Lou came out of the kitchen, carrying two cups of coffee. He set them down on the coffee table and sat next to Nina on the couch. She was fidgeting with a pillow, and didn't notice him sit down until he gently touched her hand.

"Coffee's ready. You okay? The last time I saw you hugging a pillow was when your mother told you that she and Nick were getting divorced."

"I'm fine, I think. Lou, if I tell you, can you please keep it to yourself? It's hard enough with Jack knowing, I don't want anyone else to."

"Whatever you want sweetheart. But I promise that if he's done anything close to what I'm imagining right now, I'll be killing him. Or, at least calling the police in Los Angeles to arrest him. And I'll be dealing with that Adam too. He doesn't deserve to be in a job if he can't do it right."

Nina nodded. Taking a deep breath, she started to speak. "Kieran is horrible. He's always hitting on me, and it's creepy. He's at least twenty years older than me. He runs a TV show for adults, that's where Adam sent me. I didn't know what it was until I got there," she began, trying to find a justification for why she was taking part in such a dirty activity. "That's not part of my contract. I tried to get out, but they wouldn't let me. Apparently I'm perfect for the role because I'm 'young and innocent, exactly what their viewers want'."

Lou put his coffee cup on the table again and turned to face Nina properly. He was disgusted, hearing what she was saying, and he knew she hadn't even really begun to tell him anything. "Take your time sweetheart," he told her softly. "I'm listening."

Nina sniffled, not even attempting to dry her eyes and tears. There was no point, she wasn't going to stop crying now. "At first, when I found out what the show was, I thought they meant adults only because there was swearing and maybe some nudity. And that was how it started out. But after the first few hours, they wanted me to take off my clothes and stand in front of a camera so they could photograph me. I think the photos are used online, and I don't want that. Then they forced me to lay down on a mattress, in the middle of a room, while several men, some younger than me, some older, touched me. I was so scared of what they were going to do to me, and I kept begging, literally begging, for them to stop and leave me alone. I don't know what the show is, but I think they do this to girls to try and see how tough the boys are." Her lip trembled, but she kept going. "Kieran told them that the next step, after putting their hands all over me, was to have sex," she whispered.

Lou could see how hard it was for Nina to tell him all of this, and understood that she was being open, though it was painful for her. He moved closer to her, and put his arms around her. "You don't have to keep telling me. I'm sorry I pushed you."

Nina cuddled into him as she continued to talk. "Most of the boys, especially the younger ones, backed away and didn't touch me again. But some of the older ones actually looked excited about what they were going to do to me. And they almost did too, until a fire alarm sounded and everyone just screamed like girls and ran out of there, leaving me alone. I was crying and scared that they would come back, so I grabbed my clothes and ran. I don't know it anyone saw me or not, but I don't care either, I just had to get out. I went home, before Jack did, and cleaned myself up so he wouldn't know anything had happened."

"Why didn't you tell him?"

"Because he overreacts. He walked into a meeting I had with Kieran before I started any work and heard him calling me 'baby'. He went crazy over it."

"Okay. I can understand that. Did you call the police?"

Nina shook her head. "I didn't want to talk to anyone about it. I just wanted to pretend it didn't happen. But I couldn't hide it anymore. I had to tell someone, and I knew you would understand."

"Oh, honey. I'm so sorry."

"Are you mad?"

"Not at you sweetheart. You haven't done anything wrong."

"I should have fought them harder to get my way."

Lou raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "I don't believe, for a single second, that you wouldn't have tried as hard as possible to get out of something like that. Don't go blaming yourself for this because it is most definitely not your fault."

Nina gave him a watery smile. "Thank you for listening to me."

"Hey, I love you, and I'm here for you. I'll always listen to you."