Ty shrugged her shoulders, "I just talked to Jenn..."

"She must have run into AJ, he's in some sort of mood lately."

"He has that affect on people."

"That he does."

"So where's D?"

Ty shrugged, "Went out for awhile."

*****

AJ walked out of the TransCon building and slid on his sunglasses. It felt good to finally be out of there and the presence of Lou. He hated him, absolutely hated him and Lou was blind to the fact. AJ got in his Explorer and sat there for a minute, suddenly noticing the post it note on the console. All it had on it was Howie's cell number

Howie picked up his cell phone, "Dorough."

"Its J...How'd you get that in here?"

Howie chuckled, "I have a spare key remember? For all the times I had to drive your drunk ass home. Good thing it was still on the chain. How'd the meeting go?"

AJ pulled out of the parking lot and into Orlando traffic. "Well it went. Jenn bust in..."

"Oh no..."

"Oh yeah."

"Do you want to talk, I mean are you able to?"

"We should be able to, just not in public somewhere. Any ideas?"

"Well there's the houses...the beach house..."

"Jenn could be at either our place or the beach house...I wanna wait to talk to her. Let her cool off."

"She was that upset?"

"I think her exact words were 'sign the contract, you sign away the marriage' course Lou just ate that up."

"Scumbag."

*****

Kevin sat in his room, reading over the transcript he'd made of the conversation on the tape. Rereading Lou's words an anger began to rise in him he didn't know he could possess.

Alec put her hand on her husband's shoulder. He was shaking, "Kev you all right?"

He shook his head, "He wants to destroy us, totally...completely. And AJ was stupid enough to trust him, trust him over us!!" he put his head in his hands, "I don't see why I couldn't talk some sense into him, I failed him."

"You didn't fail J honey." she sat down next to him... "You've gotta let him do things his way..."

"I'm the big brother..."

"And you told him everything you could right?"

"Yeah."

"That's all you could do. I'm sure AJ will find out soon enough he's in over his head with Lou."

"The only thought I can see him thinking is that somehow being with Lou will protect him and Jenn from whatever else Lou wants to do...but he'll only be able to make more lies about him..."

*****

E and David sat in his office, "What can they do?"

David reread the transcript he had made of the tape. "Unless he goes through with leaking those pictures, nothing. To get him on using illegal money to fund his business we need proof, solid substantial proof. What do they want from him? Have they thought about it?"

"They want him to stop harassing them and their wives. You've seen them, their basically afraid of what he could do next. Their holed up in that beach house trying to find a way to stop him. I think if they had peace of mind Lou Pearlman would never interfere with them again they could move on."

David leaned back, "As long as he kept his distance and everything...so basically we could bargain with him. Make him think we have more on him then we do...Did Kevin have more luck talking to JC?"

"Haven't heard back from him yet."

He frowned, tapping his pen on the desk. "Maybe we should call him and see what's going on. They do know more than they're letting on..."

*****

AJ set down his hamburger and looked across the patio at D. They were Ty and D's place, the only place they could meet without causing suspicion. AJ had even parked the Explorer in the garage to avoid any prying eyes.

"What are you going to do J?"

"I figure I'll get on his good side, maybe he'll slip up."

"Yeah and if not?? You just signed five years of your life over to him."

He shrugged, glancing at his half finished iced tea. "Then I guess I deal with the consequences. What would you do if you were me D?? Wouldn't you do anything you could to help us out?"

"Course I would..."

"And this was the only idea I could come up with. You know for a fact how much he wanted us back with him so maybe me going back...if anything it could pull the heat off the rest of you."

"So you sacrifice yourself."

"Good way of putting it."

Howie shook his head. "I wish you woulda talked to the fellas about this."

"You think Kevin would have let me set foot in TransCon let alone even talk with Lou? And Brian, hell he would have had me committed before I could even say 'contract'"

*****

"Sounds like an important call." JC's secretary said, standing in the doorway to his office.

He looked up from his computer screen. "Its David Summers again?" In the last two hours he had called three times.

"I can't keep telling him you went to lunch."

"No need," a voice said from behind and she turned seeing David standing there. "JC really I just need like five minutes of your time."

"Come on in David," he turned his screen saver on. "I'm just busy..."

"I understand, we're all busy men." he smiled and sat down. "Have you managed to talk to your band mates about this situation with Lou?"

"I talked with Justin a bit...he voiced his opinion on the subject."

"Which was..."

"They hung themselves basically. Look I believe what I heard in that meeting with Kevin, but I'm not sure I want to get involved."

David nodded, "I understand that and so do they its just that their could be a lot of people hurt if someone doesn't stop Lou. One day he could be jealous of all your success without him and go after you too."

"I know, that's what I'm starting to realize."

"The thing is JC if you aren't willing to help I'm gonna have to start trying to find another way to go after Pearlman to get him to stop. With your help it would just be easier. You'd be protected too."

JC sighed, glancing at the calendar on his desk. "A couple of the other guys are coming back into town tomorrow. Give me a few days...I'll call a meeting and lay the situation out for them. If they give it a yes, I'll tell you everything we know."

"Thanks JC."

"Don't thank me yet."

David stood up, "Okay. You have my number?"

"Indeed I do." he held up a stack of message paper and David chuckled.

"Good, I'll be waiting for your call."

*****

Nick sat out on the boat, watching the water. "Remember when we were talking this morning?"

Lis looked up, "We did a lot of talking..."

"About what if this is what our lives have become permanently."

"Oh that."

Nick nodded, "If it has...Lis I don't want to stay in the business. Like I told Lou I'd rather not sing or write or anything if I have to be under his control."

"Nick its your life."

"Maybe its time to start a new one...just us..." he looked at her over his sunglasses. "What do you say?"