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And it was how he’d gotten me to trust him when I’d first met him, because he’d shared his butterscotch candies with me

In secret

Because I hadn’t been allowed to have candy

Or anything else

I couldn’t for, war me feel even safer I could have stayed there all day, but Vaughn gently eased my arms up over his head and settled them in front of me

And that hen I noticed the bodies

Two in the back of the van with me, two in the front seats, and one just outside the door on the ground

The ones whose faces I could see had their eyes open and perfectly shaped holes dead center in their foreheads There wasn’t even much blood

I was diun in his hand into his waistband and then pulling a sh the ties atposition

“Are you hurt?” Vaughn asked as he quickly scanned my body, then settled on my face, which was no doubt bruised from the punches I’d taken

I shook my head and then lifted my shoulders so I could wipe my wet face on my shirt sleeves

And that hen I realized hn to rerabbed ,” he said “So at any minute”

Wasn’t that a good thing?

I felt off-balance as he steered me toward a sedan that was parked in the middle of the road I had to lean into hilad when his arer than hn was the exception to that general rule

Vaughn was the exception to a lot of rules

While I’d initially thought hiuards who’d become infatuated with me, he’d been different He’d never once s had conus and Dante had shown up to rescue hn who’d saved us all I’d ended up stabbing Father in the back – literally – when he’d been preparing to shoot Dante Dante had still gotten shot, but only in the shoulder

But then Father had turned the gun on me

And that hen Vaughn had appeared, and I’d watched Father’s eyes go wide as a bullet had torn through his neck Blood had spurted everywhere, and he’d collapsed onto the very desk he’d uards in the roo, then he’d calmly walked up to me and helped round He’d touched the spot on my face where Father had marked me, then he’d shot Father in the head