious."

"He was prying," I said. "He asked about you and Ed again."

"He’s definitely worth keeping an eye on," Marcus said. I agreed and we walked into my building together. When I got to my office, I sent a text to Hannah.

Bernard showed up at work. Let me know if anything strange happens at home. I sent the message to her.

Creep. I’ll keep you posted. Hannah responded to me moments later.

I spent the day answering calls and responding to emails but thinking about lying to Hannah. I wanted to help the investigation into The Auction House as much as possible. Marcus and Ed knew that, and I would help them, but lying to Hannah would be hard. By the time four o’clock arrived and Marcus stepped into my office to ask what I was going to do, I had decided to ask for Hannah’s forgiveness later instead of asking her permission. With Marcus in my office, I called my wife.

"Hey, Roman," Hannah answered the phone.

"Hey, Hannah," I said. "I’ve got bad news."

"What’s wrong?" She asked, concern evident in her voice. "Are you OK?"

"I’m fine, don’t worry," I said to her. "I just need to stay late. There’s an issue with one of my accounts and I need to stay behind to figure out some things with my accountants." I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. I hated lying to her.

"So, you won’t be home for dinner?" she asked me.

"No," I said, "but I’ll try not to be out too late. I have Marcus here with me. I miss you, Hannah," I said and that wasn’t a lie.

"I miss you too, Roman," she said. "I’ll be awake until you get home. Call me if you need me."

I hated that she believed my lie. My heart sank for deceiving her, but I could get us closer to taking The Auction House down. "I love you, Hannah," I said and it was true, but I had never said it to her out loud. There was a pause on her end of the phone.

"I love you too, Roman," she said. We hung up and I smiled at hearing her tell me that she loved me.

"You’re doing the right thing, Roman," Marcus assured me.

"I sure as hell hope so," I said. I was fully prepared for Hannah to kill me once she found out what I was about to do, but she loved me, so I held on to that thought as Marcus and I hashed out a plan for our recon at The Auction House.