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He gavemy breath until he returned, and I knew the process would repeat over and over again until he found my sister

I wanted to pull him back down I wanted to stall hier, but I didn’t I sat there as he turned and left

I could hear conversation a beat later, then a door shut It wasn’t long before one of the guards cleared his throat outside the room, the door still closed between us

"Miss E you know Peter and I are here Michael ith Mr--he ith Carter"

The lump doubled in size, but I called back as if it weren’t there, "Thank you, Drake"

Michael Peter Drake Carter Me

That was all that was left

Carter returned in the , but he hadn’t found her The next day was the same Then the third day The fourth Fifth The days blended into a week, then into the second week All the sa They couldn’t find Andrea

The next feeeks felt like ere living in an alternate universe There were no friends to spend ti because ere in hiding No one knehere ere No wine nights No gun range nights No nights at the club Even the guards--we all protected each other Carter kept looking for Andrea, and as the weeks progressed, a routine started for us

Peter and Drake would go out during the day Their job was to gather inforhosts, wherever they went They identified all the ured out all of their schedules for each day of the week

Each night when they returned, they’dOther tiet any closer Then, after the , Carter would leave Most times he went alone Sometimes he took Michael with him, but every time he came back, he was covered in blood

When he caht and other ti, he walked pastoff his clothes He always left theinning, I got in with hi the shower rain down on him with his head bent, his eyes closed, and his hands clenched as the blood ran off him Even after I’d cleaned him, he would re he’d done He was, in a ashing ahat he had done as he let that water rain down on hiathered up his clothes and washed them Carter never spoke of it All he would say, later in the , was that he’d cleaned out another area the Bartel family controlled That was all No one asked, but we all knew