Aemilia noticed how uncomfortable Anne was as she sat at the table. Her guess about Anne being a runaway and living on the street had been right. What she hadn’t known was that the reason Anne was living on the streets was that Anne’s stepfather had been molesting her.

Not only had he been molesting her, but he had also been photographing her and sharing those pictures with other pedophiles on the internet. She hadn’t been his only victim either. He had done it to several other young boys and preteen girls.

The reason she walked with a limp was due to an injury she sustained when she jumped off the roof of a building to escape her stepfather. Her injury had been minor, but she didn’t get medical attention when the injury occurred. Her leg didn’t heal right, and now she had a permanent limp.

Since Aemilia was waiting for her gear to be ready, she offered to take Anne in and give her a place to live. She did lay down some ground rules and give Anne the option of not accepting her offer. Suppose Anne didn’t like living with her and obeying her rules. She would help Anne find a couple she would rather live with.

Now they were visiting Aemilia’s Aunt Charlotte and having lunch with her. Charlotte’s children, Zoey and Asher, were there having lunch with them. Zoey had colored her hair like her older sister’s hair.

As for Asher, she was more proper than Zoey. She has been taking etiquette lessons and dance lessons. Unlike Mouse, Asher’s interest was in business, and she learned she had a talent for it.

She already had her own business company, which she started a year after Charlotte adopted her. At first, it wasn’t doing so well, but once her mother told her what she was doing wrong, it improved. She corrected the mistakes she was making, and it became extremely profitable. She paid back the small loan the family gave her, with five percent interest added.

Now, her business has grown, and she has had to upgrade to a larger building in downtown London. She also dressed in a way that was more attuned to her status as Charlotte’s daughter. Where Zoey wore farmer-style coveralls, paint-splatter tennis shoes, and a paint-splatter pink t-shirt under the coveralls. Sometimes, Zoey had paint freckles on her face from the paint she used in her paintings.

Anne looked at the two older teenagers and felt out of place among them. She was just a ragamuffin off the street, with limited education, whom Aemilia took in. She carefully picks up her teacup, like she saw the others do, and drinks her tea.

Aemilia saw how uncomfortable Anne was and leaned next to her ear. “Zoey and Asher started just like you, Anne. Zoey can’t speak and is on the run from some bad guys in America. Asher is also from America and is a runaway like you.” Aemilia squeezes Anne’s hand under the table to reassure her.

A smile appears on Charlotte’s face when she looks at Anne: “Trust Aemilia, Anne. She won’t steer you wrong and knows you now have a big family that will protect and take care of you.”

Anne looked at Mrs. Basset when she spoke. Aemilia had told Anne that Charlotte was her aunt and was a Countess. She didn’t know that Mrs. Basset was the director of a department in MI5 or that her oldest daughter, Mouse, was the cyber expert for Mi5 & Mi6.

“You can trust our mother, Anne. If anyone knows how uncomfortable it is when you're being adopted, it’s me and my sister Zoey.” Asher had a hard time adjusting to living in England rather than America.

It took both Asher and Zoey a while to figure out how everyone spoke and how things meant different things than they did in America. It took Zoey a little longer to understand how things were done in England, but Asher caught on fast. Plus, the friends she made going to the private school Charlotte sent her to helped as well.

Asher knew Charlotte had private security provided by her family to keep an eye on Zoey when they were at school. No one knew why she did, but their friends never questioned it. Their mother had told Zoey to keep her gift quiet while she was at school or around her friends. She knew it was hard for Zoey, but she managed to do it.

After visiting with Charlotte, Aemilia takes Anne shopping and treats her to a spa visit. Anne melted under the masseuse's tender care. The woman was in her early twenties and looked remarkable. She learned that the woman did modeling on the side.

After the Spa visit, Aemilia takes Anne to a nice restaurant and lets her order whatever she wants. Later, they retire to the fancy hotel where Aemilia was staying. Aemilia knew some of her relatives owned the hotel, and four of her cousins worked there. Two of her cousins worked in the reception area, and the other two worked for housekeeping.

The hotel's head housekeeper was a good friend of the family and had been with the hotel since she was a teenager. Anne asks Aemilia if she can sleep with her because she feels uncomfortable in an unfamiliar place.

Aemilia looks at Anne and notices how young she looks in the nightgown she bought for Anne. Anne had cleaned up so well and looked better than she did when she first found her. Aemilia moved the covers aside and patted the spot next to her.

“Come on, Anne.” Aemilia watches as Anne walks over and lies down next to her.

Anne felt Aemilia cover her back up.

“Sweet dreams, Anne.” Aemilia kisses Anne’s cheek as any mother would.

As soon as Aemilia turned off the light in the room, Anne relaxed, and in no time she was out. She was so tired from living on the streets, and felt so much better after the day she had. During the night, she scoots over to Aemilia and snuggles against her.

While Aemilia is asleep, she feels Anne scoot over to her and snuggle against her. A smile crosses her face as she wraps her arm protectively around Anne and holds her against her. She feels Anne snuggle closer and bury her face against Aemilia’s neck.

Aemilia holds Anne and makes sure Anne knows she is protected. She knows Anne needs this reassurance after everything she has experienced. She wanted Anne to know she now had a mother who would do anything to protect her.

When Anne wakes up, she finds herself snuggled against Aemilia’s chest. Sometime during the night, Aemilia had turned onto her side, and Anne had snuggled against her chest. Anne turns onto her side and spoons up against Aemilia. She feels Aemilia wrap her arms around her and hold her, as her mother used to. Tears start sliding down her cheek as memories of her mother start to surface. She wishes she knew what happened to her mother. She had come home from school, and her mother never arrived from work.

Days had passed, but the police never found her or determined where she had gone. It was after that that her stepfather started doing more things to her, to other boys she didn’t know, and to several new girls he brought to the secret warehouse. The warehouse had been where he filmed them and made them do other things in front of a camera.

She managed to get revenge on her stepfather by informing some dock workers about what was going on inside the warehouse. She showed them proof of what she told them. It was after that that she went on the run to hide from her father’s friends.

Anne places her hands on Aemilia’s as she holds her. She has never felt this safe before. She turns around in Aemilia’s arms, buries her face against Aemilia’s chest, and starts crying.

Aemilia felt Anne start crying against her chest. She slowly rubs Anne’s back. “You’re safe now, Anne.”