I looked at the woman sitting next to me, and knew she was not hearing a single word I was saying. Stephanie had become completely withdrawn. As we pulled in the parking garage she sat silently , hands balled into fist in her lap. I parked and then reached over and unfasten her seat belt. When she did not move I leaned over and brushed a curl out of her eyes , she gave a startled gasp and looked at me.

"I didn't mean to scare you , let's go upstairs" I said gently.

She nodded and exited the car, closed the door, then wrapped her arms protectively around herself as she stood in front of the passengers side. Walking over to her, taking one of her hands, I pulled Babe into my arms. I tucked her head under my chin, and whispered in to her ear.

"You don't have to worry about him , there is an entire team working hard to keep you safe , you saw how Hal was right by your side before anyone could hurt you", I assured her.

Stephanie walked into the apartment.

"I hate smelling like eau de club", she announced, before walking into the bathroom with her towel and my robe.

Twenty minutes later, she came out wet hair pulled back and, wearing one of my tee-shirts. She went straight to bed , pulling the covers over her head. A half hour later , when I got into bed beside her, I knew by the pattern of her breathing that she was not asleep. After listening to her lie awake for the next few hours next to me in silence , I reached for Babe and felt her body trembling. I brought her face to mine to see if she had been crying , but there were no tears. Wrapping her in my arms, I held Babe close to my chest until sleep overcame her.

The next morning I was up at 0:500 to work out. As I changed into my gym shorts and tee -shirt in the dressing room , I heard Stephanie whimper from my bed. She was thrashing around, struggling , fighting the covers. Her body was drenched in sweat, and an expression of fear was etched across her face.

Gently I shook her ," Babe , wake up" , I whispered.

She awoke nervous and confused , trying to figure out where she was , her breath was ragged.

"It was just a nightmare Babe. you are safe here in my apartment" I said consoling her.

She nodded , and curled up on her side closing her eyes.

"Do you want me to stay with you until you go back to sleep ?",I ask.

She shook her head no , I kissed her forehead , and went to the gym.

When I returned I went to the bedroom to check on Stephanie. My mind went into over drive when I did not find her there. I looked in the bathroom , then the dressing room , she was not in the apartment. Racing down the stairs to the control, I felt a serge of fear consume me. I ran out of the stairwell ,and across the fifth floor to the control room, to ask whoever was on duty, if they had seen her. Relief settled over me when I saw her sitting in a chair next to Hector. I watched from the door way as she happily chattered away with him, while eating a bowl of Ella's apple cinnamon oatmeal. While Hector scared most people, Stephanie had formed a warm rap pore with the tattooed former gang banger. My lips curled in to a slight smile as watched the two, this was the closest to normal I had seen her since I had come back to town. Not wanting to interrupt the pair , I went back up stairs to take a shower. While I was in mid lather, I thought about what Dmitriy had said about Yuri making arrangements for Stephanie at his home. I had the urge to check it out, and decide I was going to make a trip up to Rumson today. There was no way this man was going to be home if he was hiding out. I could find out more about him by going in to his domain , possible his mind set, and some of what made Kuzma tick. Hector was going to have to come with me to help override the security system. After getting dressed and putting on my gun belt , I took the elevator to the fifth floor.

I walked into the control room and Babe was still sitting with Hector , I felt an overwhelming protective need to keep her close to me today. Her behavior when she left the club last night , the nightmares , all of that had me worried about her. I was sure there would be no danger in this trip, so I deiced to take Babe with me and Hector.

"Alright you two we are going on a field trip, suit up and grab your gear", I announced.

When Stephanie stood up, I was surprised to see she had her gun holstered at her waist under her shirt.

Hector grabbed his weapon from the drawer and strapped it into his holster, then pick up his gear and lap top as the two followed me to the elevator.

I angled in to the Yukon Denali, and Babe moved to climb in behind me in the rear passengers seat to allow hector to ride shot gun.

"No, I need you next to me today", I said.

Hector helped Babe into the seat next to me and then got into the back seat.

Ten minutes after we were out of the garage, Stephanie had her head on the head rest and was sleeping. I took the opportunity to bring Hector up to speed with the matter at hand. Traffic was good and we made the drive in just over an hour. Once we arrived , Hector used his laptop to hack into the security system and opened the gates for us to drive though. Then he rerouted the entire system, so he control it with his tablet while we were in the large mansion.

"This way we are able to monitor the grounds and the house so we don't have one sneak up on us" , he said.

Hector had even managed to gain access to the security. I woke Stephanie "Babe we are here". she opened her eyes and stretched.

"Where is here", she ask ?

"At Yuri Kuzma's House", I answered.

Fear flashed across her face, and she looked at me then to Hector, and back to me again.

Hector took her hand in his "Hey Chica your are safe with us , nothing is going to happen to you." He told her gently.

Instantly Babe relaxed, unfasten her seat belt , and exited the truck.

Hector overrode the digital door lock and we were in the mansion with no problems.

I checked out the kitchen first, looking for dirty dishes, and food in the refrigerator. From the appearance , no one had recently used the kitchen. Next, I headed for the master bedroom , someone had been in here, and they been in hurry. The once neat and orderly room, now had drawers pulled open, and empty hangers lying on the floor in contrast to the orderly clothes that were organized ,and color coordinated in the closet and in the dressers. There was a set of luggage with the largest rolling suitcase missing. It looked like Kuzma had come home, packed a few things, and left. I looked on the dresser and he had left a large wad of cash along with an expensive pair of cuff links. In the dressing room he had left jewelry , credit cards, and more cash. Where ever he had gone it was temporary , Kuzma was planning to return.

Kuzma had a game room , it was full of pictures of his thrill seeking adventures along with his NFL days. Around the room there were several different chess board set up with multiple games going on simultaneously. Each board was labeled with the name of an opponent, Kuzma was winning every game.

We entered Kuzma's office next , Hector took out his lap top and cables , then downloaded the contents of Kuzma's computer. I walked around and check out his book shelves that covered half the room from floor to ceiling , the man was a veracious reader. There was a small table next to a large leather chair. The books on the table were open with paper clipes and highlighter lying next to them , pages and passages had been noted. I surveyed the books and read the titles ;

Art and Seduction: An Indispensable Primer on the Ultimate Form of Power,

Influence :The Psychology of Persuasion"

The 40 laws of the Alpha Male : How to Dominate Life , and Attract Women and Achieve Massive Success

The Manipulated Mind :Brainwashing , Conditioning, and Indoctrination.

Brainwashing : The Science of Thought Control

Lost Art of War: Ancient Secrets of Strategy and Mind Control

This man was studying up like a Graduate student, and these were his text books. I directed Stephanie out of the room before she had a chance to see the books.

After looking though the upstairs and the downs stars of the house , Hector told me that there was a sublevel of the home that was registering on the monitors. The strange thing is that we could find no evidence of a stairwell or an elevator that lead to a lower level. Then behind a large bookcase in the study , Stephanie noticed a hidden door next to an alarm key pad. Hector overrode the code and the door opened to reveal a hidden elevator, Once inside , the elevator required another code to operate. Hector inputed some data into his tablet , and then entered the access code to the elevator. We went down to the sublevel and the door opened to a large corridor, on the wall next to the elevator was a key on a lanyard. We followed the corridor to a room with a larger reinforced steel door and used the key to gain access inside.

As we walked in to the room, it was hard not to feel the obvious chill inside. The thermostat was located outside the door and was set to 50 degree fahrenheit. Then an understanding hit me the, frigid room , the books. Under the right circumstances , it is possible to warp the will of someone's mind , to manipulate them into submission. Though systematic methods and the right tactics , a person could become completely dependent on a captor and develop stockholm syndrome. If a man knew what he was doing, it could be done in as little as three days.

The room was a gilded cage , but a cage none the less. A 50 inch Television hung on the wall. The over sized California King bed was dressed in 1000 count Italian linen. Expensive art work adorned the walls , Renoir , Monet and a Van gogh. Hand woven imported rugs lined the floor. There were no clothes to be found, except for the overpriced La Perla Lingerie and a pair of Louboutin Stilettos. Stephanie walked over the bed , there was a note written on a familiar stationary in the same elaborates calligraphy.

Hello My pet,

Welcome to your new home. Don't worry it's temporary ,when you learn to behave for Yuri the two of us can live together as man and wife, I cannot wait to lavish you with things that are as exquisite as you, but first you must show me that you feel the same about me as I do you. I am a patient man.

Love,Yuri

I watched Babe turn white , drop the note , run out of the room and though the long corridor to the elevator. Hector and I did a quick check to make sure that we had left everything so it appeared to have been undisturbed ,and then ran after her.

Stephanie was pacing in the elevator , waiting for Hector to enter the access code. I hung the lanyard back on the wall ,and we all took the elevator back up to Kuzma's study. As soon as the doors opened, Babe was off the elevator like a rocket , though the study door, down the main stairwell ,and outside of the mansion. Hector was after her faster than me , but I was right on his heels. He got to her first , she was sitting on the lawn with her head between her legs.

"It 's alright Muñeca , he is not here , he can't hurt you", Hector whispered as he sat down on the ground next to her.

She finally regained control of her breathing , Hector reset the security system from his tablet before helping Babe up off the lawn. Her body was violently quivering before Hector pulled her in to his arms.

"Shhhh Cariño , We are not going to let that man do anything to you," He cooed into her hair.

Hector kept an arm around her as he opened door to the truck , gently he lifted Stephanie into the back seat of SUV, then climbed in next to her and closed the door.

My mind was working in a very strange way at that moment , all I could think is , was Hector comforting my Babe? Did I just hear him call her Cariño (honey) and Muñeca (doll) ? I had said before we left Trenton ,that I needed to have Steph next to me today, and somehow, she was in the back seat in his arms, I was Jealous, of Hector.

*"Vamos, date prisa, este lugar es asustadizo por mi Nené ! ", Hector said in an annoyed voice.

Did he just tell me to hurry up and call her his baby? I growled and shot him a deadly glare , but Hector was unfazed , something in me wanted to drag the man out of the truck kick his ass. "Okay , this is just miss placed rage and aggression ,I am not really mad at Hector" I told my self as I angled in to the SUV and drove away from the property.

* come , on hurry this place is scary for my baby