Danny was walking down the hall when Shari called his name. Turning in surprise, he found her rushing towards him, looking as unhappy as he’d ever seen her. He had a bad feeling as to why she wanted to talk to him and sighed when she stopped beside him. “Hey, Shari. What’s up?”

“What’s up? Danny, how can you even ask me that? Do you know what this is doing to the Professor?” Shari exclaimed. “How can you be this vindictive? He’s an old man and you go ahead and have him arrested? Have him subjected to ridicule and his life’s work flushed down the drain? How could you do it?”

Flinching when she took an aggressive step forward, Danny stepped back, arms crossing defensively over his chest as he answered, “I’m not being vindictive, Shari, honest. And no one’s ridiculing him. It’s just...we aren’t the only ones he’s done this to and people hop on a bandwagon, you know that. The press has a mind of its own, there ain’t nothing me or Mac can do about it. We haven’t given any interviews, you gotta know that.”

“Is this woman bothering you, Danny?” Flack questioned, coming up to them.

Grateful for the support, Danny nonetheless shook his head and answered, “No, I’m okay, Detective, thanks.”

Flack gave Shari a pointed look before saying to Danny, “I’m right over there if you need me.”

“Quite the watchdog you’ve got,” Shari said bitterly once the cop was gone. “Too bad the Professor doesn’t have one.”

Danny sighed. “Look, Shari, I’m sorry he’s having a hard time of it, but he brought it on himself. I told him what I wanted and he just decided I wasn’t competent to make that decision. He kept me from the man I love and to whom I want to devote my life, almost permanently. And maybe you can’t understand that, but it would have been the end of me, okay? Even discounting how I felt, he still broke the law. If he hadn’t, then he wouldn’t be in this mess.”

Shari shook her head and said sharply, “He was trying to help you, Danny, and whether or not you realize it, you do need help.”

Drawing back nervously, never quite having heard that tone from a woman before, Danny replied, “I don’t, Shari. I’m happy. Happier than I’ve been in God knows how long.”

“Okay, that’s enough,” Flack interrupted, rejoining them. “I think you need to leave now.”

Shari gave Danny a hard look. “You only think you’re happy, Danny. You don’t know any better and someone needs to show you.”

Stepping between them, Flack ordered, “Get out of here before I have you escorted from the building, ma’am.”

She moved back, but didn’t really leave as she promised, “I’ll make sure you know what you’re missing, Danny. You’ll know this isn’t the life for you.”

“That’s it. You’re gone,” Flack snapped, grabbing her arm and pulling her towards the exit.

Unexpectedly, Shari struggled against him to get back to Danny as she shouted, “You don’t know any better! They’re the ones, Danny, they’re the ones who’re keeping you from true freedom! We’ll get you out! I’ll get you out if it’s the last thing I do, Danny!”

Shaking as he watched Flack and a couple of cops drag Shari from the building, still screaming, Danny jumped a mile when a hand settled on his shoulder. He pulled a neck muscle, his head turned so sharply, so fast.

Hawkes looked at him with concern and asked, “Are you all right? What was that about?”

“I um, I’m not sure,” Danny admitted.

Flack walked down the hall towards them, sour expression firmly in place. “This city gets more and more whackos every damn year. Who was that chic?”

“She works with, worked with Professor Gelnich,” Danny explained. “Part of the mentoring program for newly freed slaves.”

Gaze narrowing, Flack said, “I need to tell Mac about this, then.”

Danny asked quickly, “Can I? Please?”

Giving him a long look, Flack finally nodded. “Okay, sure. But make sure you do it tonight. Because if I bring it up in conversation tomorrow and Mac doesn’t know what the hell I’m talking about, your ass is grass.”

“I will, I promise,” Danny assured him. Flack nodded headed out, leaving him with Hawkes. He gave the black man a weak smile and said, “Thanks for checking on me, but I’m good.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah, I’m sure, thanks.”

Hawkes nodded and also left, but not without giving him another concerned look.

Wishing that Mac was actually in the lab so he could find the familiar strength and comfort in his arms, Danny sighed and went to his Master’s office. If he couldn’t have Mac, he could at least be surrounded by his things.

* * * *

“Excuse me? I’m looking for Detective Taylor.”

Looking up from the computer at Mac’s desk, Danny found a pretty, petite, dark-haired woman standing in the door. Not recognizing her, he immediately hopped out of Mac’s chair and went to his knees beside the desk as he replied, “Detective Taylor isn’t here, Mistress. May I assist you?”

“Oh, well. My name is Lindsey Monroe. I’m supposed to report in to him today to start work here,” she explained.

Danny frowned, not having heard that anyone new was starting on the team, but only answered, “He’s at the zoo, Mistress, working a case.”

“Thanks! I’ll see you around.”

Danny looked up when the door closed, still frowning, and got slowly to his feet. Maybe Aiden would know what was going on. Decision made, he hurried out of the office to find the other slave and figure out why Mac had hired someone who was definitely not even from New York.

* * * *

Aiden looked through the microscope, carefully observing the differences and similarities between the two fibers and making notes as she did so. They were from the same dye lot, no doubt about that, but the ends didn’t match, so the one hadn’t been torn or cut from the other. Standing upright, rubbing her eyes, Aiden wondered if maybe she could convince Stella to take some time off the coming weekend. They hadn’t had any real time alone in forever and it was starting to get a little lonely.

“Aiden, hey,” Danny greeted.

Opening her eyes brought the other slave into a blurry kind of focus, so she blinked a few times to get him looking normal. “Hey, Danny, what’s up?”

He gave a hesitant smile and asked, “This a good time?”

“Always,” she confirmed, motioning him closer. “I could use a break before I go cross-eyed.”

Leaning on the other side of the large white table where they processed evidence, Danny said, “So this woman just came into Mac’s office sayin’ he hired her, name’s Lindsey Monroe. You know anything about her?”

Surprised, Aiden frowned at the news and answered, “Never heard of her. Stella didn’t mention her to me.”

“Oh. Okay, then,” Danny replied, looking more uncertain than usual. “I guess they just needed some help and I’m too far away from getting any of my certs.”

Still doesn’t explain why Stella didn’t tell me about it, Aiden thought, irritated. Out loud, she assured him, “It’s nothing on you, Danny. I know Stella’s been saying for a while now that they needed some more hands, I just didn’t know that Mac had gone ahead and done something about it.”

Danny nodded, but didn’t look all that reassured. “All right, well, I’ll leave you to it. Unless you want me to stick around?”

Normally, she would say yes, but Aiden knew she was too pissy just then to be good company so she said, “Nah, thanks though. I’ve gotta work on this fiber analysis.”

“Okay. I’ll see you later.”

Feeling vaguely guilty as Danny walked away, shoulders slumped despondently, Aiden waited until he was down the hall to pull out her cell and call Stella.

“Aiden? Something wrong?” Stella asked on picking up.

She wanted to say yes, but that would only open a whole host of things, so she just said, “Danny just told me some woman was looking for Mac. A Lindsey Monroe?”

“Oh great!” Stella exclaimed. “I hope he sent her this way, because we could use a hand.”

She knew, Aiden thought, more than a little hurt.

“How’s that analysis coming along?”

Stiffly, Aiden answered, “It doesn’t match.”

“Damn. Well, call me when you finish up.”

Aiden knew better, but couldn’t help being a little snide as she answered, “Of course, Mistress,” and hung up without saying goodbye. She didn’t even really care if it earned her a beating, she was too pissed at being excluded.

* * * *

As Stella stared at her phone in surprise, Mac frowned and asked, “Something wrong?”

“I don’t know,” Stella admitted, closing the phone and facing him. “Aiden’s got something up her ass, that’s for sure. Oh, and Danny sent Lindsey over. At least, I assume he did. Aiden said he told her that Lindsey showed up looking for you.”

Mac groaned. “Damn it. She’s early and I didn’t get a chance to tell him about her. I hope he doesn’t take it the wrong way.”

“How could he?”

“Trust me, he could,” Mac replied, dry. “He gets insecure over the strangest things.”

Stella frowned, thinking about Aiden’s attitude. It can’t be that she’s insecure. She doesn’t go out in the field and knows exactly what her place is on the team. Something else must be going on, but what?

“So now that we have most of the body parts recovered, what do you think?”

Shading her eyes against the sun and looking up the wall of the tiger pit, Stella asked, “I think we should find out if this was maybe a dump job.”

“Why do you say that?”

“No screams for help, for one thing. I can’t see someone just letting a tiger eat them without screaming.”

He followed her gaze up the side of the pit and replied, “True. All right. You thought of it, you investigate it.”

Stella made a face at him and observed, “Who says chivalry is dead?”

* * * *

Lindsey turned out to be just as quiet and soft-spoken in person, as on the phone. She was also highly intelligent and intuitive, but just as logical, which was an odd combination in his opinion. Most people were one or the other, not both. Still, he was treated to a very different style of investigation and she didn’t complain about the grunt work, which was a bonus. Later in the day, Mac discovered that the petite woman packed more than just a solid punch when she line-tackled a suspect on the run without any apparent difficulty at all. He couldn’t help teasing, “What do they feed you up there in Montana?”

By the time they got back to the lab with their leads, and information, and evidence to go through, it was late afternoon and he was more than ready to take a break. Not that he could, really, but it was a nice thought. First things first, he decided, and headed for his office where Danny should be waiting.

The slave was napping on the sofa when he got there and Mac smiled fondly at the sight. Danny hadn’t been sleeping well lately, nightmares of his time with Sonny waking him deep in the night. Mac did his best to comfort Danny, but there was only so much that he could do. Therapy had been rejected out of hand by the slave and since Mac didn’t want a fight on his hands, not just yet anyhow, he’d given in. He tried to get Danny to talk to him about that time, but was mostly unsuccessful with that, too.

Sitting on the edge of the sofa, he lightly combed his fingers through the wild hair that had grown in and said softly, “Danny? Wake up, baby.”

Danny sighed and shifted sleepily, blue eyes meeting his and a smile surfacing. “Hey, Mac, you’re here.”

Mac smiled, bending in to capture Danny’s mouth in a slow kiss before answering, “Yeah, I’m here, baby. Everything all right?”

Yawning, Danny nodded and stretched a little, twining his hand with Mac’s as he replied, “Everything’s fine, so far as I know.”

“Good, good,” Mac murmured. “I didn’t get a chance to tell you about Lindsey. She wasn’t supposed to be here for another few days, but I’m sorry, I should’ve mentioned her.”

Danny shrugged and pointed out, “It’s your lab, Master, you don’t need to run your hiring choices by me.”

“I just don’t want you to feel left out,” Mac told him.

Bringing Mac’s hand up to kiss the back of, Danny said, “I was a little surprised, but I got over it.”

“Just surprised?”

“Well…maybe a little hurt,” Danny admitted. “But it’s not like you have to tell me everything.”

Mac tugged their hands up so he could kiss Danny’s knuckles. “I know, but I want to. Communication goes two ways here, Danny, and I mean that.”

The brilliant smile that practically exploded over Danny’s face was irresistible. Mac leaned in and kissed him again, devouring the willing mouth hungrily. It had been a few days since they’d had time for more than quick kisses here and there, and he was definitely feeling the strain. Pulling back just a little, he murmured against Danny’s mouth, “I want you.”

“Take me,” Danny murmured back.

Before Mac could do more than groan in anticipation, a loud knock on the door interrupted them. Gritting his teeth, Mac took a few seconds to calm down before standing to look at who was there. It wasn’t anyone he recognized, but looked official, so he requested softly, “Drop for me, Danny.”

Danny immediately climbed off the sofa and knelt silently on the floor beside the desk.

Walking over to the door, Mac opened it and greeted, “Can I help you?”

“Detective Taylor, my name is Gerald Biancini and I represent Sonny Sassone,” the man stated. “I’m here to speak with you about your illegally acquired slave.”

Fury lit him from within, but Mac managed to keep a civil tone as he replied flatly, “There was nothing illegal about Danny’s purchase.”

“Except for the fact that the overturning of Mr. Sassone’s conviction means that his assets, including this slave, were sold off illegally. I’m here to collect the slave and return him to his rightful owner.”

“Wait, Sassone’s been freed?” Mac demanded incredulously. “I wasn’t notified of any such thing.”

“I don’t believe that the courts are obliged to notify those who worked on the case,” Biancini pointed out.

Son of a bitch! Mac thought furiously. “You can forget about me just handing Danny back to that bastard.”

“Mr. Sassone thought you might say something like that. Therefore, I’m here to serve you with a subpoena for arbitration. We’ll see you tomorrow, Detective Taylor.”

Mac opened the subpoena as the lawyer walked away and scanned through it. Everything looked legit, but he would have Terry take a look at it. Mac turned to Danny only to find the slave’s nails dug so deep into his palms that blood dripped onto the floor. Alarmed, he rushed over to pull the fists apart, exclaiming, “God, Danny, come on, don’t freak out on me here. We’re going to fight this. I will not let you get sent back to that monster, I swear it.”

“But what if you can’t stop it?” Danny whispered, panicked eyes meeting his. “What if the courts turn me over to him? What if…”

Mac pulled Danny hard against him, holding the slave as Danny shook with fear, helpless to do anything else about it.

* * * *

Stella didn’t find Aiden in the trace or audio labs, or the break room. By the time she’d hunted through the entire floor and gone down into the records storage only to come up empty again, she’d moved passed furious and gone straight to worried. She tried Aiden’s cell phone, but it went to voicemail. Hurrying to Mac’s office, Stella was about to barge in when she caught sight of them on the floor, the slave held protectively in Mac’s arms. She stopped short and worry kicked sharply into panic at the thought that something had seriously happened to Aiden and Mac was comforting his slave.

Paling rapidly, Stella moved away from the door, holding her stomach as she tried to summon the strength to interrupt and find out what had happened.

“Stella? You okay?”

She turned to Flack and demanded, “What happened to Aiden? Where is she?”

Taken aback, the cop answered, “I have no idea.”

“I can’t find her!” Stella exclaimed. “I can’t find her, and Mac’s holding Danny who looks like he’s crying so something’s happened to Aiden! Flack, please, you have to tell me!”

Flack grabbed her by the shoulder and said firmly, “I haven’t heard anything about Aiden being hurt, Stella, so you need to calm down, okay? We’ll find her.”

She nodded, taking a few deep breaths to get a grip on herself. “Okay. I’m good.”

“You sure?”

“Yeah.”

He looked at her a moment longer, then nodded. “Okay. Let’s knock on Mac’s door and find out what’s going on in there first. It’s probably got nothing to do with Aiden at all. Danny had a problem this morning with some abolitionist nutjob, so it’s probably just to do with that.”

Stella followed him to Mac’s office and they waited for Mac to respond to the knock. It took a few minutes for him to disentangle from Danny and the hard look on his face didn’t bode well.

“What?” Mac snapped.

Unperturbed, Flack replied, “Just wondering when the last time Danny saw Aiden was.”

Mac frowned. “What? Why? Is she missing?”

“I can’t find her anywhere,” Stella confirmed.

Rubbing a hand over his forehead, Mac muttered, “When it rains, it pours. Sorry, Stella, but we’re having our own crisis here. Danny? When did you last see Aiden? Did she tell you where she was going?”

The slave joined them, tucking in along Mac’s side and hanging onto his shirt as he answered, “A couple hours ago in the break room. Far as I know she was heading back to work on some trace you guys sent in.”

“Damn it!” Stella hissed. “Do you know what she was upset about? Because she sounded upset on the phone earlier.”

Danny hesitated long enough for Mac to prompt him, “Go on, Danny. What happened?”

“She was upset because Stella didn’t tell her about that new girl joining the team, I think,” Danny answered finally. “I mean, she hid it pretty well, but it was a blow. I think she felt, I dunno, excluded.”

“Enough to take off?” Flack questioned.

Stella looked at him sharply and stated, “Aiden wouldn’t run away, and sure as hell not over something like this.”

“Which is it? She wouldn’t run away, or it would take more than this to push her into doing it?”

Glaring at Flack, Stella exclaimed, “She wouldn’t run from me,” but inside, she wasn’t as sure. Knowing that she’d been somewhat neglectful of the other woman’s needs lately, Stella admitted to herself that some kind of rebellion was surely due. Aiden needed a very firm hand and that hand had been lax of late.

“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do,” Mac interrupted. “We’ll start a search from top to bottom of the building. I’ll call all the department heads and have them keep an eye out for her while you all divvy up the rest of the floors. If she’s here, we’ll find her. If she’s not, well, we’ll handle that if it happens.”

Stella’s cell rang just then and she answered it automatically, “Stella Bonasera speaking.”

“This is Officer Franklin down in the 3-5,” a man answered. “You got a slave named Aiden?”

Knees going a little weak, Stella exclaimed, “Yes! Is she all right? What happened?”

“She’s fine, just a little shook up is all,” the officer assured her. “Witnessed a shooting about an hour ago and was held for questioning. You can come down and get her any time now. And don’t worry. Soon as she said she belonged to a CSI, I kept her separate from the others and made sure no one touched her.”

“Thank you,” Stella replied gratefully. “Thank you so much, I’ll be there in fifteen minutes!”

“No problem.”

Hanging up, Stella told the others, “Aiden witnessed a shooting and she’s being held at the 35^th Precinct. I’m going to pick her up.”

“Need a hand?” Flack offered.

Stella shook her head. “No, thanks. Mac, do you mind if I bring her home right from there?”

Mac waved her off and ordered, “Go take care of her, Stell, we’ll be fine. Lindsey can pick up some of the slack.”

Grateful that the new girl had shown up early, Stella smiled vaguely and hurried away to get Aiden back.

* * * *

Danny tried to curl closer to Mac, but it wasn’t really possible, given how he was draped over the other man. Mac’s arms were a comforting weight around him, the other man’s chin resting on Danny’s shoulder. They’d returned to Mac’s office after Stella had gone after Aiden where Mac had bandaged his hands and then promptly pulled Danny down onto the sofa, tugging him over his lap. Now they waited for Mac’s lawyer to show up.

“You know that I’m never giving you up, right Danny? Not to Sassone, not to anyone,” Mac murmured.

Danny sighed and repeated, “You might not be able to stop it, Master. If the Courts order it…”

“Never.”

The flat statement reassured Danny even though he had no idea how Mac could possibly keep such a promise. He sighed again, this time to relax, and drifted in the contentment of being held in his Master’s arms.

A tap on the door broke through the comfort, but Mac’s arms simply tightened to keep him in place as he called, “Come in, Terry.”

Danny peeked at the lawyer and found a man in his forties with dark hair and eyes, slightly rounded but with a sharp air that spoke of high level competency. The man pulled one of the chairs over and sat in it, facing them. “I checked into the whole situation and it’s not good, Mac. I know there was a payoff somewhere, but there’s no way to prove it. I have no evidence. Right now, he’s in the process of collecting his former belongings, and that includes his slaves.”

“How many slaves?” Mac questioned.

“Sixteen, plus Danny.”

“Any chance of getting the Abolitionists involved? I assume he took about as good care of the others as he did of Danny.”

Terry grimaced. “Given your standing with them right now, I wouldn’t recommend that tactic.”

Danny tugged on Mac’s shirt to get his attention.

“What is it, Danny?” Mac asked.

Taking a breath, Danny suggested, “You could check with Mrs. Sassone. I mean, about the slaves. She’s no abolitionist, but she’s a good lady. And what she says, goes. No one’s ever gonna gainsay her, you know? Maybe, maybe if I ask her?”

“I’d rather not owe anyone from that family a favor, so we’ll keep that as a last resort,” Mac said, rubbing Danny’s back. “Terry? Other options?”

The lawyer sighed. “I’ll fight him in the courts, of course, but with what happened to Markoni, you don’t have a lot of juice there right now.”

Mac snorted and commented, “It’s not like I killed him.”

“Still. People aren’t real happy with you. Look, just let me work this for a couple of days and I’ll figure out a way to stop it, okay? And don’t be late to the arbitration tomorrow. I managed to swing it into being here at ten.”

“Okay. Thanks, Terry.”

“No problem.”

Danny watched as Terry left, then asked, “Master?”

“Yeah?”

“What are we going to do if Terry can’t fix this?”

It was Mac’s turn to sigh as he replied honestly, “I don’t know, Danny. I wish I did.”

* * * *

Facing Sonny Sassone across the conference room table pushed just about every button Mac had. He wanted nothing more than to wipe that smug look off the punk’s face with his fist. Danny had had nightmare after nightmare the night before, keeping them both awake for most of the night. He’d considered drugging the younger man, but decided to hold off in case the situation got worse.

“I see you’re taking bad care of my slave,” Sonny observed, sneering.

Mac knew he was referring to Danny’s hands and didn’t rise to the bait.

Answering for him, Terry said, “I think we can get this started.”

The arbiter was a steady looking woman in her mid-thirties with dark hair and eyes named Maria Gonsalves. She nodded and agreed, “Good idea. This is the matter of Sassone v. Taylor regarding the disposition of one slave, Danny Taylor nee Sassone. The crux of the disagreement is the sale of the Sassone estate while Mr. Sassone was in criminal custody. In the typical process, a Not Guilty verdict is nigh unheard of and therefore, the selling of the prisoner’s assets takes place to cover court costs. As Mr. Sassone has willingly reimbursed all court costs, the matter becomes re-appropriation of his property. Detective Taylor acquired the slave in good faith and has no desire to return him. On top of this, slave Danny was freed and then voluntarily committed himself to Detective Taylor’s care. Are we all agreed?”

“Danny volunteered?” Sonny snarled.

Mac couldn’t help the smirk as he replied, “The day I freed him, as a matter of fact.”

“You little bitch.”

Mac put a hand on Danny’s shoulder at the slave’s flinch, squeezing tight and then rubbing the tense muscles between Danny’s shoulder blades. This was absolutely killing him, Mac could tell. Even without breakfast, Danny had thrown up twice on the way to the conference.

“Please refrain from such language while in my company, Mr. Sassone,” the arbiter ordered coolly.

Sonny offered a patently false smile as he apologized, “I lost my temper, mea culpa. Please, continue.”

“Detective Taylor, will you relinquish your slave?”

Mac shook his head. “No.”

“Mr. Sassone, will you relinquish your claim?”

Sonny shook his head. “No.”

“I wish to hear from the slave regarding his treatment from both masters.”

Sonny’s lawyer quickly demanded, “Relevancy?”

A dark eyebrow arched at him as Maria replied, “Because I wish to hear it. Danny? Please sit by your current Master and tell me of your time with him, since it is freshest in your mind.”

Danny swallowed heavily and climbed unsteadily to his feet to take the seat beside Mac, looking at him for guidance.

“If you’re going to insist upon this, Taylor shouldn’t be present to intimidate,” the lawyer said quickly.

On the one hand, Mac wanted to hear what Danny had to say about him. On the other, he had no desire to hear what had happened to Danny by Sassone under these circumstances. He wanted Danny to be able to talk to him about that time because it was something the slave wanted to do, not because he was being ordered. He spoke up with, “I’ll leave if Sassone does.”

Maria nodded. “That is acceptable.”

Sassone looked about to protest, but a sharp glance from the arbiter quelled him. Giving in with ill grace, Sonny stood and motioned for Mac to precede him.

After giving Danny an encouraging smile, Mac walked out of the conference room. Knowing that Terry would beep him when it was time to go back, and that he would go crazy sitting outside the room staring at Sassone, Mac headed for his office. It was only just down the hall, so Mac felt comfortable going there to wait.

As comfortable as I can be, he thought, grimacing.

* * * *

Danny didn’t say anything at first, not knowing where to look or what to do with his hands, let alone what words to speak.

“Danny, it’s okay. You don’t have to tell me anything.”

Startled, Danny looked at her and asked timidly, “Can I ask why not? Why the show?”

The woman looked tired and sad as she explained, “The decision’s already been made to return you to Sassone if an agreement can’t be worked out between them.”

Horror clawed at his throat, but he managed not to start screaming, instead only whimpering in fear.

To her credit, the Arbiter’s expression grew shamed as her eyes dropped and she told him, “I’m sorry, Danny, but I don’t have a choice in this either. The courts can’t risk the abolitionists gaining a foothold and your Master, well, he doesn’t have many friends right now outside this lab and the police. I promise to do the best I can to solve this so you aren’t permanently returned to Sassone. Could you handle a split in the custody? Two weeks with each, say?”

If Sonny doesn’t kill me, then I could do that. I could survive it until I get back to Mac. I could survive anything to get back to him, Danny thought, stomach like lead. Swallowing back the nausea, he whispered, “Yeah, just. Sonny’s gonna kill me first chance he gets.”

The Arbiter shook her head grimly. “I will make certain that doesn’t happen, Danny. It’s the very least I can do.”

Hugging himself, Danny thought numbly, It can’t get any worse than this.

* * * *

Mac sifted through paperwork for a few minutes before giving up. Not even mind-numbing human resource paperwork could get rid of the disturbing thoughts going around his head. There was no guarantee that the Arbiter wouldn’t find in favor of Sassone. It wasn’t their job to make law, but to interpret it. Because of that, their findings could be challenged and brought up to a judicial level at which time the findings were final.

“Want some company?”

Startled by Stella’s offer, Mac frowned and asked, “What are you doing here?”

“Flack called, told me what was going on,” Stella answered. “How’re you doing?”

Leaning back in his chair, Mac sighed. “I’m fine, aside from the fact that no matter what the Arbiter decides, one of us will challenge. This piece of shit is going to do his damnedest to get Danny back without any care for his feelings. Danny’s a possession to him. A thing.”

Lips pursed, Stella pointed out, “He’s your possession, Mac. Nine-tenths of the law, and all that. And Arbiters are human. I’m assuming that Danny’s telling her his story right now?”

“Yeah,” Mac confirmed.

“Then I don’t doubt he’ll officially be yours by the end of that.”

“And then Sassone will challenge her ruling and we’re back to square one.”

Stella closed the distance between them and rubbed his shoulders. “We’ll fight it, Mac. Danny belongs with you, not just to you.”

Mac leaned into the caress and offered a wry smile as he replied, “Thanks, Stel. So what’s going on with Aiden?”

Stella grinned, a wicked thing to see, and squeezed his shoulders one more time before hopping onto his desk. “Right now, Aiden is pondering her insecurities with a very sore ass as she hangs from that suspension swing we picked up last month. And before you ask, my mother is there in case she needs anything.”

Holding up his hands, Mac smiled briefly and said, “You know how to take care of her, Stella, I’m not going to tell you how.”

“Sometimes I wish you would,” Stella commented, sighing. “I’m a hack, compared to you and you know it.”

“Stella.”

“No really!” she insisted. “You would’ve seen this coming a mile away. I forget just how insecure Aiden can be and deal with her like a free citizen far too much. I’ll tell you one thing though. Aiden won’t soon be forgetting her place in the near future.”

Mac was almost afraid to ask. “Why is that?”

“Let’s just say that she will won’t feel alone and empty again for quite a while.”

Practically assaulted by the many, varied images of what Stella could mean, Mac swallowed heavily and cleared his throat.

Chuckling, Stella patted his shoulder and commented, “I distracted you now, didn’t I?”

“Pretty thoroughly, yeah,” Mac confirmed, grinning in return. “I don’t suppose you’d care to go into more detail?”

Before she could, his beeper went off and Mac looked down to find Terry’s number on it. He sobered and stood. “Time to go back in.”

Clearly worried, Stella asked, “That was fast, wasn’t it?”

Mac nodded and replied, “It was, yes.”

“Come on, I’ll walk you back,” she offered, taking his arm.

Grateful for the support, Mac walked back to the conference room with her. He stopped in surprise on finding an older woman waiting with Sonny. He knew her as Mrs. Sassone from the pictures in the Sassone files that he’d read on acquiring Danny. She wasn’t very intimidating, either in person or in the pictures, but there was something about her that put him on alert. Sonny, at the least, looked pissed as hell to have her there.

“Detective Taylor, I presume?” she asked on his arrival.

Mac took her hand with a nod. “Mrs. Sassone.”

She dimpled at him and said, “I knew those surveillance boys were good for something. Saves time on the introductions. I understand that you have Danny.”

“I do, ma’am,” Mac confirmed.

“And you’ve no intention of letting him go.”

“No, ma’am.”

Nodding, Mrs. Sassone offered, “I have a suggestion that will save face for everyone.”

“I don’t care about that, Mrs. Sassone. I only want Danny to be happy.”

Dark eyes assessed him at that, then she asked, “Do you really? Even if that’s not with you?”

“It isn’t with your son,” Mac stated flatly.

Mrs. Sassone flashed her son a disgusted look. “I am well aware of my son’s faults as a human being, Detective. When you challenge the arbiter’s decision to return Danny to my son, the courts will back her decision. They will do so because to find in favor of a freed slave is unacceptable.”

Something that hadn’t even occurred to him before, but now hit with alarming force. Stella grabbed hold of his arm, supporting him. Of course they wouldn’t find in favor of a freed slave. The institution would be maintained, no matter what. “She could find in favor of me.”

The older woman shrugged. “Then my son will challenge her and the courts will return Danny to his somewhat questionable care.”

“Ma, come on!” Sonny protested.

She glared at him and exclaimed, “Be quiet! I have put up with more from you than your father ever would have, Sonny, but my patience is at its end.”

Sonny grumbled, but didn’t really say anything more.

“Here is what I propose,” she continued, brushing away imaginary lint from a forearm. “The Arbiter will find in favor of Sonny because that is what she has been ordered to do. Don’t look at me like that, young man, the Empire runs on more than just laws. There are traditions and powerful families to consider in cases like these. You may think no one is paying any attention to this matter, but you’ve provoked a lot of people in the last few months, Detective.”

Mac’s stomach churned acid and he bit out, “What do you want?”

“Danny will live with me. The two of you can petition me for ownership over a period of weeks, perhaps months, and what I say will finalize the matter.”

“You can’t do this to me, Ma!” Sonny exclaimed harshly. “Do you know what this will do to me?”

“Help you use some brain cells, I hope!” she replied tartly.

Mac had no choice. She was right. Between Markoni and ticking off the Abolitionists with Gelnich, he had no one to help with this. He was Danny’s Master, but not a Master in and of his own right. His position gave him power, but he’d used a substantial amount of it to keep his lab from feeling the repercussions from the cops who were friends with Markoni. All he could do was trust Danny’s assessment of the woman and hope that she found in his favor, even if it meant going against her own son.

The door behind them opened unexpectedly and Danny stepped out, ashen and shaking. Mac immediately went to him, pulling him in tight and holding fast. Rubbing his back as Danny clung to him, Mac murmured nonsensical words to soothe him.

“Enough of this, Taylor, hand him over!”

Danny flinched at Sonny’s command and seemed to lose control of his body, dropping heavy into Mac’s arms. Grunting in effort to keep from dropping the slave, Mac hurriedly brought him over to a nearby chair. Danny refused it, though, sliding to his knees to wrap his arms around Mac’s ankles in a death-grip.

Looking at Mrs. Sassone, Mac questioned, “You give me your word that you won’t give him to your son simply because of blood? You give me your word that you will consider placing Danny with one of us fairly and impartially?”

Mrs. Sassone nodded and replied, “Danny will be well cared for while I have him, Detective. It truly is his best interest that I have in mind here. Will you agree?”

And even though it tore at his heart, Mac agreed, “I agree.”

It took three of Mrs. Sassone’s slaves to carry Danny out of the lab, shouting for Mac the entire time. The pain and betrayal in the younger man’s voice cut into Mac with every step that took Danny from him. He signed the arbitration agreement only after Terry had read it, but the document said exactly what Mrs. Sassone had verbalized. She would have the final say in Danny’s placement, whether it was to serve her, Mac, or Sonny.

Mac looked at her and said simply, “If you betray this, I will kill you.”

She nodded, taking the warning seriously as she replied, “You may call on Danny starting tomorrow at ten. Sonny no longer lives at the house, so I won’t have to worry about you boys getting into a scuffle. I’ll see you then, Detective.”

That taken care of, she left with her son in tow.

It wasn’t until they were out of sight that Mac allowed himself to collapse on the nearest chair. Stella was at his side instantly and pulled him into her arms, soothing him with gentle caresses as she murmured, “You didn’t have a choice, Mac. You did the right thing.”

Bleak, he leaned on her and asked, “Still want to be me, Stella?”

She didn’t answer.