Ava headed down the hall just when Zara was about to go back to bed. She saw her from a distance and waved. As she got closer Zara could hear the baby cooing. It was so refreshing to hear – the sound of life and new beginnings. She thought about how blessed Glory was to have parents that would treat her well, love her, and place her on a solid foundation. There would be no cracks in her life. My parents left a fault line in my life.

"It's 4:00 AM, Zara. What are you doing up?"

"Just have stuff on my mind. Is the baby okay?"

Ava jostled Glory in the air. The baby giggled and showed the most amazing smile. The three of them walked to the family room. "This is the time she likes to get up and play. She does this every night. Her little clock hasn't flipped yet."

"That's so cute," Zara said, stretching her arms out to hold the baby. The smell of baby powder and lotion got her thinking about how nice it would be to have her own child. The feeling soon stung as her medical condition floated to the surface of her mind. With a shake of the head, she suppressed the thought. She scooped the child from Ava and sat down on the sofa. "So, what is she going to call us?"

Glory giggled and patted Zara on the face. Her tiny fingers swiped at her hair. Zara watched spellbound at the little wonder. She was absolutely beautiful having the best features of both Ava and Trevor. But the hair fascinated her the most – thick black curls with copper highlights.

"We've been talking about what she should call her godparents. We settled on Auntie Z, and Uncle Roe."

"Ah, I like that."

It was a beautiful moonlit night, casting enough beams where they could see without having to turn the lights on. Zara laughed at the baby's tiny squeals. "This is as active as I've seen her. She's precious and just beautiful."

"Thank you. Now, what's on your mind?"

"Just Ethan."

"You never told me that you considered marrying this guy just to have a baby. I thought you all were just dating,"

Unraveling Ethan's true story to Ava had her face frozen in shock. This was as much information that she'd ever discussed about him. The two of them had met on many occasions and she and Ethan knew each other by name. But the extent of the arrangement was not presented. What she had not learned from Zara, Trevor filled in the rest of the details.

"I'm so sorry that he's drawn into this."

Ava sighed, leaning against the pillows and propped her feet up on the sofa. "I'm not going to lie. I'm not happy about it Trevor's role, but when have we not had each other's back. He's done assignments for Roman before, and they've gone well. So, we put our trust in God, and move on."

They were quiet for a moment, each reflecting on life and the twists that it brought. Everything in their worlds had shifted over the last few months. Ava was a mother now. Zara was finally dealing with herself. They both now understood the priorities of life in the midst of loss. It had taught both of them to love a little deeper and to commit a little stronger.

"You know good and well that you should have told me the extent of the relationship. I would have talked you out of it."

"That's exactly why I didn't tell you," Zara huffed. "After Thomas, I just couldn't imagine starting all over again. I wanted a child, and I wanted that child to have an active father in his or her life. At the time it made sense."

"I guess you had a hard time seeing me pregnant."

Zara's mind sank back to the moment that Ava announced the pregnancy. It hurt like hell, but she never told her best friend about it. She wore the mask and kept her true feeling under heavy guard. Every month that Ava's belly swelled crushed her. No woman wants to face the fact that she could be childless. Yet, deep inside she loved Ava and was happy for her. But the conflict in her head was crazy during those months. Zara pushed everything aside and did everything possible to support Ava during the pregnancy.

"I did. Not out of jealousy..."

"I know, Zara."

"I was just hurt. You and Trevor were happy. I had nothing and I wasn't a good age to be when you want a child."

"I understand."

A tear slipped down Zara's face. "I really wanted it to work. Ethan seemed like the perfect man to be a father. It would be an In Vitro arrangement, a marriage on paper with a door open for developing deep feelings later, if at all. We got along."

"So it took the pressure off of you to be in a relationship, and you would get something that you wanted out of it."

"Yeah, Ava. I would have a child. The child would have a father and I'd have a door open for love in my life. Sounded perfect."

Ava stretched her arms out. Zara passed the baby back to her. Her little head bobbed on the transfer. She made a soft coo, and eyes flashed open just for a moment. Ava clasped her daughter to her chest.

"Look at my little pumpkin. She's falling asleep." Ava kissed her on the cheek feeling her little puffs of precious breath. "We've been through some stuff."

"That we have."

"You never suspected anything?"

Zara shook her head. She'd gone over this a thousand times in her mind. The man was smooth as snake oil. Not a single red flag cropped up. "He was a complete gentleman. Ethan is an older guy with settled ways. In my head, I said, that's the kind of man that will bring structure to my child's life."

Zara got up and paced the floor, feeling her nerves tingling. Each time she thought about him her body had a negative reaction. "He was always complimentary of me and fascinated with my line of work. We held great conversations and going out with him was always entertaining. I wasn't stupid. I had him checked out. Things came back clean."

"A complete deceiver."

"I feel betrayed in the worst way."

Zara made circles around the room wearing a path in the carpet. Though this was difficult to talk through, each conversation got easier. There was nothing more that she could have done to determine the type of person that Ethan was. "I took an online risk, Ava. With those situations, it could go either way."

"I know, but with your social media platform that you have a voice to make things better. You need to talk to that huge following of yours about what happened to you in your blog. I'm talking about the dating situation with Ethan and the verbal abuse and bullying from your past. You can stop this from happening to others."

That's something that she'd never considered. There were millions of followers, and millions of businesswomen she connected with through Socially Soaring. That would be like sending a dropkick to the gut over her past. She tilted her head in thought, nodded, and smiled at Ava.

"You've always been a beautiful person, Zara. I hate what Ethan has done. But you can use this situation to make other's lives better." She patted the sofa so that Zara would sit beside her. Zara scooted over, resting her head on Ava's shoulder. "You're changing in an amazing way. I can't wait to read your first blog post."

***

Roman couldn't wait to get out of his office. All the laughter going on downstairs was contagious. He'd left his crew downstairs in the family room, all sprawled out around the baby blanket playing with Glory. She'd just learned to roll over, mesmerizing them. Glory entertained them as she reached for toys and pealed with laughter. Tough Trevor being a doting dad was fun for Roman to watch. He had to ignore the laughter and finish up work. Vera was his last person to call for the day.

"Vera, how's the monitoring going on that electronic burst the night Zara and I had the mishap?"

"We've been monitoring all 58 people that were in the lobby that night. Only twelve of them attempted to send something to FB and YouTube. We blocked the transmissions, sent them a warning not to resend, and none of the transmission got through."

"Keep that monitored for at least the next 120 days."

"Will do, Mr. Gray."

"And the level-7 security check?"

"Only three hundred employees out of ten thousand didn't pass. We have a loyal team, sir. Since you've been busy I took it upon myself to send out layoff notices with 4 months' pay. They are set for release from the company within two weeks."

"Good, keep them tracked. We don't want any disgruntle backlash."

"I took care of that, too," Vera said. "I put the word of a layoff in the pipeline before having the test administered. No one would think that the tests are what contributed to the layoff. But we will still track them."

"What would I do without you, Vera?" Roman said. He got up from his desk and stretched. "Anything else that I need to be aware of?"

"Yes, sir, and one more thing. Judge Harrison sent this." Vera texted over a link to Roman. "He says that it's important."

"Thanks, Vera, I'll check this link and get back with you tomorrow."

Roman sat down at his desk and read through Judge Harrison's link.

Roman,

From my perspective, if the perpetrator pursues this matter it will be a nuisance claim. I think that he's using this as a control tactic. Most courts would toss this out. Yet, there is some validity to an oral claim. A corrupt judge could use the preponderance of evidence to make his claim stick. Such as emails or text messages that could support the claim. I've included several cases that I've found that supported the actions of a court judge that I now believe is corrupt. One of the corrupt judges just so happens to be in the Georgia court system. This judge handled some of the cases. Her name is Karen Tolliver. I'll continue to keep my eye on this and if you need any help for anything else, let me know.

Roman sent a text to Max. Track Judge Karen Tolliver. I want to know everything. Find any money trail leading back to Ethan. Get me data on all the women on this list.