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"Where’s Elizabeth?" Nora demanded "And Andrew?"

"Gone" Marie-Laure waved her hand dismissively "My husband apparently told her to leave the house and take her sons with her Too bad I would have liked to have liraph at the end of the hallway Elizabeth, as about Marie-Laure’s age, stood under a tree with her son Andrew at her side and a er boy in her aro His name is Nathan You didn’t know?"

Nora shook her head Three years ago Back then she did everything she could to stay out of Søren’s life She knew if she stayed one second too long in his world, she’d never leave it again Or she thought she’d never leave again if she went back She thought Søren would never have let her But he had and now she’d ended up here with his ed to be chained up to his bed with nowhere to go Not for sex this time but for safety

"I didn’t know He doesn’t talk about Elizabeth ht such a brave man would be so scared of his sister," Marie-Laure said in a tone so taunting that Nora briefly considered trying her luck on a double murder/escape attempt

"Not scared of his sister Scarred by his sister There’s a difference"

"Scarred? Perhaps Kingsley told ether as children He thought it would convince me that I’d married a man too scarred to love I believed it for a day or tanted to believe it But"

"But what?" Nora asked, not sure she wanted the answer Still it see for the tied, my brother called my husband Broken Lies, obviously He wasn’t broken He was stronger than anyone I’d everto love me Love makes one weak, makes one vulnerable Perhaps he didn’t love me because he would not allow himself to be so weak But he eak"

"Søren is not weak Not now Not ever"

"Is that so? Let "

Marie-Laure continued down the hall and Nora followed, the bodyguard Andrei right next to her not speaking but never once taking his eyes off her

She entered a bedroouessed, as it held no photographs or personal ite to the house or its inhabitants Although Marie-Laure had clearly made herself quite at hoathered her robe around her like sohtstand she picked up a Bible with a white leather cover