Lacey hadn't been able to stay for more than that day. She took a late night flight home. She had her own life to live, and her boss couldn't give her days off without warning. On top of that, she had a husband and a daughter. Although they understood, they also needed her in their lives.

Roman continued with the case at work. It had been a big building where the women had been held. They searched it from top to bottom in two days and took everything with them that they could find. They were scared more people might be connected to this, and they needed to find out for sure.

On the third day everything was packed in boxes and they were going through it all one item at the time. A lot of people were signed on this case. It had been a miracle that Kurt had come across a junkie that was more than ready to talk about that place to get a lesser jail sentence and a promise of being moved to another prison where he didn't fear for his life. It all came down to that one stroke of luck.

"Man, it's a lot," Seth said.
"Stop complaining," Dean said. "I'm tasked with sorting out all these clothes we found. At least I'm not the one who has to look for DNA on them."
"You're gonna be fine. You're big boys now," Roman joked.
"Shut up," Dean said. "I don't see you doing anything."
"Kurt needs me. We got all those USB drives to look through. I fear what's on them but I volunteered," Roman said.
"That wouldn't have anything to do with Spring, would it?" Seth smirked. "You're scared that she might be on one of those drives."
"I'm terrified," Roman confessed. "But I need to know what's on them."

Roman walked into a room where Kurt was waiting with a handful of men. There was a box of USB drives on the table.

"Alright, listen up," Kurt said. "Each USB drive has a female name on it. We had our IT guy crack the code. Luckily for us they used the same code for all the drives. We need to know what's on those drives. Get to it."

Roman looked down in the box and spotted a USB drive with Spring's name on it. He quickly grabbed it before anyone else could. He knew he couldn't keep whatever was on it from the others but he needed to know first.

He walked to his desk, plugged in the USB drive and put on his headphones. A video clip started playing of Spring fighting against two men. A third man was behind the camera. All of them were laughing at her. He recognized the two men from the night of the mission, and he had later learned their names. Luke Gallows and Karl Anderson. He didn't know who was filming but probably one of the other dead men.

"Keep fighting. Our clients like them fiesty," Karl said.

That was what it was all about. Human trafficking. Forcing women into a life of being raped on a daily basis. He just knew that these videos had been made to send out to their clients so they could see what they had to offer.

He kept watching as Luke got her down on her stomach. Her skirt and panties were ripped off her. Luke managed to open his pants. Roman closed his eyes for a second when Luke entered her and she cried out in pain. He opened them again. He had to watch it all. It was his job.

"Smile to the camera, whore," the man behind the camera spoke.
"You're a pornstar now," Luke chuckled. "I hear pornstars love taking it up the ass. Let's find out."

The cry that came from Spring a few seconds later was enough for Roman to tear his headset off and pause the video. It was all too much to take in in that moment.

"Do I need to take you off the case?" Kurt asked.

Roman looked towards his boss who apparently had been watching him. Kurt knew Spring was in Roman's home.

"No, I need to do this for her. She needs me," Roman said.
"It's getting to you. You can't deny that," Kurt said.
"Can you honestly say that none of this is getting to you?" Roman asked. "You've spent years looking for some of these women. You know damn well there were more USB drives in that box than there were women in those cages. Some of them died in that place. Tell me that's not getting to you after searching for them for so long."

Kurt stepped up to Roman's desk a placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Of course it's getting to me but you have her living in your home," Kurt said. "I get it, Roman. I know you feel the need to do this. But remember that the woman you see on this video isn't the same woman as you have at home. You're looking at a victim right now. You have a survivor at home. She needs to recover. If you can't separate those two, I have to either take you off the case or somehow force you to remove her from your home. I will not allow you to keep her in the victim role rather than helping her move forward."

Roman looked at the screen for a second. He saw a face full of tears. He knew Kurt was right.

"I won't. I promise," Roman said.
"Good," Kurt said. "I won't blame you if you place that drive back in the box and let someone else watch it. If you click play again, I'm expecting a full report of what you see on my desk soon."

Roman put on the headphones and clicked play again. He couldn't let it go. He needed to know what she had gone through. The video ended ten minutes later after Karl had his share of her as well, and there was nothing else on the drive. As suspected, just a single video to send to their clients. What else had taken place in that hell hole was not on camera. If he wanted to know, he would have to ask her.

It was pouring down that evening when Roman made it home from work. He ran from his car and inside the house. He had expected to be greeted by Spring since she had done that the other days she had been in his home. He walked through his house and found the door to the garden open. She stood outside in the pouring rain with her face turned towards the sky. He ran out to her.

"What are you doing?" He asked. "You're gonna get sick."

She moved her head back down and opened her eyes. The first thing he noticed was the smile on her face. She was actually smiling a real smile for the first time. She stood there soaked by the rain and she was smiling.

"It's raining," she said.
"I'm well aware," he said.
"I haven't felt the rain on my skin in years. It feels good," she said.

So that was it was all about. Something he took for granted, she of course took as a weird blessing. Five years without having been allowed outside of that building. He couldn't begin to put himself into her mindset but he liked the smile on her face.

She suddenly grabbed his jacket and pulled him down for a kiss. For a moment he got caught up in the romantic feeling of kissing in the rain, not to mention how he had dreamed about kissing her since the day of her rescue. It was wrong on so many levels. He broke the kiss and the look on her face said it all. He had hurt her.

"This is not a good idea," he said.
"I'm sorry," she said.
"It's okay. You got caught up in the moment. I'm not mad. But we shouldn't," he said. "Come on, we need to get you inside before you catch pneumonia. You need a warm bath. Go take one and I'll see if I can cook something together for us."

He hadn't seen her move that fast before. She almost ran inside. He followed after and listened to her taking what seemed like the shortest shower ever. She moved to her own room afterwards. He finished some fried rice with vegetables and went to knock on her room.

"Dinner," he said.

He got no answer. He knew she was pretending to be asleep. He tried the handle but of course she had locked the door. He couldn't blame her. He sighed and returned to the kitchen to eat on his own. If only she knew what went through his head. What he had watched that same day at work. He had the image of her crying and screaming stuck in his mind. It felt like he took advantage of her if he accepted the kiss even though she was the one making the first move. He finished his dinner and walked back to her door and knocked again.

"I put some leftovers in the fridge if you get hungry. I'm gonna go to bed. We can talk tomorrow," he said.

She listened on the other side of the door but she didn't say anything. She waited an hour and made her way to the kitchen. She didn't feel hungry though. She just couldn't sleep. She looked around aimlessly while opening cupboards and drawers. She opened the knife drawer and stopped. Something came over her that she couldn't control. The need to turn the inner pain to an outer one. A pain that she could master somehow. She grabbed a small knife and some paper towels and went back to her room.

She dropped her pyjamas pants and stared at the knife for a long time. She slowly placed it on her thigh just to feel the cold metal against the skin. She pressed the tip into her skin and started slicing it open while she spoke lowly. One word per line.

"You're broken. You're worthless. You're unlovable," she said.

She stared as blood ran from the three cuts. She grabbed the paper towels and pressed it against her skin. She kept sitting like that for a long time until she was sure she had stopped bleeding. It had made her feel better while she did it but she didn't feel much better now. She placed the knife and the paper towels inside the drawer of the nightstand and put her pyjamas pants back on.