TW: Mentions of rape and sexual assault

A/N: This chapter has one of my favorite lines I've ever written. Can you tell which one it is? It's a little hard to read in some parts because of the sensitive subject material. But the truth about the boss is finally revealed. This'll probably be edited later with more material added, but I wanted to get the chapter out so enjoy!

"Sir! Your new son has arrived! He's waiting for you in the main hall!" The maid smiled at Robert warmly as she picked at and smoothed out his clothes. She tucked his shirt in and gave him a quick pat on the back before leaving.

A man walked into the room, and Robert bowed immediately, knowing that direct eye contact with this man would be seen as disrespectful. He wasn't gay, but this man looked incredible. He looked so handsome with his silver hair. He looked like the father that Robert had always dreamed of. Nothing like his last father.

Robert's dreams were haunted with the screams of people being tortured because that was the punishment his old father had deemed the most effective. Whenever Robert wasn't doing things right, his old father would make sure he would put him alone in a room with nothing but sounds of people screaming and begging for their lives so he could see an alternative. The man had been old and fat. He always smelled like cheap hamburgers and grease, but he had a dominating presence. He often told Robert stories of when he played football in college and how he got injured and could never play again. "I could've been in the big leagues, you know?" He would muse as he smoked his cigar in front of Robert's face. Robert could only nod. He was allergic to tobacco.

"Look up at me, boy!" His new father boomed, bringing him back to reality.

Robert looked up, staring at the man directly in the eye. The man seemed drunk. He was only wearing a robe and his underwear. He smelled distinctly of Scotch. He was unstable on his feet, and his eyes weren't focusing correctly. But Robert knew by now that mentioning any faults in a parent was detrimental to his survival.

"Where is Yves? I want Yves." He mourned, looking around frantically.

The same maid from before came behind him and patted his new father's shoulder. "Sir, Yves left a couple of weeks ago. We haven't seen him since."

He nodded slowly as if he still did not believe it. "Yes, thank you, Loretta. You can leave now."

Loretta bowed before exiting without another word.

"Are you planning to run away? Am I not good enough for you?" He screamed, turning back to the boy in front of him. He grabbed Robert roughly by the shoulder.

Robert attempted to mask the fear in his heart and kept his voice level. He was also confused. What happened between him and his last son to make him act like this? "I will not leave you, sir. I will stay loyal until the day I die."

"Is that a promise?" The man spat, saliva getting all over Robert's face.

The saliva clung to his skin, and he had a strange urge to wipe it off, but he stood as erect as ever and did not falter. He kept his eyes focused on his new father's unfocused ones. "Yes, sir. I give you permission to kill me if I do not comply." Where did that come from?

The man stiffened as he pulled away and let go of Robert's shoulder. Robert let go of the breath he had been holding. The man patted his shoulder with lackluster enthusiasm. "Good boy." He assured drily, his eyes void of emotion. He then walked away, leaving Robert with a warm feeling inside him that he had never had before. He was a good boy. That's all he ever wanted to be. His old father had never even called him anything close to it. He had always dreamed of the day he would receive a compliment from a parental figure, and he got one on his first day. He wanted to hear it again. And again. He would do everything he could to stay that way.

❦

"I don't know what changed in particular, but I'm guessing that Robert is trying to impress his father by doing this. The Players failed at getting Alex and Robert wants to show that he could do what they couldn't." Ethan let out a deep sigh. "I never should've left him there. From the beginning, Alex didn't have a good feeling about him, and I pushed him to go with him because I thought he would be better off. I should've just listened to him."

"It's not your fault," Virginie soothed. "You were young at the time and being manipulated by a man with a lot more experience than you. You had no idea what was going to happen to Alex once he arrived in that house."

"Yes, I suppose you're right," Ethan agreed. "But more importantly, what are we going to do to get Alex back? Do you have a plan?"

Virginie nodded vigorously even though Ethan could not see her. "I do. My first line of action is going to contact the Agency about Alex's tracker because it reads like he's home when we both know that he's not."

"You do that, and I'll talk to you later." The line clicked before Virginie was able to respond.

"What's going on?" Colette asked worriedly, rising from the couch. "Do you need something?"

Virginie put her hand up and shook her head. "No, please, sit down and have fun with your boyfriend. This is my mess."

Colette sat back down but stared warily at Virginie as if she knew what was going to happen next. Virginie picked up the phone and called the Agency's number, following the usual steps to get what she needed. She was trying to contact the tech department. She rolled her eyes when she heard the boss's voice come over the line.

"Hello, my little flower."

Virginie groaned. "How many times do I have to tell you not to call me that?" She shook her head, not allowing him to rule the conversation. "Anyway, why was I transferred to you? I specifically said that I needed the tech department to help me out. Alex's tracker isn't working. He's been kidnapped, and I need to find out where he is."

"I know all of that."

"How could you know all of that? I didn't say in my message that Alex was kidnapped."

She heard him chuckle mockingly and Virginie gritted her teeth.

"I know because I am the one who helped orchestrate it," the boss explained.

Virginie let out a breathless laugh. It was like all of the oxygen had been sucked out of the room. Alex could be buried in Robert's basement right now, and it's my fault. It's my fault this sick, perverted man fell in love with me.

"That sadistic bastard," Colette seethed from the couch.

"Don't be mad, my little flower. I only―"

"If you call me that one more time, I'm going to scream. I'm not..." Her old name was caught in her throat like a fish bone. "...Rose anymore."

"How could I forget the girl that I fell in love with?" He crooned with a longing sigh and all of the stress that had been building over the past hour reached a critical breaking point.

"How could you fall in love with a 15-year-old girl? How could you let them do that to me?" Virginie's voice broke, a tear dropping from her eye. "You came there, twice, sometimes three times a week to...fuck me, and then you left me there. After you said all that shit about how I was 'the girl of your dreams', you left me there to be abused and drugged up by the next pervert who wanted use my body as vehicle for their semen so they could live a sick fantasy that a girl that looked like me would want to have sex with them." She laughed without humor. "To think that you're always asking me 'why are you always fighting so hard for these kids?' The same fucking reason why you made an entire agency to hide your guilt that you loved fucking a teenager so much that you shut down the sex trafficking ring that she was in and 'adopted' her so you could continue living your sick fantasy."

The apartment was dead silent as Virginie stopped her tirade on the boss. Corey had even muted the TV. He and Colette were staring at her with pitiful eyes. The same eyes that had picked her up from the ring that night and told her that "everything was going to be okay." But it wasn't okay. She wasn't okay then, and she wasn't okay now.

"To think, after all that, you still wonder why I always want to take the human trafficking jobs. I'll tell you why I keep fighting for these kids. Because who else is going to? Huh? When I was being fucked by half of Congress, nobody ever gave a shit. They believed their campaign slogans and their baby kisses when they should've known that they love doing more than kissing babies. No one came to save me. I had to save myself. People don't care about human trafficking because they're afraid of what they'll find. The people who have the power to stop it from happening are the ones who are participating so why the fuck would they want to save girls like me? Those girls are the only reason why I haven't killed myself yet. It certainly wasn't for you. If I had to live for you, I would've killed myself the day after you got caught trying to kiss me in your office. Did you really think I wanted you? How could a child want a grown man?"

"I was trying to protect you. Alex killed his girlfriend. I thought he was going to do the same thing to you. I had to make sure that you were safe. And if that means that you're going to get mad at me, I'll take it."

"Protect me from what? One of the only men who has ever cared about me? Alex knows who I am and he isn't afraid of me. He wanted to protect me from Robert. To protect me from you." Virginie let out a groan of frustration and slammed her hand on the counter, causing Corey and Colette to jump. "He killed Stephanie because she was trying to kill me, you self absorbed dick. If you knew anything, you would've learned that."

"I've made a grave mistake. Please forgive me. I didn't―"

"I don't care about your stupid promises or sorrys because I've known you long enough to know that you don't mean them even though you think that you do. Where is Alex?"

"He's at Robert's mansion. He's keeping him in a special room in the basement. I can turn his tracker back on and provide you with any support that you need. Name it, and you'll have it, my darling." He paused, and she could hear the sick smile spreading on his face through his voice. "Do you like my new nickname for you? I thought of it―"

"Shut the fuck up, David. You know what's funny? Your name doesn't even fit you. You're not David at all. David was a man who brought righteousness to his people and defeated an evil power. You are Goliath. I am David. I will bring these children to righteousness and take down perverts like you." She paused, catching her breath. "I will ask Corey to contact the proper departments if I need anything. Tell them to look out for his call. Do not contact me."

Virginie hung up the phone promptly after that, not waiting for David to respond. Colette immediately rose from the couch and stood by her side, not saying anything. She was silent, but her presence weighed on Virginie like sacks of wet sand on her shoulder.

Corey's blue eyes were filled with worry and questions, but he knew it wasn't his place to move a muscle or open his mouth. He looked like he wanted to do something, but he knew it wasn't going to help.

"I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine, I'm fine," Virginie chanted to everyone but herself, clutching her skin tightly. The image of Alex dead on the cold floor of Robert's basement, surrounded by drugged up women who hated their lives filled her mind. They wouldn't even be able to tell the difference between Alex's body and the other girls that overdosed daily in the area. She could remember the smell of the dead bodies constantly wafting in her cell and no matter how much expensive perfume that her clients bought her, she could never spray it away.

She could see his green eyes wide open with shock and confusion and the last thought on his mind was how Virginie broke her promise. How she always said she would never leave him, but in his moment of actual need, she was nowhere to be found.

She felt like her world was crashing, all of the pain that she had pushed way into a particular corner of her mind was leaking out into her loosely held together reality. She fell to her knees, and she could feel Colette wrapping her arms around her, but she couldn't say anything. Her vision was blurred, and everything was disappearing into a world of darkness.

"I'm fine," she choked out one more time, this time not to anyone. She just wanted to hear it so maybe one day that she could start to believe it.