He found me pretty quickly and I felt bad when he threw open the bathroom door (which I’d actually managed to shut on my own this time) in a panic.

Vaughn took a few deep breaths when he saw me.

“Sorry,” I murmured. “I wanted to try and get the blood out,” I said as I motioned to the shirt in my hands. I’d put my own shirt back on so I could wash Vaughn’s out in the sink and while I’d managed to get the worst of the stains out, I actually missed wearing it. And it didn’t smell like him anymore.

I’d checked.

“Nothing to be sorry for,” he finally said. I almost smiled because it was something Dante would always say to me when I apologized for something.

Instead of leaving, he came into the small room and shut the door behind him. “Can I lock this?” he asked as he motioned to the lock. My eyes fell to the gun in his hand.

So he still wasn’t certain we were safe from his brother.

I nodded.

Vaughn flipped the lock, then came and sat down next to me on the floor. I was leaning against the side of the small bathtub.

“Con’s making something for us to eat… he thinks he’s got grits.”

“This is his house?” I asked.

“It belonged to his grandparents.”

I nodded. “I recognize him,” I said. “Dante and Magnus like him… he does that fighting… not the boxing kind.”

“MMA… martial arts,” Vaughn said with a nod.

“He’s very good,” I said.

Vaughn laughed. “That he is… it’s funny because he’s one of the least violent and most levelheaded people I know. When Luca and I used to get into it as kids, Con was always trying to talk us through our argument before the fists started flying. King used to tell him he should be a shrink.”

“King is his brother? And Lex too?” I asked.

“Yeah. They’re not actually brothers, but they grew up in foster care together and became really close… even when they were split up and moved to different homes in the city, they never lost that bond.”

“You and Luca, were you foster kids too?”

Vaughn shook his head and looked at his hands. He tilted the gun back and forth. “No… that’s more complicated,” he finally said.

I was certain he wasn’t going to say anything else and I was actually smarting from the knowledge that he didn’t want to share something like that with me when he suddenly said, “We’re half-brothers… same father, different mothers.”

“You’re older than him?” I asked. “You called him little brother.”

“By a couple of years. His mother was the one to raise me.”

“What happened to your mother?”

I could see he wasn’t comfortable talking about the subject, though he didn’t fall silent. But he also wouldn’t look at me while he spoke.

“She died when I was two. But I’d already gone to live with Vidone and Theodora Covello by then.”

I shifted closer to him so our bodies were just barely touching. “Why?” I asked. “Your mother couldn’t care for you?”

Vaughn shook his head. “She was a showgirl… in Atlantic City. Do you know where that is?”

“No,” I said. “But it’s like Las Vegas, right? People go there to lose money so they can try and win more money.”

Vaughn smiled and I felt it ease some of the pressure in my chest. I was scared to death about what was going on around me, but having this moment where we talked about normal things and he looked at me like I hadn’t just cut his arm open with a knife gave me the few minutes of quiet I needed to keep from escaping into my head.

“Exactly,” he responded. “My father was already engaged to Luca’s mother when he went to Atlantic City for what was supposed to have been his bachelor party. He drank too much and when his friends brought in the entertainment, he indulged.”

“Entertainment,” I repeated as I tried to make sense of the word.

“Being a showgirl didn’t pay all the bills,” Vaughn said softly.

Understanding dawned and I dropped my eyes. “Oh… I’m sorry, Vaughn.”

I shot him a glance from the corner of my eye and saw him shrug. “It was what it was. When my mom found out she was pregnant, I guess she saw a chance to fund her showgirl stint for a bit longer.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“Luca’s dad was pretty well-known around New York and New Jersey, just not for the right reasons.”

I must have looked confused because he clarified, “His business dealings weren’t always aboveboard.”

I realized what that meant… his father had been a criminal.

“Anyway, my mother saw the chance to make a buck and took me to his house in the city. His new wife answered the door.”

“Oh,” I whispered in disbelief.

“My mother proceeded to tell Theodora Covello all about her husband’s indiscretion the weekend they’d gotten married nine months earlier. She told Luca’s mother if she wanted it to stay quiet, she’d pay her ten thousand dollars. Want to know what Theodora did?” he asked me.

I nodded.

“Gave her twenty thousand, took me from her and told her to get the hell out of there… though I’m sure she used the word ‘heck’ – she wasn’t big on swearing.”

“Me neither,” I whispered.

“I know,” Vaughn said softly. I looked at him and immediately got lost in his eyes. That strange tingling sensation returned and I wanted to yell at it for having the worst timing ever.

“So she took you in,” I prodded.

“She did,” Vaughn said. “Raised me as her own. Loved me as her own,” he added, then looked at his gun again. “Luca came along a couple years later. You’d think that would have changed things, but she treated us like real brothers. I wasn’t suddenly disposable or sloppy seconds… at least not to her.”

I wasn’t sure what “sloppy seconds” meant, but I had no doubt it wasn’t a good thing. And the last part meant someone had treated him that way.

“Your father?” I guessed.

Vaughn nodded. “He was not happy about his wife taking in the proof of his indiscretion. He actually loved Theodora quite a bit and he’d told her about the indulgence with the showgirl from Atlantic City before they’d married. They’d worked it out and wed as planned. My father was a bastard with everyone but her,” Vaughn said quietly. “He would have given her anything she wanted, and for some reason, she wanted me.”

“She sounds like a very good woman,” I said.

“She was.”

Was.

“You lost her?”

Vaughn nodded. “When Luca and I were still little. I was twelve, he was ten. Everything changed.”

“How so?”

He shook his head a little. “My mother must have known Vidone would get rid of me if he had the chance. He told me once that she’d made him swear that if anything happened to her, that he’d keep me. He kept his word.”

“But he wasn’t a father to you,” I guessed.

Vaughn sighed and looked at me. “She made up for it,” he said.

“And you had your brother,” I offered.

He chuckled. “God, he was such a little shit,” he said affectionately.

I felt my stomach drop out at that because that little laugh and that small smile told me everything I needed to know. Whatever had happened between them was more recent. Either after Vaughn’s nephew had been taken, or worse, after Vaughn had chosen to save me rather than use me to find the man who knew where Gio was.

All the anxiety I’d been feeling came rolling back. “Is he going to let me go?” I asked.

“Luca?”

I nodded.

“He doesn’t have a say in it,” Vaughn practically growled.

It should have made me feel better to know he was still choosing me for whatever reason, but I couldn’t stop thinking that in all likelihood, I was the reason the two brothers were at each other’s throats.

What if that were me and Dante? How would I survive such a rift?

“Vaughn…”

“Don’t, Aleks,” Vaughn said softly, then he leaned into me just a little so I could feel his touch. “None of this is your fault.”

I didn’t respond to that because I didn’t know how. It wasn’t like I wanted to throw myself to the wolves to save their relationship. And if Luca had been willing to take me off the street just like those other guys had, did that really make him any better?

He’s trying to get his son back.

My thoughts shifted to Gio… a topic I’d been trying to avoid from the moment I’d heard his name. I felt cold run throughout my entire body as I thought about what the little boy would have gone through. What if I’d seen him at some point?

“Do you really think you guys can find him?” I asked.

It was eerie how Vaughn seemed to know exactly what I was talking about.

“I don’t know,” he admitted. “It’s been a while since we’ve had a credible lead.”

“Credible?”

“It means valid… substantial.”

I nodded, feeling foolish.

“They took so many kids, James,” I whispered. I wasn’t sure why it was so important to use his first name.

Yes I did.

It was my way of telling him something he probably didn’t want to hear. And I didn’t actually want to tell him, especially considering that I’d been found after so many years. But I also knew my situation wasn’t typical. I’d seen the parties the men had had where they could trade and buy kids, or just show them off to one another… or even share them. There was no way Vaughn and his friends could have saved them all. Not all the kids had even lived long enough to be found by their loved ones. Some had even resorted to taking their own lives…

“I know,” Vaughn acknowledged. “But we can’t stop looking… not until we know for sure.”

“You shouldn’t,” I said. “It’s just…”

“Yeah,” Vaughn whispered.

So he knew what I was trying to say. They needed to keep looking because if Gio was alive, he was waiting for them. But they needed to be prepared to not find him, or worse…

I felt sick to my stomach as I considered how Vaughn, and especially Luca, must be feeling. My own brother had been through everything these men were experiencing and I knew it had changed him forever. My abduction had also meant he’d been stuck in time. He’d been lucky enough to find Magnus, but if he’d had to choose between spending his future with Magnus and continuing the search for me, he would have chosen me each and every time.

I rubbed my temple because my head began to hurt. I didn’t want Vaughn in that world anymore. It was dangerous and the things he had to witness…

But I didn’t want him to stop looking for Gio either. The boy would be a teenager by now… not much younger than me when Vaughn had saved me. God, what if Luca was right? What if Dante showing up to save me had ruined any possibility of Gio being found? What horrible things had the boy suffered through in the days, weeks, months, and years after that one chance had been stolen away?

Every day I’d been trying to live a normal life, Gio had been waiting for his own rescue.

“Hey,” Vaughn said as he put his hand on my back and began rubbing circles into it. “Nothing about that night was guaranteed except that you, your brother, and Magnus would have died if I hadn’t done something. It wasn’t even a choice for me.”

I wanted to believe him… that he hadn’t had a choice in choosing to save me versus finding his nephew. But I didn’t. Luca had said it himself… Vaughn would lay down and die to protect me. What if that were true? What did it mean? Why was I different? He would have met so many victims in the years he’d spent in that world… would he have done for them what he was currently doing for me? Would he have chosen them over his own flesh and blood?

“I… I need to lie down,” I whispered. “I don’t feel good.”

That was the absolute truth. Of course, if I could have found a way to just lie down there on the floor in front of the toilet, I would have. But not surprisingly, Vaughn’s arm went around me to help me stand. I still had his wet shirt in my hands but when he went to take it from me, I held onto it. He let me keep it and unlocked the door. We ran into Con in the hallway. He had a serving tray with food on it and the smell instantly had me turning back into the bathroom. I threw up into the toilet until there was nothing left in my system, but my body wouldn’t stop trying to expel something that wasn’t there.

It could have been minutes or hours before a cold washcloth was pressed against my face. I could hear Vaughn and Con talking, but I couldn’t make out the words. Then my body was moving, but my legs weren’t. It wasn’t until I was laid in a bed that I realized Vaughn had had to carry me there.

I wanted the darkness to claim me because it was easier there and that made me ashamed. I wondered if Gio had found something that brought him peace when he needed it.

“Alstroemeria… friendship,” I whispered.

God, I was such a coward.

Cool fingers drifted over my temple. “It’s okay, Aleks, just rest.”

Vaughn.

I felt tears building in my eyes because I knew he was giving me permission to let go. And that he’d take care of me no matter where I went this time or how long I was gone for.

“Amaryllis… splendid beauty,” I croaked, my voice sounding thick even to my own ears.

“That’s it, baby,” Vaughn whispered in my ear.

“James,” I breathed.

“It’s okay,” Vaughn responded when I couldn’t continue. “What’s the next one?”

“Anemone,” I managed to get out as the darkness began to beckon to me. My lids blessedly began to drop and Vaughn’s worried expression disappeared. Along with the vision of the two men standing just behind him, one looking concerned. But it was Luca’s expression that stayed with me as I whispered the flower’s meaning. Poor Luca just looked completely confused and lost.

And I couldn’t help but think how the anemone would be the perfect flower for him and probably his son, because both were likely dealing with the same exact emotion.

“Fading hope,” I managed to get out.

I tried to tell Luca and Gio I was sorry, but I had no clue if I managed it or not and, thankfully, the blackness made it so I didn’t have to care either way.

I was warm when I woke up… hot, actually. And it was once again dark out. But I didn’t know what day it was. I glanced at the clock on the nightstand on my side of the bed. It was just after two.

Which meant I’d been out for more than eighteen hours… unless more than a day had passed. I’d never lost that much time before but I also hadn’t attacked someone with a knife before either, so I wasn’t sure of anything anymore.

Unlike the last time I’d woken up, I wasn’t alone. I could feel Vaughn at my back and his arm was wrapped around my waist. I could also feel his even breath on the back of my neck so I figured he was likely asleep. A small, lit lamp on the dresser afforded me enough light to see several plates of food next to it.

All untouched.

There was more than enough food for one person, so if I’d been forced to guess, I would have said neither I nor Vaughn had eaten any of it. But again, I couldn’t be sure because I couldn’t remember drinking the chocolate milk the previous night when Vaughn had brought it to me.

I wasn’t particularly hungry, but I knew I needed to eat something because if I hadn’t eaten whatever Vaughn had offered me, it meant the last time I ate actual food was the morning at the restaurant when I’d had two orders of grits.

That had been almost forty-eight hours ago.

But one need was more pressing than food. I shifted my body so I could look over my shoulder at Vaughn to see if he was actually asleep or not.

He was.

And he looked exhausted.

Even in the dim light, I could see the dark circles beneath his eyes.

I glanced around the rest of the room but it was empty.

Did that mean Con and Luca had left?

It didn’t seem likely since Vaughn had seemed certain that Luca would call for reinforcements the second he got the chance. But Vaughn was also sleeping, which didn’t seem like something he’d do unless he felt safe.

I was about to ask him if it was safe to leave the room, but when he snuggled up against me and let out a soft sigh, I held my tongue. But my bladder refused to be ignored, so I carefully lifted Vaughn’s arm from my waist and slipped out from beneath the heavy weight. I replaced my body with my pillow and smiled when Vaughn accepted it. The fact that he hadn’t woken up was proof that he was as exhausted as me… more so, probably.

I went to the bedroom door and found it locked.

So Vaughn wasn’t feeling completely safe.

I unlocked it and left it open so Vaughn would be able to hear me if I called for him. The bathroom was just down the hall so I hurried to it and locked myself in, then took care of business. Vaughn’s shirt was lying folded on the counter. It looked dry and clean, and when I picked it up it smelled laundered. I was both disappointed and relieved at the same time.

I glanced at my reflection, hoping to find some stain on my own shirt so I’d have a valid excuse to put his back on.

I didn’t recognize myself.

I looked pale, gaunt and very sickly. My skin had a gray tint to it and my hair was all over the place.

No wonder Vaughn was always looking at me with concern.

I looked like one of those dead people who came back to life on Dante’s favorite TV show. I personally couldn’t watch it because it was too violent for my tastes, but I’d caught glimpses of it now and again.

A zombie.

That was the word.

Dante would be so disappointed in me.

I needed to call him… even if it was just to tell him I was okay. He and Magnus had to be worried sick that I hadn’t checked in.

But did I want them to come get me?

I didn’t even know where I was. I hadn’t been paying close enough attention on the ride from the first house to know what state we were in.

First things first. I needed to take care of myself so I wouldn’t worry Dante and Magnus when they saw me.

Or Vaughn.

I cursed myself for that silent addition to my thoughts.

I went back to the bedroom to wake Vaughn up but when I saw him hugging my pillow, I kept my mouth shut. I considered the food on the dresser. I didn’t care that it was cold, but I knew the meat and mashed potatoes would be too much for my stomach and would likely just make me sick again. I needed something light. Dante had always given me toast or crackers when I hadn’t been feeling well at home. Maybe I could find something like that downstairs.

If Luca and Con were still here, surely they were asleep. And if not, I wouldn’t go to the kitchen… I’d get Vaughn. But if there was no reason to wake him up, I wouldn’t… after all, I knew how to be invisible.

I left the bedroom and quietly padded down the hall to the stairs. The house was quiet. There was no TV on and I couldn’t hear anyone talking. I took my time making my way down each stair, prepared to flee back upstairs at the slightest sound.

But there was nothing.

Maybe the men had left?

There were a few lights on downstairs. When I made it to the front entryway, I could see that the kitchen was empty. To my left was the living room and I could see Con propped up in an armchair by the fireplace. He was asleep.

I didn’t see Luca.

I held my breath as I listened.

I should go back upstairs.

Or call for Vaughn.

Man up for God’s sake, Aleks.

I nodded to the voice in my head. I could do this. Even if I came across Luca and he tried something, I’d yell for everything I was worth. If I could attack Vaughn to protect myself, surely my brain would react in a similar manner around a man who wanted to harm me.

But was that what he really wanted?

He’d said he wouldn’t have hurt me.

It wasn’t something I wanted to find out for sure, so I hurried to the kitchen and began scanning the counter for a bag of bread, then realized there probably wouldn’t be any because no one appeared to currently be living in the house. The little food I’d seen upstairs had looked like it could have come from the freezer… Dante often made potatoes like that from a bag that he just had to put in the microwave. And there was always some kind of meat kept in our freezer.

I moved silently to the cabinets and began carefully opening them to see if there were any crackers. I hadn’t thought to check if there’d been glasses of anything to drink on the dresser where the food had been, so I grabbed one during my search. I’d be able to fill it with water from the bathroom faucet.

I was in the process of opening one of the long cabinets by the refrigerator when I heard a slight cough. I froze, then began frantically searching the kitchen to see who’d managed to sneak up on me. But there was no one. When I heard the sound again, I realized it was coming from outside. I’d somehow missed the fact that the kitchen door was open but the screen door was closed. There was a little bit of light out on the porch off the kitchen, but I didn’t see anyone.

It could only be Luca out there… or one of his men.

I carefully closed the cabinet and gripped the glass in my hand so I could use it as a weapon if someone came rushing through the door to grab me. Then I began backing away from the door and back toward the front entryway and stairs… and the safety of Vaughn.

Then I heard it.

This time it wasn’t a cough.

I stilled as I acknowledged what it was.

A sob.

I shook my head because it couldn’t be. Guys like Luca didn’t cry.

It was a trick.

He knew I was in here and was trying to draw me outside so he could grab me.

I took another step back and heard another sob, softer this time… muffled.

Guys like Luca didn’t cry… but fathers who’d lost their sons did.

I moved silently forward, the glass still in my hand. I listened for any creaking of the floorboards that proved he was moving around, but there was nothing but the sound of crickets.

And that occasional muffled sound that I could barely make out now.

I saw him almost immediately when I reached the door. He was sitting on the steps leading to the grass. His back was to me and he was wiping at his eyes.

If he was aware of me, he was really good at pretending he wasn’t. There was something in his hand that he put to his mouth, and a moment later I smelled a hint of smoke.

He was having a cigarette.

Brian had smoked. The smell had always made me sick because he’d smoked almost nonstop and I’d smell it on his hot breath while he was making me his special boy.

Fucking you.

I closed my eyes at the voice in my head. Brian had never called what he’d done to me that but some of the other men had. They’d liked that word.

Brian hadn’t.

He’d said it was crude and uncouth. I hadn’t known what those things meant, but I’d known that nothing about what he’d been doing had been special.

I felt nausea roll through my belly as the memories of the first time he’d hurt me threatened to steal into my mind.

No, not here. Not now.

Not anymore.

I willed the blackness away and opened my eyes. I was startled to see Luca watching me.

I automatically stepped back, but he didn’t make a move to get up. I told myself to run, but his eyes were like Vaughn’s… something about them made it impossible to move. But with Vaughn it was more like I didn’t want to. With Luca it felt like I was staring into the eyes of a predator… moving would just cause it to hunt me down.

I was surprised when he turned his attention from me. He took another puff on the cigarette. “Don’t tell Con, okay?” he said as he held the cigarette up briefly. “He thinks I quit.”

I didn’t respond to him, but I took advantage of the fact that he wasn’t looking at me to check the screen door for a lock.

It had one so I flipped it.

If he noticed, he didn’t say anything. I started to back up.

“Aleks, can I ask you something before you go?”

His voice was so different than it had been earlier. The fury and rage were gone for the moment.

“You don’t have to answer,” Luca added.

“Okay,” I finally said when he didn’t make a move to even look in my direction again.

“The blackouts… did they… did they start when you first got taken?”

I wasn’t expecting the question so it took me a moment to find my voice to answer. “I’m not sure.”

He continued to stare into the inky darkness. It was several long seconds before he took another puff. “Did they make it easier?”

I tensed because I started to understand what he was asking me and more importantly, why.

“Yes,” I said. “The first time I went into my head, it was more like I was just in a dream. I knew what was really happening to me, I just didn’t feel it. Does that make sense?”

Luca nodded. “So not blackouts then,” he said.

“No… I guess not. I think those are more recent.”

God, that was hard to admit to. But I had no choice but to accept it. The proof was on Vaughn’s arm.

“I don’t know why, though,” I admitted.

“Because your mind feels safer now,” Luca said.

I shook my head. “That doesn’t make sense.”

He finally cast me a glance over his shoulder. “There was no one to take care of you when you were with those men. If you’d done what you did to Vaughn today, they would have killed you for sure. Somewhere in your mind, you knew that. To escape that completely, that fully, you had to be certain you’d live through it. That there’d be someone to watch out for you. Back then you had to survive. Now your mind is trying to figure out how to… live.”

I didn’t know what to make of that. But he was right about one thing… if I’d lashed out at Father like I had Vaughn, he would have killed me. He’d tried to do exactly that the one time I had fought back.

“I don’t know what I want for him more,” Luca whispered.

I knew he was talking about his son. Gio would have been faced with the same choice as me.

“You want him to survive,” I said. I found myself flipping the lock on the screen door and opening it. I had a good view of Luca’s profile as I moved out onto the porch. He shook his head slightly and swallowed hard.

“I didn’t really understand,” Luca said softly. “Or maybe I didn’t want to.”

“Understand what?”

“The suffering those kids we got out went through.” He took another drag on his cigarette. “We saved them… I wanted that to be enough. It had to be enough. And the ones we couldn’t… I forgot about those. I had to forget… we all did.”

“So you could keep looking for Gio,” I said.

He nodded almost violently. “Vaughn thinks I didn’t see what he did and in some ways he’s right. But when they first took Gio, I went after him on my own and I did see things. There was this one boy… he… he…”

Luca just shook his head. “I had to forget about him,” he whispered. “I had to find my son.”

I felt myself softening a bit as I realized like Vaughn, this man was haunted.

And not just by the loss of his son.

“Will you tell me about your son?” I asked as I moved to stand next to one of the pillars that bracketed the steps Luca was sitting on.

Luca stubbed out his cigarette, then pulled out the pack from his pocket, along with a lighter. I flinched when he reached into his pocket again. He must have noticed my reaction because he said, “It’s a picture of Gio. Most of them are on my phone but Con took that when he searched me. I found the cigarettes in the pantry – I guess one of Con’s grandparents was a secret smoker. Vaughn made Con remove all the knives and anything else that could be used as a weapon. They’re with Vaughn in the room you guys are in. So even if I wanted to do something to you, which I don’t, I couldn’t.”

Luca kept talking as he pulled a small picture from his pocket. I didn’t actually believe him about not being able to hurt me if he wanted because he didn’t seem like the type of guy who needed to have a weapon to subdue someone – hadn’t he proven that when he’d kept me from striking out with that knife for a second time?

“Gio gave this to me the day he was taken… school picture,” Luca said as he reached his arm out to hand me the picture.

I was shocked by how the boy in the picture looked nothing like Luca. His hair was a startling shade of blond…it actually looked white. And his eyes were a crisp, pale blue. A big, toothy grin spread across his features. I looked at Luca in surprise.

“I know,” he said. “He doesn’t look like me even a little bit… that’s all his mother,” he added as he motioned to the picture.

I understood now why Vaughn, Luca, and their friends believed the leads they’d been given about Gio. His unique look would have made him very valuable. The people who’d taken him might have temporarily colored his hair after first kidnapping him, but they would have let the natural color grow back as soon as they’d moved him some place he wouldn’t be recognized. It wouldn’t have surprised me if they’d never even colored it, because that would have meant having to wait to sell him.

“He has your chin,” I finally said. “It looks very stubborn.”

Luca actually chuckled. “I wish I could say that was the first time I’d heard that. About my chin… and his. He was… is a really good kid. Never gave his mother or me any kind of trouble. But he’s a fighter too. He… he…”

Luca’s voice dropped off before he whispered, “He’s a fighter.”

My heart broke for him because I knew what he was thinking.

Fighters in the world I’d grown up in suffered more. I’d seen it myself. The kids who’d tried to stop what was happening to them or escape it had been punished in the worst ways. My friend, Remy, had been one of those boys. He’d fought tooth and nail to escape the life and he’d suffered so much more than me. He was also the reason Dante had found me.

“My friend is a fighter,” I said quickly. “He survived, Luca. The things they did to him were terrible, but he got out and he’s got a good life now. And he saved me. He’s the only reason my brother even found me. He had the chance to get out and just run, but he called Dante and told him where I was. If your son is anything like my friend, Gio will make it through this and you’ll get him home and he’ll keep fighting.”

Luca turned away from me as he nodded and lit up another cigarette. I saw him wipe discreetly at his face and I quickly looked away so he wouldn’t feel as embarrassed about the show of emotion.

I thought about Remy and the day I’d met him. Though I hadn’t actually “met” him – I’d encountered him in a bathroom. He’d been badly bruised and I’d learned later he’d been violently assaulted just moments before I’d walked into that bathroom. We’d talked for less than fifteen seconds. He’d recognized a birthmark I had on my collarbone, the same one Dante had, and he’d called Dante as soon as he’d been able to.

I hadn’t known then that Remy and I had met once before… he and I had actually been kept in the same house when I’d first been taken. He’d remembered the birthmark from that first time and when Dante had initially come to Chicago to search for me, he’d encountered Remy who’d told him he’d seen me when we’d both been little. When Remy and I had run into each other in that bathroom years later, he’d reached out to Dante afterwards.

He hadn’t had to do that.

He’d chosen to help me. He’d had no reason in the world to do what he’d done other than it’d been the right thing.

You gave me hope when I had none left, Aleks. I couldn’t leave you behind.

That’s what he’d told me when I’d once asked him why he’d helped me. My aim had just been to comfort him when I’d given him one of the flowers from the ornate arrangement in the bathroom and had told him what it meant.

He’d never really explained how that had given him hope, but I’d never asked him to, either.

There were just some things that neither of us wanted to remember and that night was definitely one of them.

My heart began to pound in my chest as a thought took form in my head and wouldn’t let go.

“Luca,” I said quietly.

He turned to look at me.

“The man you’re looking for… the one who might know where Gio is…”

“Stylianos,” Luca supplied.

I startled at that. “I… I thought you didn’t know his name,” I said. Oh God, had they lied to me about all of it? Was this all just some elaborate scheme to mess with me?

“It’s not his real name, Aleks,” Luca said gently. “We didn’t lie to you.”

I managed to calm down a bit.

“Most of the dealing in kids happens online nowadays – in private chat rooms and forums on the dark web where it’s hard for the authorities to track. Stylianos is the name this guy started using online and so that’s what he’s known as. No one knows his real name.”

“Maybe Stylianos is a real name… Dante uses our father’s last name while I have Papa’s,” I suggested.

“It’s not,” Luca responded. “Stylianos is the name of a saint known as the Protector of Children. We’ve seen the fucker’s chat transcripts… he actually believes he and guys like him are helping kids to be in their purest state. Some of the guys like Marcus Parks know what they’re doing is wrong and just don’t give a shit. And then you’ve got guys like Stylianos who actually believes he’s doing God’s work by creating a world where adults and children are free to love one another. He’s become quite a power player in the past few years and that’s made him be even more careful to stay in the shadows.”

My knees almost gave out as nausea swept through me. “Why me?” I asked. “I’m… I’m no one.”

“He’s fixated on you, Aleks. There’s no rhyme or reason to it. Our theory is that he saw you at some point and became fascinated with you. He probably tried to buy you but whoever…”

Luca’s voice dropped off suddenly and I knew why.

“Owned,” I said. “Whoever owned me…”

“Right,” Luca murmured. “Whoever that was wouldn’t give you up. It’s possible he missed out on you during a bidding war… Marcus had a lot of money and there’s no proof that Stylianos is wealthy, so losing you a second time could have just strengthened that obsession. When word got out you were still alive, it would have been like some kind of ‘meant to be’ thing with him. He sees you as his and he wants you back… it’s like those celebrity stalkers who invent entire relationships with the famous person, even though they’ve never even actually talked to them. When they don’t get what they want, they can turn desperate… and violent.”

I leaned heavily against the pillar as Luca spoke. If the man was as sick as Luca believed, he’d never stop coming after me.

I’d have to completely disappear again.

“Do you think this man has Gio?”

“We don’t know for sure. Two years ago there was online chatter about Stylianos being willing to arrange a trade. He knew of a boy that was closer to the age Marcus liked. A boy with hair that was almost white and blue eyes that were so light they seemed clear sometimes. If Stylianos didn’t have Gio himself, he knew who did. Two years ago, Gio would have been thirteen. That’s around the age Marcus acquired you, right?”

I managed a nod, but nothing else.

“These men, most of them want boys or girls to be a certain age. Some want them before puberty hits so they’re more childlike, others want them after puberty so they’re more sexually developed.”

I nodded in understanding. I’d been bought and sold a few times but I’d been with Brian and Father the longest. Brian had stopped touching me more and more as I’d gotten older. Father had been the same way. But I’d never made the connection before that I was being bought and sold based on my age.

“Two years ago, Stylianos was talking about having access to a boy who looked like Gio. Gio would have been the right age for Marcus. But it was never clear if Stylianos had Gio himself or if he would have had to trade a boy he did have to get Gio for the trade with Marcus.”

“So you don’t know for sure if he has Gio anymore, or knows where he is?” I asked.

Luca dropped his eyes and shook his head. “We haven’t been able to find any recent chatter relating to a boy fitting Gio’s description. Stylianos seemed to go underground too… until a few days ago.”

When my parents had done that interview.

Luca fell silent and took a few drags on his cigarette. “It’s late, Aleks. Get some sleep.” He flicked the cigarette a few times, then stood. I jumped when he approached me, but with the pillar and porch rail at my back, I had nowhere to go.

He paused and held my gaze for a moment. He actually looked… hurt.

I waited for him to grab me and told myself to open my mouth and call for Vaughn, but that need to protect myself by being as quiet as possible kicked in. To my surprise, Luca stepped past me and opened the screen door. “Go inside, Aleks.”

I made my body move, even as my mind tried to accept that he was going to grab me. But he didn’t. When I was nearly in line with him he whispered, “You’ve got nothing to fear from me, Aleks. I swear it on Gio’s life.”

With that, he carefully released the door so my shoulder was holding it open, then he turned and went down the porch steps and disappeared into the darkness.

“He’ll be back.”

I jumped at the sound of the voice coming from inside the kitchen and dropped the glass I’d been holding.

“Sorry,” Con said as he approached me.

The glass hadn’t broken, so Con picked it up and handed it to me. “Can I get you something to eat or drink?” he asked.

“Um, something light for my stomach,” I said as I forced myself to move into the kitchen.

“Sure,” Con said. “We use this house as a safe house every once in a while so it isn’t typically stocked with perishable food, but I try to make sure there’s plenty of snacks and stuff. It’s been a while since we’ve used it, but there should be something.”

Con went to a closet on the far wall and opened the door, then pulled the string for a light hanging from the ceiling. I followed him to the small room but stayed outside it. The shelves were full of a variety of food.

“What’s your fancy?” Con asked.

“Do you have any crackers or cereal?”

Con grabbed a couple of boxes and handed them to me. “These okay?”

I nodded, then he was snagging some bottles of water from the refrigerator. He grabbed two more bottles of something else… it looked like colored water.

“Sports drink,” he explained as he handed me the bottles. “You’re pretty dehydrated. These will help.”

“Thank you,” I said with a nod.

Con moved past me to shut the screen door and the main door but he didn’t lock them.

“Don’t worry, he can’t call anyone or anything. The nearest neighbor is more than ten miles away. He just needs to keep moving… probably wants to smoke a bit more.”

“You know about that?” I asked.

Con smiled. “I know everything there is to know about all my brothers, Aleks. Who do you think left that pack of cigarettes for him to find?” He looked at my full arms. “You need help with any of that?”

I shook my head. “No, thank you.”

I quickly turned and headed for the stairs.

“Aleks,” Con called just as I reached the first step.

I barely managed to not flinch. “Yes?”

“Everything will be okay, I promise.”

I held the good-looking man’s eyes and saw only truth there. I nodded and went up the stairs. I didn’t doubt Con’s honesty, but the “everything” he was talking about was only about me. And I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe it needed to stop being about me and needed to start being about someone else who was in the same place I’d been two years ago.

Wanting to go home.