"How are the girls?"

Kas' laughter ceases, "They're as good as can be expected."

"Do I need to translate for anyone?"

"No, they're all Americans." Kas rakes his hand through his hair, "The guys are talking with them now."

Raina softly nods her head, knowing it's taking a toll on him not being able to a.s.sist. She walks towards his desk, running her fingers across the various stacks of files, "Anymore news on the investigation?"

Kas stands, trying to tame his emotions, "Not yet."

Raina glances at him, not quite believing him, "So, you don't know if my father is behind it yet?"

Kas turns his back to her, shuffling some files around, "We're still looking into it."

Raina chews on her bottom lip pensively, deciding to change the subject for now. "I'm going to work some more on the PC recovered the other day while you finish up. I really hope there's something on there that leads to Prizrak." She wraps her arms around Kas, who is still busying himself with the files, "What do you want for dinner tonight, I'll make whatever you want."

Kas slips his hands over hers, turning to face her, "I'm taking you out to dinner, to the Silver Orchid, I've already made reservations."

Raina rewards him with a huge grin, excited on finally going to the popular restaurant, knowing how hard it is to get in, "What's the occasion?"

"My wife spent the night with another man, I thought I better do something to win her back."

Raina laughs, smacking him on the arm before he pulls her in for a toe-curling kiss.

Another week goes by, and the investigation isn't showing any signs of wrapping up, but Kas is showing signs of stress, even though he's doing his best to hide it. Raina studies him through her lashes as she sips on her orange juice at breakfast. She hates seeing the dark circles under his eyes. She's awakened more than once the past few days, discovering that he's no longer in bed with her. He has usually been found at the kitchen table, going over the little information they have on Prizrak. He would always smile at her, slip his arms around her waist, and pull her onto his lap when she found him, but she felt the difference, the stress in his touch. She knows he's indicated that her father isn't involved, but she's not buying it.

She can't stand his pain, and she has seen the detrimental effect it's had on the whole team. They are doing their jobs, but it's obvious where their loyalty lies, and they are finding it more difficult with each pa.s.sing day to leave their boss behind. They keep him updated on everything going on, keeping him in the loop, and Raina loves them for that. She knows that if it is her father, he won't allow it to end until he wants it to, which won't be until they have suffered significantly. She has to know the truth.

Raina places her plate in the sink, seeing that Kas has barely touched his food. Cla.s.ses have resumed, and she's back to splitting her time between finishing up the last semester before she achieves her doctorate and working at the FBI. Walking behind his chair, she leans down, wrapping her arms around him as she kisses his neck. He stands up, giving her a kiss on her forehead before he rakes his barely touched breakfast in the trash, "I've got to get going, Rain."

She decides now's as good a time as ever to just ask him directly about her father's involvement. "Kas, I need to ask you a question, and I need you to tell me the truth," she states quickly as she follows him to the door.

Kas stiffens slightly before facing her. "Yes, I really do like that thing you did to me last night," he winks, grabbing his keys.

"Well, that wasn't hard to figure out on my own, smarty pants, but that's not what I'm talking about."

Kas looks at her nonchalantly, keeping his face emotionless, even though he knows the words before she says them.

"Does my father have anything to do with the allegations against you? Anything at all?"

"Raina, these investigations just happen sometimes, it has nothing to do with your father. Don't worry, it will be over soon."

She has picked up on some of Kas' ability to detect lies, and she knows that Kas is flat-out lying to her right now, but she decides to not call him on it, realizing that it won't do any good anyway. Knowing what she has to do, her chest tightens. "I love you," the truth behind her words burns brightly in her eyes. She adamantly hopes he will remember that when he finds out about what she is getting ready to do.

Kas smiles, his eyes reflecting the same deep feelings. "I love you, too. Now, get to cla.s.s before you're late," he tells her as he playfully smacks her backside.

Raina just nods her head and smiles, realizing that, if she does anything else, his seemingly supernatural ability to read her will spoil what she is planning. She continues to smile and wave as he pulls out of the drive. As soon as he is out of sight, the smile disappears, replaced by anger and determination as she drops her backpack, grabs her purse, and heads to her car to drive to Erik's.

She uses the fifteen minute drive to come up with an excuse as to why she is there so she can get what she needs. Guilt seeps into her, she hates lying, but she can't think of another way to resolve this. Refusing to let Kas continue to suffer for her father's anger towards her, she pushes back the guilt, intent on fixing what her father has caused.

Her white lie goes over easily enough as Erik gives her the earrings with the transmitter inside before she quickly tells him bye as she rushes out his door. She just prays that Erik won't mention seeing her until she has time to finish what needs to be done. Icy p.r.i.c.ks climb up her spine as she slips back into her car, and she tries to ignore the fear accompanying the dreadful chill. Cranking up the heat, she tells herself that it's just the cold wind outside giving her goose b.u.mps. She turns the radio up loudly, starting to sing, desperately needing to get lost in the music to escape the warning bells ringing in her head.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN.

Raina pulls into the all-too-familiar multi-colored brick driveway, past the matching brick columns, up to the two-story house, beautifully crafted in tri-color stone and elegant caramel brown wood. The eight and a half hour drive was agony, haunting memories kept shooting through her mind, and she is exhausted from her emotional battle of pushing back the painful memories so she could focus on her plan to clear Kas. She forces herself to concentrate on that plan when her heartbeat rapidly increases as she sits looking at the house where she spent eleven years avidly trying to do anything to avoid her father's cruel punishments.

With unsteady hands, she opens the car door, trying to control her shallow breathing as she steps onto the driveway. She knows she has a little over an hour before her father arrives, if he has stayed true to past routines. Glancing at her watch, she is sure that he is already at the bar with his colleagues. Raina realizes he won't stay there long, just time enough to satisfy his need for the whiskey to run through his body, fueling him enough to be able to face the home he once happily shared with her mother.

Raina takes a moment to steady her nerves. She forces herself to look at the house, to push past her fear. The porch is deceptively welcoming with the elegantly carved railing and warm lighting that turns on at exactly 8:00 p.m. every night. Slowly, she walks down the stone walkway, daunting memories attack her with every step.

Her already erratic breathing nearly stops altogether as she walks past the hazel tree. The vivid memory from the pain of the hazel branch being repeatedly struck against her skin when she was eight years old rushes back to her. She takes another step, trying to rid her mind of the immense pain, even worse than her father's belt, when her father had punished her for letting go of her bike when she fell off, and it had hit his car, leaving a small scratch. The anger on her father's face terrified her when she had mustered up enough courage to go inside and tell him what happened. He had ignored her bleeding, sc.r.a.ped hands and knees and went outside to check his car only to return a minute later with the hazel branch in his hand. Her lip bled from how hard she had bitten it to keep from crying out so he wouldn't punish her more as he repeatedly struck her, the lash of the branch leaving excruciating welts all over her body. She never saw her bike again.

Walking past the scarlet firethorns and the various plants and shrubs lining the walkway, she muses at how they are still pretty, even in the dead of winter. She has to swallow back the fear threatening to smother her as she gazes upstairs at the shingled A-framed attic. Her gaze doesn't waver as she forces herself to not look away. Staring at the attic, she faces her fears, telling herself that she is no longer a child, no longer under her father's tyranny. Reminding herself why she is here, she gives herself the strength and courage she desperately needs right now. Once her breathing calms, and she has regained some control, she walks back to her car, grabbing her laptop from the back, setting up the connection from the transmitter to the computer, carefully and expertly routing it to Erik's personal laptop.

When she is sure everything will work as expected, she backs out of the driveway and pulls into the nearby park, anxiously waiting and watching for her father's car to pa.s.s. Seventy-two minutes later, Raina watches the sleek black BMW drive by. She slips off her wedding rings and puts in the earrings, doing one more quick check before turning the ignition. Her cell phone rings, and she closes her eyes when she sees that it's Kas calling again. Swallowing her guilt, she pushes back her fear as she ignores the personal ringtone that reminds her so much of him, and pulls the car out of the park.

Raina steadies her trembling hand and knocks on the door, extending herself to her full five-foot-six frame, somehow miraculously pulling off her poker face when she sees the surprised look from her father as he opens the door. His surprise quickly turns to cold, hard anger as he studies his daughter standing on his doorstep. He looks past her, making sure that she is alone.

"I need to talk with you, Dad," Raina manages, proud of herself for the calmness in her tone that is polar opposite to the near paralyzing fear spurting through her veins.

Her father stands motionless for a few seconds, his glacial glare cutting into her, before he finally pushes the door open just enough for her to pa.s.s through. Raina glances past the entryway and into the living room, swallowing hard when she sees the couch where she suffered many beatings from her father's belt, the same couch where Brian had raped her. Looking away, she swallows harder, taking a deep breath to steady her nerves.

"What do you want?" the arctic chill of her father's voice matches the coldness in his eyes.

Raina turns around, forcing herself to finish this, "I want you to call off the investigation you started on Kas. You know it's not warranted."

He looks at her, cruel amus.e.m.e.nt dancing in his eyes, "I have no idea what you are talking about," he lies, as his wicked smile speaks the truth.

Raina doesn't waver, sticking to the speech she memorized on the drive here. She expected her father's games, but she knows how to elicit the truth. If she has learned anything from her father, other than to fear him, she has learned how his twisted mind works, and his weaknesses. "I know you paid someone to send in bogus information to Internal Affairs. There's no need in spending more of your money to fund the investigation, I'm not with Kas any longer." His heightened amus.e.m.e.nt infuriates her but she reins in her emotions.

"He left you?" he chuckles, "I told you he would."

"No, I left him," she lies, knowing she has to make him believe she left him so her father can think he has forced her into giving up her happiness, allowing him the opportunity to gloat at her pain.

"You left him?" he scoffs, pondering her words as he studies her.

Raina tries to calm her breathing as her father stares at her, studying her to make sure she is telling the truth.

She pa.s.ses his scrutiny, "When?"

"Almost two weeks ago."

"Has he tried to get you back?"

She has to make her father believe that Kas really is out of the picture, she lowers her gaze, slowly shaking her head, "No."

Taunting laughter fills the air, and she can tell that this pleases her father immensely. "I suppose he hasn't, why would he?"

"You can stop wasting your time and your money. Your investigation served its purpose, I'm alone again, miserable, that should make you feel your investment was worthwhile." The satisfied look she witnesses in his eyes gives her hope, he's buying it. Relief fills her that she is almost done.

"You came here, all alone, just to tell me that?"

Raina stares her father straight in the eyes, refusing to let her gaze waver, "I came here to ask you to call off the wolves. Think of it as a departing gift, after this, you will never see me again."

"Why should I drop it, what if you go to him, pathetically groveling for him to take you back?"

Raina bites the inside of her cheek to keep from smiling at his admission. "I won't, besides, like you said, he wouldn't take me back if I did."

"You should've known he wouldn't really love you. No one has ever truly loved you. You deserve to be alone," his menacing words hold a sharp edge that she is too familiar with, and she starts to back away.

"I said what I came here to say," she starts towards the door, "you've won." Raina sees the cold fury spark in his eyes, and she knows she needs to leave, now.

"I've won?" he spits out angrily. "I haven't won anything, not without Beth. I'm just as alone as you are."

Panic stings every nerve. "I'm going to go," she whispers, but he grabs her arm. She stops breathing when she sees the fury radiating off of him. "Don't. I won't let you do this again."

"You won't let me," he laughs, "you stupid, worthless girl."

The pain from the harsh slap burns her cheek, and she pulls her arm with all of her strength, managing to free herself from his grasp, knowing what is to come. She pushes her father before turning to run, but he catches her at the door. Her whole body goes cold, she knows her father is beyond rational thinking at the moment, and the fear she feels is more pungent than any she has ever felt before.

Managing to side-step his fist, she pushes him again, grabbing the door handle. Pain slices through her wrist as her father grabs it, twisting it viciously as he yanks it away from the door. She can tell she won't win this, but decides that she won't just take it without a fight anymore, so she fights back with everything she has as her father's fist connects this time.

Erik gets up to grab another cup of coffee, rubbing his eyes wearily. He takes a long, slow sip of the much needed caffeine as he sees his personal computer indicating something is streaming. Opening the link, he grows increasingly worried when he hears sounds of a struggle. He listens intently, trying to decipher anything that would give him a clue as to what and where this stream is coming from. A man's voice is screaming at someone, calling the unidentified person 'worthless', 'nothing'.

His pulse quickens as he turns up the feed and plays with controls, trying to get better reception. He hears pained sounds coming from a girl, then a loud thud before hearing the man grunt from his own pain. More rasping words ring out, the man calling the girl 'trash' before another loud, sickening sound of flesh hitting flesh, causing Erik to cringe. He focuses on finding out the source of the feed so he can help this girl. His heart stops when a familiar voice calls out weakly, "Dad...stop."

The breath feels like it's been knocked out of him as he quickly pulls up the beginning of the feed, impatiently listening, hoping and praying that it's not who he fears it is. He thinks back to this morning and how Raina borrowed the transmitter. Rage and panic flood him as he hears Raina's voice telling her father that she needs to talk with him. He yanks the charger out of the computer and sprints to the door, down the stairs, not wasting time to wait for the elevator. He is out of breath when he reaches Kas' office and opens the door, rushing by Frank, Russo, and Jake, as he grabs the phone from Kas' hand and hangs it up.

"What are you doing?" Kas yells, but calms his tone when he sees the horrified expression on Erik's face. "What's wrong?"

"You need to call the police to wherever Raina's father lives, right now!" Erik blurts out breathlessly.

Kas blanches as Erik continues, "Raina is streaming audio to me, and he is hurting her, really badly."

His heart is pounding through his chest as he grabs the phone, numbly looking for and dialing the number, his mind trying to figure out what is happening, praying that Erik is wrong. Kas barks out orders over the phone, giving Waterford's address, demanding they send someone there now. Giving them his cell number to call as soon as they get there, he grabs his keys as he asks Erik if he can send the feed to him.

"I'm going with you," Erik demands. Kas doesn't argue as he heads out the door, Frank, Russo, and Jake following.

Jake grabs Austin as he walks through the door, "Do you have your keys on you?"

"Yeah, what's going on?" he asks, worried by the panicked expression he has never witnessed on Kas' face before.

"It's Raina."

That's all Austin needed to hear, "I'll drive."

"Play the feed," Kas calls to Erik as he jumps into the back of Austin's Tahoe Hybrid.

Erik turns up the computer, but there's only silence. He checks the feed as Kas questions what is happening. "It's not streaming anymore."

"Why?" Kas asks, not able to repress the panic from seeping into his voice.

"I don't know yet. I will play it from the beginning."

Kas swears loudly, viciously punching the seat in front of him, as he hears Raina's voice talking to her father. He listens incredulously as Raina tricks her father into admitting that he is behind the investigation. Fury surges through him at the sound of Waterford slapping her. Compounding emotions seize him when the sickening sounds of her father hitting her continues. Austin steps on the gas as he hears the blows.

Kas feels like he's going to get sick when he hears Raina gasp in pain. The sound of his cell phone pulls him away from his murderous thoughts. He puts the phone on speaker and listens as one of the local authorities informs him that Raina's car is at Waterford's residence but they haven't located her yet. Kas closes his eyes, his voice is raw when he says, "Check the attic."

Erik looks at Kas, fear, sadness, and anger apparent in his eyes, now realizing that this isn't the first time Raina has been beaten by her father. The silence is deafening while they wait for the officer to confirm or deny that Raina is in the attic.

The seconds tick by torturously slowly until the officer comes back on the line. "Sir, we did find Mrs. Pierce in the attic."

Kas hears the hesitance in the officer's voice, and his blood runs cold, "Is she-how is she?"

"The ambulance is on the way, Agent Pierce," the troubled voice of the officer continues, "she's barely conscious, but was able to communicate a little."

Kas squeezes his eyes shut and leans his head against the phone before speaking again, his voice hoa.r.s.e and cracked, "Tell her that I love her, and I'm on my way."

"Yes, sir, I will tell her myself."

Jake puts his hand on Kas' shoulder, not knowing what else to do.

Kas' jaw clenches as he tries to control his rampaging emotions, "Play the rest of the recording."

"Maybe that's not a good idea right now," Frank gently offers.

"I need to hear it," Kas whispers.

Erik starts the recording again, and they listen helplessly to the sounds of Raina struggling with Waterford. The loud, sharp sounds of her father striking her cripples Kas. He drops his head into his hands when he hears the unmistakable sound of a belt being unbuckled, then hitting her, over and over again, the harsh bite of the belt resonating dismally throughout the vehicle. Kas clenches his fists tightly next to his hung head as tears rolls down his face when he hears the sharp, painful smacking sounds of the belt continue for what seems like eternity. He wants to throw the computer, smash it into a million pieces, as the abhorrent abuse attacks his ears, sending his emotions spiraling dangerously out of control. His heart feels like broken, sharp splinters as her father bitterly berates Raina, telling her she deserves it as he is beating her.

Austin accelerates even faster, his teeth grinding from the anger he is failing miserably at controlling right now. Russo glances in the rearview mirror, fighting tears of his own as he sees the broken state of his usually impenetrable leader. He can't imagine what Kas is feeling, realizing that the anger and emotional torment ripping through his own heart must be a severe magnification for Kas right now.

The emphatic smack of the belt finally stops, and they hear a dull thud, then her father curse. More sounds of a struggle ring out, then several loud blows followed by a low groan from Raina. Kas wishes he could rip his heart out to stop the overwhelming pain when he hears Raina's weakened voice asking her father to stop. A few more chilling thumps are heard before the recording dies.

Erik closes the laptop wordlessly, not knowing what to say. He loves Raina dearly and hearing her being viciously beaten almost choked the air out of him. He glances at Kas, noticing his rigid jaw and the burning rage and sorrow flooding his darkened eyes. "Raina stopped by this morning. She said she needed to pick up a transmitter for you," Erik's voice is almost inaudible, "I never would have given it to her if I had known the truth."

Kas shakes his head, trying to gain some form of control, drowning in his own guilt of how he could have, should have, prevented this. "You didn't know, Erik." He dials Henry's number, choosing not to leave a detailed message about something like this when the voicemail comes on. Instead, he leaves a brief message, requesting for the judge to return his call. He dials Chase next, knowing that he would want to know what has happened. Chase doesn't try to offer words of comfort, realizing that they are meaningless at the moment, he a.s.sures Kas that he is on his way.

"Her father is William Waterford, the lawyer?" Frank asks, trying to fit the pieces together.

Kas nods, his jaw clenching angrily as debilitating agony slashes through him.