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Aleks’s voice dropped off and he reached up to finger his neck

He was looking for the collar

It’d been gone by the tiotten to Seattle I’d just assumed he’d taken it off as soon as he’d been free of Marcus, but noas starting to wonder if it hadn’t been more co that kind of pressure on him But as much as I hated the people who’d put us in this position, I hated having to tell Aleks the truth about it

But it couldn’t be helped

“Aleks, your parents, they did an intervieith a reporter in Brazil a few days ago Did you know they were suing both the mall you were taken from and the police department?”

Aleks’s eyes ide “What?” he breathed

“They filed the suit last week They’re seeking da they endured The suit they filed attracted the attention of reporters, or their lawyer reached out to theranted an interview to one of the bigger news anchors down there It aired two nights ago”

Aleks shook his head “They… they didn’t say anything Dante, he would have been so angry”

“I’m pretty sure they didn’t tell your brother,” I reassured hiet out, and it didn’t But the people who took you twelve years ago are still at work down there, Aleks They’re just a sanization that has ties all over the world The story showed a picture of you from earlier this year in front of your flower shop”

Aleks pulled back from my touch and I instantly missed the connection But I could tell he wasn’t deliberately trying to escape ainst the wall and his hand came up to cover his mouth I took out my phone and pulled up the clip of the news story I handed it to him “Hit play,” I said, because I kneouldn’t believe anything I said until he saw proof of it for himself

It was a reality I’d brought uponEven noas leaving out a critical piece of infor myself to admit that piece of the story to him

I wasn’t worried about Aleks trying tothe phone untraceable, but he was already focused on the clip because the still ie showed both his parents in as clearly an interview of some kind He hit the play button The interview had been done in Portuguese, but the clip had subtitles, so even if Aleks was a bit rusty when it caist of the news story My heart hurt for him as I watched the expressions dance across his face as his parents talked about what life had been like without Aleks I just hoped he wasn’t noticing what I’d noticed when I’d seen the interview for the first time