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Ias he would have likedthis, but I needed it to be now I’d told Eli not to let my father have so much power over him, but I’d been a hypocrite The proof had been in

I’d had a lot of tinus and Dante’s house, and interacting with Aleks and Willa had cemented the deal for me I didn’t need to know Aleks’s entire story to kno he must have suffered And yet he battled on every day to build a life for hi brutalized than not, and he was still here And Willa… Willa just changed the ga there for her because of my father and his manipulations

That just wasn’t acceptable tothrough me and down to her

No, it had to be today, now

I forced ht arm like I wanted as I waited When the door on the opposite side of the rooh my body, then I suddenly went hot all over The need to run was great, but instead, I looked over at the guard I wasn’t sure, but I thought he sent me a little nod, like he wanted toanywhere

But I was probably overthinking

I forced ly, he looked very different fro I kneasn’t possible for hiht, so I had to assu

Now all I saas an old, frail ht and his skin was pale He wasn’t wearing any cuffs on his wrists or feet, but he still e It was hard to see any of the man who’d so often held me down as he’d brutalized me

But the cruelty was still there in his eyes, which latched on to me the moment he entered the room and held on for the sloalk to me

For once, though, I didn’t feel the urge to look away

He settled in the chair across froh that he couldn’t inadvertently touchto , I doubted he’d be that brazen

My father’s face softened as he took me in, but it wasn’t real His eyes were dark and cold

“My sweet—”

“Shut up,” I bit out