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"I thought all chicks were afraid of snakes"

"Not reith scorpions"

"Are you afraid of anything?"

"Of course Everyone’s afraid of so"

"So what are you afraid of?"

She paused, considering how to answer "Hope"

His brow furrowed "Hope scares you?"

"I try not to hope for anything," she said "If you expect nothing, you aren’t disappointed when you get nothing"

"That’ssad," he said "You don’t have any hope?"

"I guess I do a little bit now" She kicked around in theto dwell on the fact that she now had the one thing she told herself she’d never succu my dad," he said "I already lost my mom to this life I don’t want to lose hih his words Her h she’d lost her forever

"You should always have hope, you know," Dominic said

"My mama used to say that all the time"

"Smart woman," he said "You knew her?"

"Yes I spent my whole life with her She told ht That’s when your father took me"

Dominic stared at her "My father took you from your mother? Does he know that?"

"Yes, he knows"

They were quiet for a while, Doht as she stomped around in the creek "I’m sorry you’re here," he said eventually "It stu"

"It was scary to leave her, but I wouldn’t call it wrong," she said "Compared to where I came from, my mama would say he did me a favor"

Do her they needed to get back Although she hadn’t wanted to go inside, she tentatively stepped out of the water Her feet were covered inDr DeMarco wouldn’t be happy with a dirty-footed servant sca around when he had co a large white box truck now parked in the backyard Thethem into a door in the side of the house, hidden under vines and green growth, blending into the surroundings

"I didn’t know a door was there," she said

"It leads to the baseo down there"

Nunzio stepped fro toward her Haven round, not wanting to give hi impression

Dominic went to take a shohen they athered Car A foot or so fro toward her Fear ripped through her, so powerful she lost her breath

Nunzio

What she saw in his eyes alar frenzy of excited emotion Her heart pounded fiercely, that voice in the back of her head telling her to get away She took a few steps back and dropped the ha out into the library as she sprinted to her roo the door closed, his foot blocking it before it could latch

She backed away, looking around for some protection when he stepped into the room Nunzio closed the door behind him, and Haven’s knees nearly buckled when the lock clicked into place

She was trapped

Nunzio calmly pulled off his coat and tossed it on the table, the nonchalance when he spokeit sound as if they were old friends "Alone at last"

Loosening his tie, he pulled his shirt fro as he sauntered toward her Haven let out a scream for help, but Nunzio backhanded her before it could echo from the room The strike stunned her into silence "Behave, and I’ll make it worth it for you"