Caroline paced around the large kitchen counter, one hand on her hip while the other ran through her hair. She felt distracted, doomed, and what's more, she knew they were getting dangerously close.

"Mom, are you okay?" Candy asked, frowning at her mother's strange behaviour.

"Ah ... yeah," Caroline said, looking around as though she realised she wasn't where her thoughts said she was, "we need to get food together for everyone."

"Sure," Candy said, slowly walking into the kitchen and watching her mother, "I'll start on lunch ..." she glanced around as her father came into the room, "do you have anything specific in mind?"

"I need to talk to your mother," Josiah said, "anything you put together will be fine."

"Okay," Candy said as her parents left the room and moved toward the back stairs, "sometimes they are so weird."

Caroline followed Josiah into the study leaning against the door and watching him begin to pace, "Jo," she whispered, "I never saw this coming."

"Is there anything about those names you want to tell me?" Josiah said, turning toward her, his expression serious, unmoving, waiting.

Caroline thought of giving him the same line she had for years, but something in his expression told her it wouldn't work this time. Sighing, she moved toward the long leather couch against the wall and slowly sank into its plush surface.

"I know those names," she said, sighing once more, "well I knew one of them. I didn't know two people had the same name. It was Bevis' father I knew, worked with on some functions I did for various venues ..." she shrugged, "I had no idea the venues were owned by the Calderone's not until her father asked me to help get Angie out of their clutches. Apparently, her mother didn't want her influenced by them any longer as she was divorcing her father; she didn't want to leave Angie behind to stay alive."

"So you assisted," Josiah said, "what happened then?"

"She was my best friend," Caroline said, "how could I not assist ..." shaking her head, "the night the stalker attacked was the same night Jonaraja was run off the road."

"What?" Josiah said, "Do you realise by not telling me this, that child was left with no protection?"

"I didn't even know he had a child," Caroline said, tears gathering on the edges of her eyes, "if I had, I would have made sure the child was protected, if not by me, then by yourselves, but I thought his people would step in and care for her and whoever else was left in the wake of the tragedy."

"His ..." Josiah spluttered, shaking his head, "he had ...people?"

"Every year they went overseas," Caroline said, "he told me it was to debrief ... and then travel for rest and recuperation."

"You're telling me Bevis' parents were ... what? Foreign nationals? Undercover spies?" Josiah asked, closing his eyes as he tried to wrap his mind around this new information.

"I think so," she whispered, "I don't really know."

"What do you really know?" he asked, "I'm not being mean, Caro," he said as she gasped, "I'm... trying to understand how you could keep that from me ... for all these years. What if his people didn't look after her, protect her? Where was he stationed anyway? What did he do? Was it for the Calderones?"

Caroline rose on unsteady legs, for the first time in many years, feeling unsure of herself and her husband's capacity for finding out yet another piece of information she had decided not to tell him. Walking to the wide window, she looked out onto the land surrounding the house, memories of the children running and playing, parties held in that beautiful space, the flowers in full bloom.

"Caroline, I'm waiting," Josiah said, a warning in his tone, "don't push me too far ... please, my love."

Turning, she looked him directly in the eye; she had seen that look before, heard that tone in his words; Caroline needed to take her chances and tell him the pieces she had left out. Nodding, she walked towards him, indicating the opposite seat she took. She waited until he sat down before starting the story that may end everything she loved and held dear.

"You came into the story when I was ... attacked ... at your function," Caroline said, inhaling before continuing, "... um ... you heard the story I told the police ... the one I had to tell the police."

"Had to?" he asked, narrowing his eyes on her as she nodded, "you're going to tell the other now?"

"I've wanted to tell you everything for years, but I didn't know where all the players were or if by me saying anything, I would be jeopardising their safety and yours ... ours ... our families," Caroline said. "But... now ... that it's all coming out ..." she swallowed hard, "I need to tell someone before it's too late."

Leaning forward, Josaih took her cold hands in his, frowning as he began to rub his thumbs over the backs, slowly warming them, "Caro, it's never too late," he whispered, "tell me everything."

Caroline squeezed his hands, gripping them tightly as if she stepped from the safety of shelter into a hurricane. Nodding, she inhaled and pushed the words from her resistant lips.

"Before ... the function where ... we met," she said hesitantly, "I started my own interior decorating business," he nodded and waited for her to continue, "Angie and I had studied together, she was doing something with business and criminology, and I was doing everything creative, interior decoration, art history, feng shui ..." she sighed, "we joked that she was the logical thinker and I was the dreamer."

"Where did her father's family come into the story?" Josiah asked.

"After we graduated, Angie got a job at a law firm, it surprised her because the subject of Law was a minor in her degree, but she was happy, and I was working for an Israeli firm; I started as an intern and soon got a permanent position in one of their programs," she said, staring at their joined hands, "that is where I initially met Bevis' father, he was working in the finance department and helped me with a few things where it came to an understanding the money part of business ..." she glanced at Josiah, "no we were never romantically involved," shaking her head, "it was business and then simply friendship. When I wanted to step out on my own, I applied to several banks for capital to back me, but every one of them declined my application. When I mentioned it to Jonaraja, he said he'd find out why and help me adjust my business plan so I could try again. However, he seemed disturbed by what he found and the reason behind it more so," Caroline sighed, "I was so stupid not to understand what he was saying back there. Still, I was young and thought I could handle everything."

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"What did he find love?" Josiah whispered.

"In every bank I approached, whoever ended up with my application was paid off by the Caledrones to decline it," she said, closing her eyes against the dull ache of betrayal by a family she thought had her back, "I had known them for years but never realised they would stand in my way like they did. I couldn't understand their reasons until Angie came to see me late one night; she was dressed in dark clothes, her hoodie hat was pulled low over her face, and she came through the back entrance of my building, which should have told me everything I wanted to know then ... had I paid attention ..." Caroline drew her hands from Josiah's rubbing her hands over her face, "of course, I let her in, and when she was sure no one could see her and the curtains were drawn tightly, windows closed with the door locked, she took the hoodie down ..." Caroline swallowed hard as tears gathered at the memory of her best friends face, "Jo ..." she whispered, "... it was awful ..." she swiped at her tears streaming down her cheeks, "... her face was bruised and swollen, her one eye swollen closed ..." she sniffed, "her one arm was out of its socket ... the backs of her hands red and probably crushed by something like a hammer."

"Caro," the soft word held a wealth of support and love, but he didn't say anything else, just waited.

"I begged her to let me take her to a hospital, but she refused ... she could hardly talk but said something about being hunted and watching all the hospitals," Caroline said, swallowing her emotion around the words, "there was a doctor in the building I lived, and he came and put her shoulder back in its socket, checked her hands, but even he told her she needed x-rays to make sure if there was something broken, but he taped them up and gave her pain medication. Her cheekbone was broken, and her jaw ..." she shook her head before continuing, "... was cracked. She needed to get away from whomever it was that did that to her," Caroline looked at Josiah, "it was after I found somewhere safe for her ... with the help of the company I worked for ... after she recovered that she told me the person who had done that to her was her Uncle. In her father's absence, he had "disciplined" her for not telling what they wanted to know about me and my blossoming business."

"They did that to her because of your business?" Josiah frowned, "why?"

"That is how they own people," she whispered, "by assisting financially ... then they have somewhere to launder their money while having someone to do whatever they wish without getting their hands dirty."

"Angie refused to tell them anything, and they beat her for it," Josiah said, "I'm beginning to understand my father's paranoia a little better."

"Jonaraja was reassigned," she continued, closing her eyes before uttering the following words, "as the Caledrone's accountant."

"What?" Josiah muttered, surprise in his gaze and bubbling off his tongue, "Why?"

"To gain evidence of their hand in smuggling of underaged girls ... women and children through Israel, and some of them were of that nationality," Caroline said, "he was responsible for intercepting the information and getting it to those in the company who could stop the flow into the Calderone's hands."

"They uncovered the mole in their ranks and tried to kill the entire family," Josiah said, "but how does that link you to them apart from having worked for the same company."

Caroline stared at him for a moment, inhaling, exhaling and continuing, "For me to go into business, the company paid for everything I needed, even helped me with some of my first clients so that it would happen faster," she said hurriedly, "there were extra's they also paid for ..." she cleared her throat, "when the shipments were intercepted I would "hire" extra staff that night which meant that when the workers and staff were collected by the holding company at the end of the event or project the smuggled women and children were collected and relocated at the same time."

Josiah stared at her speechless for a moment before frowning at her, "Let me get this straight," he said, ticking points on his fingers, "this accountant you knew was a mole in the Calderone family giving information to this company you both worked for to intercept smuggled humans for whatever that family wanted, and then your decorating firm absorbed them as employee's and the company relocated them at the end of that day."

Caroline nodded, remaining silent, waiting for the rejection she had feared, but Josiah simply stared at her. Minutes ticked by as he took her in, his expression unchanging until he blinked, cleared his throat and frowned.

"Why wouldn't you tell me? Did you think I would disapprove?" he asked.

"At the time, I was sworn to secrecy for the safety of everyone involved," Caroline said, "more so after one of the Caledrone's released their inhouse stalker to collect me so they could get the information regarding the cargo's whereabouts."

"How did the smuggling of Angie come into it?" Josiah asked.

"Jonaraja had heard they knew where Angie was being hidden and told me she needed to be moved," Caroline said, "I had met Carl at one of my .... jobs and the night the stalker attacked, I asked him to collect Angie and get her to safety... it was the same night of your function, and I think that's what gave Jonaraja's cover away," she sighed, "I didn't hear about him until the following morning."

"When I caught you making an external call without clearance," Josiah whispered, "the pieces are dropping into place."

"I had to tell the company I was safe," she said, "I wanted to tell you everything right then ... but they had just told me to not say anything until they knew what was truly going on."

"Did they contact you again?" Josiah asked.

Caroline nodded, "They got a message to Carl saying there were missing puzzle pieces and silence was to be maintained ... and that's the last I heard of them or the family until this thing with Bevis and Chelsea."

"You didn't think it could be connected?" Josiah asked.

"After so many years? No, that is ... not until the Caledrones tried their thing with Angie and not until Jonaraja's name and the connection to Bevis popped up," Caroline sighed, "it's all making sense. But I'm confused about Bevis' parents ... are they alive or dead?"

"Can you get hold of your contacts at the company?" Josiah asked.

"I don't even know if the company is still going," Caroline said, "I haven't heard from them for years ... but I'm still getting clients."

"How many of those clients are Israeli?" Josiah asked.

"Good question, and although I'm not there, are they still using it for what it used to be used for?" Caroline asked.

"Let's go on a digging expedition," Josiah said, pausing as Caroline sat staring at him, "what? "

"You're not angry?" she whispered.

"What is the point of being angry because you kept your word and probably protected many people in the process," Josiah said, standing and brushing a kiss on Caroline's forehead, "I'm glad you told me now."

Nodding, Caroline stood, "Shall we join forces then and see what we can dig up for the kid's puzzle they're putting together?"

"I like how you think," Josiah smiled, turning to the room, "lockdown code four four two one initialise."

Humming began. Caroline turned toward the door as it locked, the windows automatically closed, and the blinds shut as the air conditioning unit turned on. The top of Josiah's desk opened to expose a large screen and an extended keyboard.

"Should I be worried?" Caroline asked.

"No," he smiled, "just precautions ... now ... let's get to work."