"What the FUCK do you mean that Alex is missing?" Jabari shouted into the phone. "Put Virginie on the line. I don't think you know what you're talking about."

Virginie smiled from the couch, the first positive feeling she had all day. Jabari always knew how to put a smile on her face. She loved how he was so naturally funny. Alex deserved to have a friend like that.

"Jabari," Colette hissed between clenched teeth. "I told you that Virginie is a bit indisposed at the moment."

There was a knock on the door, and Colette and Virginie both stared at each other, confused as to who it was. Corey was the one who moved first to open the door. He crossed the living room to the door where Jabari stood, still holding the phone with a smile on his face.

Corey narrowed his eyes at Jabari leaning cockily against the doorway. "Who the hell are you?"

Jabari pushed himself off and tried to look over Corey's enormous towering frame. "I'm Alex's best friend and a friend of Virginie. She and Colette know me." He nodded to himself as he appraised the apartment. "This is a pretty nice place you got here."

Corey turned back to Colette who was still staring at Jabari incredulously. "Do you know this guy?" He frowned when he noticed that she was still gawking at him. "Why are you staring at him? You don't stare at me like that."

Jabari pushed himself into the apartment. "That's because you don't look like me, bro." He rolled his eyes as if it was obvious as he made his way to the kitchen. "Do y'all have any food in here? I skipped out on breakfast. I was doing a stakeout last night."

Corey pushed himself in front of Jabari, and they stared each other down for a few tense seconds before guffawing loudly and patting each other on the back. Colette blinked, not understanding.

Corey smiled with his arm around Jabari's shoulder. "This guy is pretty cool, angel. What haven't you told me about him before?"

Colette shook her head. The inner mechanisms of a man's mind were truly an enigma. She decided to change the subject. "What are you doing here, Jabari? How do you even know where we live? Aren't you supposed to be at work?"

"You're throwing a lot of questions at me at once," he cautioned, grabbing a banana from the fruit basket. "I have an answer for each of them but relax a little bit." He took a bite of the banana and chewed it slowly, holding up one finger to signal that he wasn't finished. He swallowed dramatically before continuing. "First off, where is Virginie?"

"I'm over here, dumbass," Virginie called from the couch.

Jabari grinned in response. "That's our girl. Colette had me worried over the phone. I thought something was wrong with you. Thought you wouldn't be able to kick whoever's ass we have to kick to save Alex."

Who does this bastard think that I am? Virginie sprung up from the couch, dropping the blanket on the floor. "You know me better than that."

He bowed. "My deepest apologies, my lady. Perhaps I can take you out for dinner so I can...properly apologize."

Virginie sniffed mockingly as she made her way into the kitchen. "You're a pig."

"And you're stunning."

Colette pushed his shoulder as Virginie rolled her eyes. "I'm still waiting for an answer to those questions if you're finished with your shenanigans."

Jabari put his hands up in surrender. "Okay, okay. I'm here to help y'all get Alex back. That guy is my best friend, and if anything happened to him, I would go crazy."

Virginie stared at Colette knowingly, who blushed from the fierceness behind Virginie's stare. "I definitely understand where you're coming from on that front."

"I'm in the NYPD, so it's not hard to do a quick search of some personal information to find an address. Lastly, I am supposed to be at work today, but I've done so much over time that I decided I needed a couple of personal days 'to take care of a few things' if you know what I mean."

"You mean to blow the brains out of whoever took your friend?" Corey suggested.

Jabari grinned. "Right on, bro."

Virginie's stomach turned. I hate this. This is all my fault. If I hadn't let Alex get so close, he would be safe. Jabari would still be at work. I can't believe everyone had to alter their life because I made a stupid mistake. I let my feelings get in the way, and now everyone has to pay the price.

Jabari noticed her sorrowful expression and frowned. "Don't blame yourself. This has nothing to do with you. Alex's 'dad' has been looking for him ever since he escaped. It was just a matter of time before he found him."

"But it wasn't Alex's father who found him," Virginie shot back, surprising Jabari. "It was my boss. He was the one who told Robert where to go and what to do. He even mixed up the signal for the tracker that I had put on him so I would think that Alex was at home."

Now he was confused. "Why would he do that? Doesn't that go against the contract that he made with Ethan? That's completely unethical."

Colette turned to Virginie with worried eyes. "You don't have to tell him if you don't want to. I know it's hard for you to talk about."

Virginie shook her head and smiled sadly at Colette. The sadness in Colette's eyes made her feel warm inside. The fact that she cared so much about her that it made her sad to see her upset was something that she had never had before she met Colette. "No, it's fine. I have to talk about it eventually. I can't excuse his actions." She took a deep breath. "My idiot of a boss is in love with me. He has been for years. He found out that Alex killed Stephanie and thought that he would do the same to me, so he took it upon himself to 'protect' me."

Virginie thought that Jabari would give her the same pitying look that she had received earlier, but he didn't give her any of that. He did look remorseful, however. "I'm sorry that you went through all of that. Human trafficking cases are the worst. Especially when it comes to kids. And the fact that you have to work with the man that abused you every day? I can't imagine what that's like. I'm proud of you for surviving. Thank you for being here with us and helping the world with your talents. We are forever grateful."

Virginie didn't know what to say so she just gave him a warm smile.

Jabari turned back to the rest of the group. "But why wouldn't he do his research first? Or maybe just ask you about it? Then he would know that Alex was just acting in your best interest." He laughed. "I know I'm a cop but please take this wrong way; I am glad that bitch is dead. She was toxic in all the wrong ways. Alex did the world a favor."

They all laughed.

"I think we can all agree on that," Virginie smiled. "But I think the real reason why he did it is that he thinks that Alex is in love with me and sees him as an opponent."

Jabari snorted. "He's not wrong about that." Virginie stared at him incredulously. "You really think that Alex isn't in love with you? Virginie, you're smarter than this. I honestly haven't seen him act this way with anyone before."

Virginie blushed, looking down at her feet. "I don't know what you mean."

Jabari, Colette, and Corey groaned.

"Y'all are annoying. Can we get back to what's important? Like saving Alex's life?" Virginie chastised, waving her hand in dismal.
There was a loud knock on the door, interrupting their conversation. Jabari went to the door and opened it without thinking. Ethan stood there, looking like a soldier, dressed in a camo combat uniform. Jabari rolled his eyes after motioning for him to come in. "Could you be any more obvious that you're going on a dangerous mission, chief?"

"The fact that you think that your opinion is relevant to me is funny," Ethan scoffed. Jabari turned red with embarrassment. He turned to the rest of the people in the room. "Are these the people who are going to be helping us, Virginie? Oh, where are my manners." He stuck his hand out in front of Colette. "I don't believe that we've met before. My name is Ethan Stroud, police commissioner of the NYPD and Alex's big brother."

Colette, as flustered as she was, shook his hand. "No, we haven't met. My name is Colette Lecuyer, and I'm Virginie's best friend." She motioned to Corey. "This is Corey Hall, he's my boyfriend and the top medic in the Agency."

"It's an honor to meet you, sir," Corey commented, sticking out his hand.

Ethan nodded and shook his hand. "Likewise." He put his hands on his hips and stared at the people in the room. "Now enough with the pleasantries. What's our plan of action to save my little brother and kill the son of a bitch who took him?"

Virginie was glad for the change in conversation. "We know where he's being kept, and I also have a rapport with some of the people that work there. I'm sure they know where Robert's basement is."

Ethan nodded. "That's good. Do you know if Robert has any weaknesses?"

"Wouldn't you know more than me? You've spent way more time with him than I have."

Ethan rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but that was years ago." He paused to think. "Actually, after seeing him in the courtroom, I think I have a pretty good idea. He seems to be the same, just older."

"What do you remember about him?"

"He was always eager to please. The guy who took me was demanding, and Robert liked that. He loved any opportunity to show that he was the one who was on top. But my 'dad' didn't like that. He preferred me over him. He told us this multiple times."

"How did Robert take that?"

Ethan laughed at the memory. "Badly. He often went into fits of rage. He tried to kill me a couple of times, but I was far more skilled than him."

Jabari pulled out his notepad. "Ethan can easily beat Robert's ass, check."

"I hope you're not actually writing that down, you fool," Ethan chided.

"Wouldn't dream of it, sir," Jabari assured with a confident nod, sliding his notepad back in his pocket.

"What about Alex's father, though?" Virginie asked.

Ethan bit his lip, and his expression turned dark, his mind disappearing into another time. One he didn't seem to want to be reminded of. "He is strong. He beat me during the one time that we fought."

"Why did you fight him?"

"It was after I found out the truth about him."

"What was the truth?" Colette asked, chiming into the conversation.

"That he was a monster who didn't honor his agreement with me." Colette looked bemused. "I understand your confusion. As I explained to Virginie on the phone earlier, I was a mercenary when I was younger. I got conned into doing the job, but eventually, I was okay with it because I was making decent money and Alex was safe. However, I didn't want Alex going through the same thing.

"One of my father's friends was looking for a child. I offered to give him Alex if he promised that Alex wouldn't be involved in any of the nonsense that I was. Alex was to be brought up as a normal boy; he was supposed to go to school, join the basketball team, become homecoming king, be on the honor roll, that kind of thing. The man agreed and promised to let me see Alex whenever I wanted.

"I didn't get to see Alex as much as I'd liked. I was often called off on missions for my father and forced to put off my visits. But sometimes, on the days I was free, Alex wasn't available. I was told Alex had been sent to a sleepaway camp and I was happy for him. He was getting to do rich kid stuff that I wouldn't have been able to afford for him.

"But when Alex came back from 'camp,' he was different. He was colder and had built up a lot of muscle. When he told me he went to a military camp, I had believed him at first. I wanted to believe anything but the truth. I didn't want to believe that I had sent my little brother down the same cursed path that I had made for myself. That all changed one day when I saw a bunch of scars on his body. The truth came tumbling out, and he realized that I was going through the same thing that he was. I confronted his father about it, and we fought."

He closed his eyes as if he was still there, receiving the hard blows from this brutal man. "The man moved unlike anyone I had ever seen. I thought I was skilled, but he was masterful."

Jabari nodded. "So Ethan can't beat Alex's creepy father's ass. Noted."

Virginie noticed Ethan's eyes flash with anger and decided to change the subject. "Do you think that you've improved enough by now to defeat him?"

Ethan pursed his lips. "I'm not sure. I have improved my fighting skills by leaps and bounds since then, but he could've done the same."

"That's also true. But he is a lot older than you, yes? That could give you an advantage."

"That's true, but I was more thinking about what you're going to do."

Virginie tilted her head slightly, not understanding what he was implying. "I don't know what you mean. I'm going to be helping you catch Alex, of course. What else would I be doing?"

"Isn't the whole point of your mission in New York, your original mission, rather, to take down Robert's sex trafficking ring? I know the objective is to take down all of the players involved but if you cut off the Hydra's immortal head...no more Hydra. You get to take apart the ring and destroy the man who has been after Alex. Both of your missions completed in one day."

Virginie opened her mouth to argue but then reconsidered. She hadn't even realized that everything would be over after leaving Robert's mansion. The girls would be saved, and Alex would be safe forever.

It would be time for her and Colette to pack up and move on. Nothing was keeping them in this city anymore.

But she didn't want to leave. Her stomach turned at the thought of leaving New York. She didn't understand why. She needed to go. She needed to cut off all ties with Alex. It would make things easier for both of them. He would be able to find a regular girl to settle down with, and she could stop pretending that she could be normal.

"Virginie?" Ethan asked worriedly, snapping her out of her daze. "Are you still with us?"

Virginie nodded vigorously, trying to shake any hesitation out of her mind. "Yes, I am. After this, I'll complete both my missions and I'll have to be moving on. There are a lot more people out there to save."

"Virginie..." Colette started, but she didn't want to hear it. The decision hurt enough as it stood.

"What are we waiting for? We should get going. We don't know what Alex is going through right now. The more time we spend talking about it, the more time Alex has to spend with that sicko."

She needed to get hands around something or else the guilt creeping into her soul would eat it alive.