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He disappeared into the bathrooed a —the screen shielded him from her view But the sounds that ca, including the rasp of the zipper on his jeans And Cate’s i ht

She slipped out of bed, grabbed her clothes and hurried into the bathrooht made her smile As she washed her face and brushed her teeth, she stared at herself in thewhy she looked so different Then it ca And not just the perfunctory smiles she used to make the people around her think she was okay She was really, truly sized Because she was looking forward to the day Because of Liam

Then the smile faded when she unbuttoned her pajae into her day clothes Liaht when he made love to her Because of the scars? she wondered now Last night she’d been grateful he hadn’t atteotten naked hio that far, and so she couldn’t help but wonder if the reason he hadn’t was because her scars would turn hiht they would turn off any man

She’d shown hi in soed she was, physically as well as e to push him away before he could reject her, so it wouldn’t hurt quite so h—not the other night But his actions last night took on a totally different now Was that the real reason he hadn’t undressed her? Because of her scars?

She turned around and craned her head so she could see the scars in the mirror It was more than seven years since the last scar had been inflicted, closer to eight Because when she’d finally realized her only chance for escape would come once Vishenko believed she’d been totally vanquished, she’d surrendered Seemed to surrender She’d never surrendered in her heart, but she still retained guilt she hadn’t fought him to the bitter end That she hadn’t died rather than let him think he’d conquered her

All these years later the scars had faded Not co would ever erase thery red of freshly healed scars the way she always iined them in her mind Now they were silvery crisscross traces of where Vishenko had beaten her until her back was bloody and her resistance shredded

Last night she’d confessed al she hadn’t told hielina and Alec, and subsequently the prosecutors—was that she’d eventually surrendered her body to Vishenko Not willingly But knowingly

Whichmoral convictions, a man who professed to love her—would never love her if he knew the whole truth Which also meant she could never tell him

Dinnertiht news, too Good news “One of the ed this afternoon,” he’d said in his dry, acerbic way “And the other should go home tomorrow” He’d hesitated a second, then added, “The other prosecutor’s injuries are raded and he’s no longer in intensive care”

“Thank God,” Liam had said in such a heartfelt tone Cate had known he meant it literally

Liaht now Just like Alec Just like Angelina She wished she could A tiny voice in the back of her mind reminded her that she had escaped And she’d kept her freedom for more than six years before Alec located her But that wasn’t God’s doing, she told herself now, ruthlessly squashing that tiny voice That was justhappenstance Luck And never settling into a routine Never staying in one place for very long Never risking anything, especially her heart Because what you didn’t risk you couldn’t lose, and she’d already lost nity Her self-respect Survival had depended on risking nothing more

She dried the last of the dinner dishes—Liam had cooked so she’d washed up—and put them away in the cabinet Lia on the back porch, watching the sunset She squelched the urge to join hi herself in the rocking chair to read