The plane lifted from the tarmac taking their friends back to Georgia. They'd had three wonderful days together, but no time was ever long enough for true friends. They stood in the private airport terminal watching the plane take a sharp bank left. Roman heard Zara's loud sigh and the look of sadness on her face was a sign that she needed a lift.

He'd watched over the last three days while she played with Glory Rose. It was so clear how much she wanted a child. This made him understand how vulnerable Zara was with Ethan. It clawed at his gut, knowing what the doctor had said. With the stress, she was under from Ethan, even if they tried to conceive it would be a long shot.

He tapped her on the nose. "Hey, long face. They can come anytime."

She looked up forlorn. It was if he could read the thoughts in her head. It was more than likely a tumble about the fun they'd had and what lied ahead. That for sure was in his heart. He lifted her chin, leaning down placing a chaste kiss on her lips. "You need a distraction, treasure. I promise that we will get through all this."

"I just know that we will go to Georgia soon and I'm..."

"Don't say it. You need to trust Trevor and me, but you also need to trust yourself."

"This is huge."

"You're a strong woman and you will be strong. Just stay angry at that asshole. It will make you fight." He glanced down again and this time saw a spark of fire in her eyes. "That's it, Zara, whatever caused that look – keep it."

Her thoughts shifted into focus. Pinpointing to the hurt that Ethan had caused her and the potential damage to her life. She extended her arm to Roman. "I'm not ready to go home."

"I have the perfect spot to get that frown off your face."

"Where to?"

The grin that spread across his face let her know that it would be something that she'd enjoy. She couldn't wait to get into the car.

***

The bottom of the mountain looked so far away as the snow tube sent her spinning. Zara's hysterical laugh echoed across the snowy plane. She'd never done this before and it was exhilarating. The tube spun at breakneck speed winding down the slick hill. It hit the side of an iced wall tipping her at a crazy angle, then snatched upright and twirled her down the hill.

Roman's safe distance behind her kept them from crashing into each other. Hearing him laugh made the experience even better. She took a quick glance back, watching the wind whip his hood from his head. Roman held the tube handles for dear life.

The two of them slid and spun to the bottom of the mountain, with their faces near frozen from the wind. But they were having so much fun it didn't matter how cold they were. Once they finally reached the eternal end of the slope, they grabbed hold of the tubes and took the ski conveyor up the mountain. It thrilled them to do it all over again. The sun was going down before they decided to stop.

They took the ski lift back to their car. Roman opened her door and she slid in. It wasn't long before the car heated up. They headed towards the interstate, and then Roman slowed the car down. "We don't have to go back tonight. We can stay at one of the lodges."

"I think that's better than the two-hour drive back to the city. We don't know what the road conditions are going down the mountain at night."

He turned the car around and headed to a local restaurant set inside a log cabin. They entered and were happy that the place was almost empty. Having a quiet spot to end their day was perfect.

"We'll be closing in an hour, but you're welcome to stay as we clean up if you need more time," said the waitress. She seated them next to a huge fireplace, overlooking a pond filled with ducks. Zara watched in fascination as the ducks chased each other across the pond. Ducks always seemed docile, but these were feisty. Their squawking echoed through the thick glass. They ordered and the food got delivered in less than 20 minutes since there were only a few couples inside.

While they were eating one of the guests left his table and walked over to the grand piano that sat in the adjacent corner of the room. His fingers glided across the keys playing the song the Look of Love as the woman that he was with looked on with a beautiful smile. "It's our fifth anniversary," he announced to the other guests. "Join us in celebration."

The other guests clapped and said congratulations. A few of them left their tables and began to slow dance to the sultry song. The invisible notes swirled through the room beckoning them onto the floor. Roman stood up leading Zara from the table. They sank into the rhythm, leaning onto each other. She hummed at the feeling of security in his arms. All would be well. He rested his head on hers. "I love you, treasure."

***

Late the next evening

Roman worked in his office. Zara was still in shock at his latest announcement that they would be moving the operation up within the next five days. She hoped the situation would keep until after the holidays. But after the last surveillance of Ethan's operations, Roman felt that things had to move – now. He called Trevor and asked him to pull his team together and to get things prepared on the ground for members of T-30's arrival. The hardest part of the evening was calling Ethan. "I feel like I'm dangling my baby over a shark tank," Roman had said. "But I really need you to set this up." He sat in the room holding her hand while she made the call. Zara wanted to hurl just talking to the perverted creature that was almost the father of her child.

She saw a side of Roman that she had never seen in her life. It was hard to imagine that he had a side sharper than an axes edge. She'd stayed in the office with him as he spelled out directives to the staff. He turned everything on its head in that office. She watched the monitors seeing how he ran 'his ship.' There was a haze of activity. All she could do was shake her head, especially knowing that this meeting was all for her.

Zara's conception of what Roman had meant that he was into computer technology went skyward. She'd never seen such surveillance equipment, computers, and screens. The staff had access to watch countries around the world in real-time. Gray Enterprises zoomed in on countries they were charged with monitoring. She felt awful that her matter had to disrupt his national and international work. It was mind-blowing. Roman told Zara the only reason that he was allowing her into his staff meeting was to see the monitoring set up for her protection. They could literally read a watch on a person's arm from a satellite. She sat dumbfounded slumped against the chair.

Roman turned and glanced at her. She was tired. It was all over her face. He walked across to the chair that she sat in, not caring this staff was watching. He kneeled down and kissed her slow and deep, feeling that she needed his attention that very moment. Roman pulled her against his chest. "Go get some sleep. I'll be here for the rest of the night."

She nodded and eased out of the room, hearing his staff say, "Goodnight, Mrs. Gray." Part of her still wasn't used to hearing the name change, but it felt good. She gave a weary smile and waved. As soon as Zara was out of earshot, Roman's assistant said. "You know she's not going to sleep after seeing those videos."

"I know," Roman said. "I can guarantee that if I go downstairs right now she'll be watching them."

"We've got some rough days ahead. We can finish up and you can make sure she gets to sleep."

"I appreciate that, Vera. But I want her to watch Allison's videos as many times as she needs to. It will be fuel for her to fight. I want Zara ass-kicking angry when we kick this mission in gear.

"Those videos are bad."

Bad – such an understated term. No, this situation compared to nightmarish, catastrophic, and dark magic. Organized evil shrouded the baby ring with the efficiency of the mafia. Corruption at the highest levels supported this work making it an extreme success. They destroyed people's lives with utter mastery.

"I know. But I saw a fire in Zara yesterday that lets me know she's ready to move."

Vera got close to the monitor so that no one else could hear. She beckoned him to come closer to his side of the screen. "How are you holding up?"

Roman rubbed his temples and then tapped his fingers on the top of his desk. "I've got to keep myself emotionally detached and that's hard."

"I know and that's why Trevor is with us. You need to listen to him. Do you hear me?"