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"No But thank you"

"You’re sure?"

"Positive I’ve got really good people working on it with et some rest"

"Princess, I’ up, and despite my emotional turmoil I was able to curl up with Minnie on the bed and fall asleep

I woke up at three in theto the sound of a key in the front door I was surreptitiously wiping a bit of drool from my cheek when I heard Bruno call out, "Celie, it’sto clearroom

"Hi" Bruno tossed his keys onto the coffee table, then looked at ?"

Bruno and I don’t have a perfect relationship, but we know each other very well And we do love each other I was ry than hurt at what my mother had done, but I still needed to feel loved

He put his arood I buriedin the scent that was so uniquely hi this a lot lately, but it never ceased toDamn it I didn’t want to cry for ain AndBut it wasn’t Tonight thisto risk his life, and the lives of his mother and brother as well as one of his andto try to stop Connor Finn and to protect the rest of humanity from the terror the prisoners in the Needle would release if they ed to escape--which they would if all the wards went down

I didn’t want to lose hi--if even one thing rong--so to die

"My mom tried to kill herself There was a note"

"Oh, shit Honey, I can’t even tell you how sorry I ath of his heartbeat, taking in the scent of soap, shampoo, and him

He didn’t say another word, just held me, and that was exactly what I needed After a couple of ht into his eyes

"I knohat you’re going to do"

His expression, so gentle before, changed to shock, his eyes widening

"You know" He whispered the words as his hand came up to cup my face "Mom swore us to secrecy But you know"

I nodded

I saw thoughts racing across his face "Isaac?" he guessed with sad smile "He’s the only one not intimidated by her" He wiped a tear from my face with his thuentle, barely a brush of the lips Then he pressed his lips tohe needed to survive I kissed him back the same way He pulled away first, his eyes dark with passion and pain "I love you, Celie And while I wouldn’t admit it to anyone else, I’ to do it But Matty …to die What if it’s one of them?"

He looked so lost Norood reason He’s a powerful ically But his fa to find ato suicide That’s usually what people do when they need to access a node--find somebody ants to die, offer to take care of his or her faly, but it happens There’s even a standard contract"

I hadn’t known that I was a little shocked, but only a little Life is hard A lot of people decide they don’t want to go on Soh I could actually syive up in the abstract, I had awith my mother’s suicide attempt Maybe because a not so small part of ht it was just one more manipulation meant to hurt me Unfair? Probably But still true

I shook

"So far, we’re not having any luck finding so to attempt held only a sht now

"I may have a solution"

I could tell from his expression that he doubted that was possible I could understand that part of hi disappointed He sed hard TakingI knew and everything I suspected I finished with, "I don’t knoho else is involved other than Connor and Jack Finn I don’t knohat they’re planning I just know that they’re afraid ofthat their seer had said that if I got involved it could spoil everything, but that killing me would make it worse He said there was even the possibility of failure"