Aria's POV
Barnes met me in the corridor before I reached the door. "Before you go in," he said.
I stopped.
He kept his voice low and even. "The phone records from one of Charles's contacts came back an hour ago, we now have the full picture now."
"Tell me."
"Charles has been hemorrhaging money for months. Gambling private tables. He owes dangerous people a whole lot of money." Barnes paused. "When you took the Monroe company, you cut off his last legitimate income stream; now he has nothing left except."
"Access to Noah," I said.
"Yes. He made contact with an overseas trafficking network we've been tracking for years, the man at Noah's school wasn't just a scout. He was the handoff." Barnes held my gaze. "There was a buyer already confirmed. The payment had been agreed. Fifty thousand, enough to clear the most dangerous of his debts and buy himself time."
The corridor was very quiet.
"Fifty thousand," I said.
"Yes."
"How close?" I said.
