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"How about the small-business oho sees insurance rates skyrocket year after year?" Zoe said, otten
Uncle Russ scowled, but the slight incline of his head acknowledged her point "I heard from your sister from time to time"
"What?" Ryan asked in shock
"She'd call collect or drop me a note She'd remind me of what she knew and I lived in abject fear of her revealing all But then after a while the threats stopped It see up her act and I was able to justify sending her away But then it was silent for too long I was petrified of her going back on drugs, or exposing ation into her whereabouts"
Ryan's head pounded and he braced himself for his uncle's next ad dispute," he said, his voice cracking
"You kept that froate and search and hope?"
Russ nodded "Please hear uilt nearly killedthe insurance couys I dealt anted to lay low and focus on other things"
"And with Faith gone, so was the threat of discovery," Ryan said
Russ nodded "I stayed clean and focused on you, but the guilt never went away Guilt over sending her away, over her death, over keeping the news froood it would do to tell you I couldn't hurt you that way"
"Or deal withhis head "That, too"
"But then I started investigating on o on, since you withheld the is, like my sister's death," Ryan said with conteed," Uncle Russ admitted dully
Ryan leaned back in the chair, his body heavy with the weight of everything he'd just heard
"How did you feel when Ryan found out so you hadn't? When he found Salanced her way She was face-to-face with his uncle
Uncle Russ merely shook his head and Zoe continued "I can answer that You got nervous thatthat could iaze shot back to his uncle "Is she right?"
Uncle Russ nodded and nausea churned in Ryan's gut He'd had enough revelations today to last a lifetime, but Zoe obviously wasn't finished
"You were so nervous this child of Faith'sof her mother's that you hired someone to break intowith Sa that had never even crossed Ryan's mind While he'd been consumed with the past, Zoe had been focused on the present