EMILY AND I'S FAVORITE WAY TO END THE NIGHT WAS GOING TO A BAR AND LETTING LOOSE. That's if we're not falling asleep at our desks. We see so many different horrible cases everyday, forgetting about it with some shitty bar food and a glass of wine almost makes it better.
"Can we go on vacation soon?" Emily asked as I ate a mozzarella stick.
"If we can get the time off, I'd go tomorrow." I muttered.
London has been well to Emily and I. We have a beautiful brownstone downtown near headquarters. We each had our own office with conjoining doors. It was all we ever wanted, running a team together.
I may be biased but I think we're a hell of a duo.
I looked around the bar and took in my sightings. It was easy to tell how many of the people were here after work trying to take a load.
There was one girl who caught my eye. She was in a skin-tight dress with her hair down and curled.
What got me is the fact she looked like a teenager, sitting across from a much older man. She had long brown hair and brown doe eyes. The man had gray hair. Maybe I'm paranoid, but I didn't like how it looked.
I pointed it out to Emily. "Do you see that?"
She set her drink down and looked to what I was referring too. She faced back to me with a worried look. Maybe I'm not paranoid.
The man she was with got up to go the bathroom.
In the meantime, the drinks they ordered were brought over to the table. She went to take it off the tray it was on. It was clear her hands were shaking. As soon as she grabbed it and moved it, she dropped it on the table. The glass shattered and she jumped 10 miles out of her skin.
Something is wrong.
Emily and I shared one look before I stormed over to the table. If both of us went, it'd look weird.
I made it look like I was walking past the table in case he came back. I don't want to make this worse for her.
"Are you in danger?" I whispered.
"W-What?" The girl stuttered, looking panicked. Her voice was so small.
"The man you are with. Are you in danger?" I asked again.
She just shook her head frantically. She was trying to tell me no, but I didn't believe her. It was too late for me to counter. That man was walking back.
I'm going to at least protect her.
I went to the glass and started to pick it up.
"I am so sorry about this. I wasn't watching where I was going." I said quickly.
She caught on right away.
"Oh, that's alright. No worries." She replied with a shrug.
"I completely ruined your dress! I am so sorry." I let out and started digging through my purse. I pulled out two 20's and put my personal card in-between. If she changes her mind, she can call me.
I walked away from the two and went back to the bar. Emily was already standing up, ready to leave. I know that girl is not safe but there's nothing I can do.
We walked out of the bar. I didn't take my eyes off of the girl. She gave me a soft nod before I stepped out.
"Emily, there's something going on." I huffed.
"I know. We'll do some research at the office tomorrow, okay?" She said and rubbed my shoulder. "Did you give her your card?" She then asked.
I nodded.
"Okay, good." She let out.
We went home after all of that.
I didn't sleep a wink.
—
1 MONTH LATER
Weeks went by since that encounter at the bar. I had other cases to worry about, but this was looming in the back of my mind.
That was until a case file came across my desk.
I was flipping through the pages of it. It was a case on a known sex trafficking ring. They go for high-risk victims, foster children, build them up and then sell them.
In the file were pictures of some of the current foster children. I recognized one of them right away.
The girl from the bar.
"Emily!" I yelled coming out of my office.
"What! What's wrong?" She exclaimed. I ran into her office with the file. She took it right away and looked through it. When she saw the picture, her eyes met mine.
We moved out of the offices and got to work right away. We pulled all the stops. We dug up everything.
The man we're looking for is named Marshall Greene. He is known as the master of a sex trafficking ring all throughout Europe. He takes in foster children who come from broken homes, typically victims of rape by family members, makes them feel better, before selling them to his customers.
I knew there was something up at that bar. The part that gets me is the fact he was right there.
—
Later that night, Emily and I were knee deep in research when my phone rang. It was a private number.
"Agent Parks." I answered.
"H-Hello?" I heard that same small voice again. I snapped my fingers at Emily to pull up the number tracker.
"Are you the girl from the bar?" I asked. I needed to keep her talking.
"Yes." She whispered. It sounded like she had been crying.
"What's your name?" I asked. I looked to Emily to see if she was getting anything. She shook her head. Fuck.
"R-Rosie Winters."
"And how old are you, Rosie?"
"14."
She is 14 years old. 14. That just made me so sick to my stomach.
"Okay, Rosie, we're tracking your location as we speak. Can you stay on the line?" I said. Emily nodded and gestured to keep her talking.
"I-I can try." She let out. I heard noise in the background. "Can I order a pizza for delivery?" She asked. Her entire tone of voice changed. She's not alone.
"Is he in the room?"
"Yes."
"Okay, can you give me your address?" I asked. I'll be able to get it now.
"111 George Street. It's going to be under a Marshall Greene." She said. I quickly wrote it down and passed it to Emily. She nodded and stormed away to send people to the house. She's going too.
"My name is Delia and my wife Emily is coming to the house to get you. I'm going to ask you some questions that better help me understand the environment. Answer how I say. I need you to ask for pepperoni if he's armed."
"Can I get a pepperoni pizza, please?" She asked. I sent that text to Emily to alert her.
"Ask for ranch if there are other children present, and ask for blue cheese if there's another man there."
"No, I don't need ranch. I'd like 4 sides of blue cheese, though." She replied. 4 other men. I sent that to Emily.
"You're doing amazing, Rosie. Emily will be there in 3 minutes."
"Okay, thank you. See you soon." She spoke and hung up.
I was waiting with bated breath. I stared at my phone and the elevator for 10 minutes before anything happened.
Finally Emily was calling my phone.
"What's going on?"
"We have Rosie and the other three men. Well, 2. We had to shoot one. Marshall took off as soon as he saw the sirens. We'll be back in a few." She paused. "And actually order a pizza. Lord knows the last time this poor girl ate a proper dinner."
"Okay, see you soon." I let out.
Thank god.
I ordered a pizza to be delivered and waited for them to come to the station. After a few minutes, Emily arrived with Rosie. I approached her cautiously.
"Hi." I spoke softly.
"Hi." She let out, barely above a whisper. Her hair was disheveled and there was mascara underneath her eyes from crying. Her cheeks were red and she had a bruise forming on her forehead.
I moved Rosie to my office and let her rest on my couch until the pizza came. Emily and I watched her through the windows.
"How was the house?" I asked.
"By house, you mean apartment where the the toilet was 3 steps from the stove, sure. There were other blankets set up around the apartment. Other people were sleeping there but she was the only child there." She let out.
"How was she?"
"Silent the entire car ride. I don't know what went down in there but.." She trailed off. She didn't need to say anything else. I already knew.
I saw the emptiness in her eyes. I once shared that emptiness.
The pizza was delivered and Emily and I brought it into my office. We opened the box for her, left out some plates and I opened my mini fridge. I had various soda's and waters in there. I let her take her pick.
She hesitantly stood up and walked over to the fridge. She decided on a Pepsi. She then took a piece of pizza and ate it in a matter of seconds. Poor girl had to have been starving.
After she ate a couple more pieces and watched some TV, we sat in front of her.
"Rosie, I'm going to have to ask you some hard questions, okay?" I let out. She nodded. "How did you end up in Marshall's care?"
She took a deep breath. "My father killed himself when I was 12. I was passed around from foster home to foster home before I was eventually placed in Marshall's."
"How did you get that bruise?" Emily asked softly.
She hesitated on answering.
"I know this is difficult. But we need to know everything about him and what he's done in order to stop him." Emily said and touched her hand.
"He threw a shoe at me when I refused to...to take off my clothes." She strained out.
I shared a look with Emily. I know Rosie isn't sharing everything because she's scared. I understand why.
"When I was 16, my father molested me and abused me. Frequently. He was a serial rapist and killer. I have had to face him not once, but twice. I know what you went through is not easy to talk about but, I'm here and I believe you. I know people didn't in the past but I do. We both do." I said.
That was all it took. She started sobbing. I know she's been holding it in. She wrapped an arm around Emily and I and cried into our shoulders. I rubbed her back softly while she cried.
When she released she told us everything. Her father started everything. He raped her multiple times starting when she was 8. He killed himself when she was 12 and she went on to multiple foster homes. Each home as abusive as the next.
That was until she was placed in the care of Marshall Greene. She's been there for a year. He was good to her in the beginning. Bought her clothes, made her favorite dinners. He then introduced multiple men into the home and they did...horrible things to her. I can't imagine all she's went through at such a young age.
Emily and I stayed at the office overnight and let her get some sleep on my couch. We were looking for any living relatives but we couldn't find any. Mom has been MIA since she was born, grandparents want nothing to do with her.
She had nowhere to go.
—
Rosie gave us all the information we needed on Marshall. For a sex trafficking ring, they didn't hide very well.
Or maybe I've just seen too much to know exactly how to find the people who don't want to be found.
We found Marshall in a week. Interrogation was fun. I didn't hold back.
I walked into the room and sat down across from him. He just stared right into my eyes. When I get started, I'll know which route I have to take.
"Marshall Greene. Quite the man. You have connections all the way to Canada." I let out.
"What can I say?" He mused with a smirk. Okay, he's arrogant.
"Maybe you can start with how many other children you have on the market." I sneered and moved forward.
"What color?" He spoke.
Breathe, Delia.
"Listen, I have very thin patience and a girl out there who's been to hell and back, no thanks to you, so if you tell me exactly how many there are, I won't tell the other prisoners what you did and maybe you'll live another year. I'm sure you know what they do to rapists in there." I went on.
He kept his hard stare.
"I want a lawyer."
"Okay. I can do that. Although, I'm not sure if you'll want one when we have witnesses, and evidence that can nail you. A lawyer can't do anything to help you." I replied.
He kept his hard stare but his arms shifted.
I gave him a piece of paper and on it, he wrote a link. We followed the link and it brought us to a website of all of the children he was "selling".
40 children.
I was sick.
—
We got to work on that immediately and found all of the horrible men harboring these children. What bothered me was the fact that I'm sure there was another man in line to take Marshall's place.
Emily and I had a decision to make. A big one.
We were laying in bed, discussing what we were going to do with Rosie.
"Theoretically, if we adopted a child who has no where to go, would it be a bad thing?" I let out.
"No. I don't think a bad thing. I think it'd be...different, though."
I let out sigh. "I just...I can't sleep at night knowing we put her back in a foster home. After everything she's been through." I muttered.
"I've been thinking about it a lot, too." She paused. "We have the money. We have the space. But, with our job...it's hard."
"I know." I paused. "She's 14. She's independent. She doesn't need around the clock surveillance. She doesn't need a babysitter. Cases like these rarely come on our desk anymore so usually we're home before it's too late."
She was silent for a moment. "I have always wanted a girl."
"So, what do you say?" I asked.
This was a big thing that is going to take a lot of adjusting but I can't just let her go back into this world without support. Emily and I are married and we love each other. We can take care of her.
"I'll get the adoption papers in the morning." Emily said with a smile. I matched her smile and kissed her.
Time for a new chapter.
—
The next morning in the office, Emily and I sat Rosie down. She seemed to have known something was up.
"Where am I being sent?" She asked, timidly.
Emily and I shared a look.
"Well, it's up to you, but we would like to adopt you." I spoke softly.
She picked her head up with tears in her eyes. "Y-You want to adopt me?"
Emily and I both nodded.
"W-Why?"
"Because you don't deserve this life you've had to live." Emily replied with a smile.
"Obviously, you don't have to call us mom but, we have an extra room in our home, and you'd never have to worry about being hurt like this again. You'd have anything you need." I said.
Rosie lunged into our arms. "Thank you." She whispered.
This is when I knew we made the right choice.
We filled out the paperwork and set up her room with her. I have never been more excited to have a child. We saved her and took her under our wing.
She even wanted to change her last name.
We welcomed Rosie Parks-Prentiss into our little family. Emily and I couldn't have been happier.