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Don’t even get me started on the virginity.

“Well, next time bring the young woman to dinner,” my mom reprimanded. “And if she has no one, then she can always come here.”

It was a viable option to let her stay at my parents. They had the room and cared. But my mind shut it down. I needed to keep her close.

“That’s okay, Mom. I don’t want to add any stress on you.”

“It’s no stress at all. I’d love to take care of someone now that all my children have abandoned me.”

“Fifteen minutes away is hardly abandoning you,” Hanna defended.

“She’ll need rides to work, it’s easier to have her close.”

“She can stay with me,” Hanna suggested. “My apartment is only a few floors below yours. You could just pick her up from there. Or I could take her.”

“There’s an idea. Isn’t that a perfect idea, Erik?” Ian taunted.

“No,” I growled from my clenched jaw. “It’s not because Hanna lives in a one bedroom apartment. Where would she sleep? The couch? Why bother when I have the extra rooms?”

“What about an apartment in your building? You’ve set other survivors up with a place to live,” my dad suggested.

I took a deep breath, not liking any of the options. I just wanted to keep her close to me and didn’t want to have anyone probe too deeply into why. Because I didn’t know.

“I’ll have to look into availability and see if she’d be open to it,” I conceded. It satisfied everyone—thank God— and we moved on to other mundane topics for the rest of dinner.

“You know, I’ll never forget the day I got the call you were in the hospital,” Ian said.

We were sitting in the back sunroom, drinking beer while Mom and Hanna washed dishes and Dad watched the football game.

I cringed at his words and brought the bottle to my lips rather than say anything. I didn’t know what to say. Our family had lost so much and I’d almost added to it.

“But not even that was as bad as walking into your room and seeing what had happened to you. You’re my brother and I almost lost you.”

Swallowing past the lump in my throat, I tried to make light of the conversation. “I’m harder to kill than that.”

“I don’t know about that. But I do know you’re damn lucky Jared found you.”

The first year I began rescuing girls from sex trafficking, I’d made a name for myself. I’d been cocky and almost wanted them to know I was coming. I’d even used the name Robin Hood, thinking I was clever because I was taking from those in power and helping others in need. I’d made it so people in the business knew who to watch for on the web.

I’d pissed off some powerful people the first year I began rescuing women from sex-trafficking. One night a few years ago, I’d been caught by the wrong man. He’d known I was coming and planted a trap. I fell right into their hands and they beat the shit out of me. I would have died if not for Jared. He’d been following the same sale and found me left for dead out back. He’d taken me to the hospital and I’d barely made it back to the land of the living.

“I know. And I learned from my mistakes. I now hire MacCabe’s team to do the extractions.”

“Do you? Then why did you go get her after you promised your family you wouldn’t go out anymore?”

“It was different.” I sounded like a broken record even to my own ears.

“DeVries is still out there. But not even just him. There are tons of people who would love to see you dead.”

Marco DeVries was the man who set me up. There wasn’t anything special about him. I didn’t target him specifically. I didn’t search for him or look for revenge. That wasn’t my goal. My goal was to save as many women as I could no matter who they were from. I’d learned the hard way to just keep my head down and get the job done the most efficient way possible.

“I’m more careful now. I dropped Robin Hood and I don’t make as big of a splash with Mr. E.”

“But it could happen again.”

“It could, but I’m doing my best to keep it quiet. You know why this is so important to me.”

“I know. It’s important to all of us. Just don’t get so caught up in avenging one dead family member to wind up leaving us to mourn another.”

“I have no intentions of dying.”

“We never do.” Ian finished off his beer. “Just be careful, man. Like I said, you’re my brother.”

“Unfortunately,” I muttered, trying to lighten the mood again. This time Ian took the bait. He punched my arm almost making me drop my beer.