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I sighed softly to myself, there were a lot of girls I needed to talk to tonight. They were all scared and all mute. Alex flashed me her winning smile across the squad room, I could see the faith she had in me in her eyes and I felt empowered by her. I went up to the crib, none of the girls were sleeping, and all of them looked at me like a deer caught in head lights. I'd never seen so many scared faces in one place.

"Ladies listen up." I said, I already had their full attention, but I needed them to listen. "You're safe now. We know about Lillian and the event last night. I want to talk to each of you, so I can find your parents and get you home safe and soundly." All the girls looked around at each other, all asking each other if they should talk to me, giving each other a look, a frown. Then one girl stood up.

"I don't want to go home." she said, I couldn't work out where in the UK she was from, London most likely.

"Why honey?" I asked softly.

"Because I want to put Mrs Parks away for life. I want to stand in court and have my day, I want to see her rot!"

I nodded, whoever this girl was, she must have been the ring leader, because every other girl agreed with her. "If each of you talk to me, one at a time and make a statement, I promise you, you'll all get your day in court."

I took the leader of the girls to the soft interview room, we sat down; I looked at the girl and gave a small smile. "Can you tell me your name?"

"Toni - Rea Boston."

I wrote down her name, "Do you want me to call you Toni, or Toni – Ray?" I asked.

"Toni's fine. Detective, can we get to the point? I know you need to ask certain questions, so please, just ask them."

"Right. Can you tell me how you came to be under Mrs Parks' care?"

"She sent her goon squad to London; they found me at school. This guy kept hanging outside the school gates chatting up girls. I was the mug who fell for his charm; he bought me flowers. White roses. They came the same day I found my mum and little sister with their throats slashed."

I swallowed hard forcing the lump in my throat downwards. My mouth felt like I had been sucking on a cotton bud, it was dry and I struggled to speak. "Did he say anything to you that gave you the impression he had killed them?"

"He bought me the flowers, on the card it said 'With deepest sympathies.' then he showed up at my door and took me by the hand and said 'It's time to go home.' He dragged me on a plane and a few hours later I was in the training process."

"What is the training process?" I asked horrified at the blank expression on the girls face.

"He left me with no family, so I had no reason to stay in England. That's what he did to us all, killed everyone we love so we had nothing and no one left." I watched as she sighed, it looked like she was finally breaking down; "When we got to the USA, he handed us over to Mrs Parks. She would starve us and beat us. She would never burn us though, I remember her saying that if there were scars, we lost value on the market. She had these guys she called her sons, she'd never use their name, just son. They would rape us once a day until we were..." she hesitated, "big enough to take a man. She drugged us with cocaine and made us smoke weed. We'd be on a high, then a low buzz, it was a head fuck. I conformed pretty quickly, Mrs Parks made me her head girl. She thought I was keeping an eye on them for her, but the truth is I was looking out for the girls."

"Did you know Marni?" I asked, I had no control over what had come out of my mouth. I needed to know.

"Yeah. I knew her." I looked at Toni willing her to speak. "She was top dog before me. She was quiet, took beatings for everyone, gave the other girls her food even if she hadn't eaten in days." Toni smiled, "She was my hero, she was everyone's hero. She told me she had found a cop, someone who wanted to help, I'm guessing that's you." Toni said, I nodded confirming, "Mrs Parks knew you'd take her in, Marni was strong, but she was a weak link for her so she had to kill her. She forced me to watch as she slit Marni's throat, she said it was a reminder of what I'd lost, and that I had to lose again to really understand who's in charge."

My stomach flipped, "You witnessed Marni's death?"

"Uh-huh. And before you ask, I will testify too. But I can do you one better, the CCTV in your apartment was shut off on your floor. I took a video on my phone."

I felt relief swarm my body, "Thank you." I mumbled.

"You loved her didn't you?" Toni asked me.

I found myself nodding, "Yes."

"She's easy to love, she treated me like I was her sister." I watched as Toni's face softened and tears filled her eyes. "Could you love me?" she asked.

I was put on the spot, I was willing to take Marni in, make her a permanent part of my family. What did I say to this girl who had no one? "Toni, I don't know what to say." I confessed.

"You can say no." she stood up and headed towards the window. I guessed she was crying.

"I didn't say no. Sweetheart," I began, "You're a strong young lady, and you have a long road ahead of you now. You need to focus on this case, I can't do this without you."

Toni nodded, I could see there was something else going on inside her head, but she wasn't going to talk about it. "Fine." she said coldly.

I took Toni's statement, and over the next three and a half hours I interviewed every girl we'd picked up, and took their statements. We had managed to place all the girls in a foster home together, well, Alex did all of that. I spotted Alex through a crowd of faces and gave a sigh of pure relief. I walked up to her and smiled, opening my arms and holding her tightly.

"Are you okay?" she asked me.

I nodded, I felt like I was about to cry but managed to hold it together. I pulled out of the hug, "Did you listen in?" I asked her.

"I did," she said softly, "everyone loved Marni."

"I know, I've given the video of Marni's death to Elliot. He's working the case; only now I have to work with him, because we have the same perp."

"You'll be fine Olivia, you're stronger than him and his games. Hopefully, this will get you guys back on track as partners."

I agreed, it would be nice to have my Elliot back again, but that guy seems to have gone. All I could do was hope, but how do you work with someone you love and hate all at the same time? My head started to spin, I needed to get a grip on these emotions. I needed to go home, have a hot bath and just relax, but right now there was no hope of that!

"Alex, are you going to be okay with this?" I asked.

"With what?"

"Me and Elliot. I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable or paranoid." I said softly reaching for her hand. "I know if you were working with someone who loved you, I'd hate the situation, and I'd hate how it would make me feel."

Alex smiled at me, "Honestly, I'm never going to be happy with you working with Elliot. It's petty of me but it's the truth. I hate that he loves you, I hate that he's trying to put a wedge between us and I hate that you'll be spending time with him. But I understand that you have too, so I'm just going to hate on Lillian for a while for putting us all in this situation. I'll be fine, just do your thing baby." she said softly.

I couldn't help but smile at Alex, she was brutally honest sometimes, but without her honesty, I wouldn't know where I stand. I completely understood her point of view too, I'd hate it more than I care to admit. I kissed Alex on the cheek, then frowned realising what my next move was. Interrogating Lillian Parks. "Will you watch the interrogation?" I asked.

"Of course. Are you taking Elliot in with you?"

"No, Munch. He was there and has a sharp tongue which might come in handy."

Both Alex and I walked to the interrogation room, Lillian was already in there looking pleased with herself. Munch joined me looking at me, then to Lillian.

"My darling girl, I was wondering when I'd get to see you. This is all such a misunderstanding. Surely you wouldn't lock up your own mother." Lillian said with softer eyes than I'd ever seen.

"You're right I wouldn't." I said to her.

"Good, then I can go home."

"Not quite." I said staying as calm as I possibly could. "My mother died years ago, you on the other hand, you're going to rot into a cell."

Lillian's pleased look dropped from her face, "I am your mother, don't be so stupid Olivia!"

Munch stepped forward, "Is she for real?" Munch asked me, I shrugged. "Look lady, I don't know if it's old age, or just pure ignorance, but when you were booked; you had a swob taken. Us being New York's finest, we compared your DNA to Detective Benson's DNA, you're as much her mother, as you are mine." Munch sat down smiling.

Lillian looked at him, her face turning red. "You're bluffing." she said defencelessly.

I walked over to the table putting both my palms flat on the surface; "I don't care why you lied about being my mom, what I care about is the girls you auctioned off to the perverts in Chelsea."

"I don't know what you're talking about." she lied.

I took a dictation machine from my pocket playing the recording of her speech. She looked at me like I'd cut off the head of a puppy and shown it to her.

Munch laughed and turned to face me, "You know Liv, everyone seems to think this woman is the big I am, I think she's a pawn, some little old lady. She doesn't have the brains to pull this off. I mean, why would anyone pretend to be a cops mom, and then manage to get themselves arrested?" he smirked, "She's a joke, someone hired this bint to cover their own ass."

"Shut up!" Lillian barked. "I have connections planted so deep all over the world. You think by taking me out of the picture will stop this? You're bigger idiots than I thought. And you Olivia, you are the biggest joke of all." Lillian laughed to herself, I touched Munch's arm as he went in for another verbal attack. Lillian's face screwed up, she smirked at me, looked me directly in the eyes and spoke again. "You are the weakest link and even if it was for a week I made you doubt your own mother." she smirked, this time I felt fear shoot through me, "You're nothing! You're weak, worthless and useless. You really think I'd be proud of you? You let your emotions get the better of you every case, and worst of all, you're a dyke! No blood of mine would shack up with some bimbo!"

My blood ran cold, I could hear Munch's voice screaming at the woman but everything was blurred in my head.

"You think Olivia would want a mother like you? Scouting little kids to sell to perverts?" Munch laughed, then slammed his fist down on the table making the old woman jump. "It's people like you who I'd like to see tortured in the same way you hurt those kids. You're a dirty old woman who lives by hurting others. You're the lowest form of scum on this Earth!"

"Munch." I heard myself saying, I wasn't thinking but words kept spilling from my lips. "Mrs Parks, you may have tried to turn my life upside down, but you failed. You must be obsessed with me, maybe you're a lesbian, I mean who stalks someone, gets photos of them and pushes so hard to be in their life if they don't want that person's attention? I guess being in the closet all these years has messed with your head, you just needed to get it out there. I'm flattered, really I am; but I assure you, where you're going, you're going to be getting a lot of female attention. Prisoners make special efforts with people like you."