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As long as my hands are bound, I’m trapped here

Masked Guy stomps up the stairs--, Russian ht But he doesn’t shut the door behind hi tos shut with a clang Paul glances upward, eyes narrowing in irritation, or anger Maybe he and Masked Guy have clashed before At any rate, he didn’t fully trust the guy withthat scares you, shout for me Or scream I’ll come"

Like this whole scenario doesn’t scare o upstairs and tell Masked Guy to watch his step I ought to be glad about that, but instead, I’ain The word comes out of my mouth almost before I can think about it: "Stay"

He stops "Why?"

"It’s so quiet down here I can’t stand it er"

After a moment, Paul says, "I meant to talk with you anyway"

Don’t overreact Be casual You have an opportunity here "Okay Good"

He folds his arainst the far wall "You trust me And you shouldn’t Why?"

"You’re not like the others" Should I risk it? Might as well try "Not like your father"

His eyes narrow, but he doesn’t disagree

In my own dimension, Paul will never talk much about his family Finally I understand why--but even when he learns I know the awful truth, he’ll resist telling me more I’d already realized how ashamed he was of his family Not embarrassed Ashamed Like it kills him a little every time he thinks of it When he told ht they were alcoholics or maybe even abusive Now I see how they actually failed hiave a damn If you love your kids, you don’t live a life of total corruption You don’t expose the your oretched exa after their dreaood heart had to be so strong to survive that intact, but it did In ht I’d hate him if I knew?

Maybe this is my chance to find out the rest of the story Then I can tell Paul I’ve discovered it all, and I love him even more

"What’s your mother like?" I ask hi I’m bored Is she in the family business too?"

"Family business?"

"What else should I call it?"

Paul doesn’t provide another term, probably because most of the alternatives are worse "She’s not directly involved"

"Does she, uhs softly, in contempt But only when he speaks do I realize the contempt isn’t for me "My father’s word is law, for all of us My mother insists on that even more than he does She worships him"