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“My English, it was okay when they took reat, and I often spoke to the people who took lish, but I was just too scared”

Aleks began to shake violently and his breathing once again started to tick up He was holdingso hard he was actually hurting me

But I didn’t even think of asking hiers… If there was a way I could have taken all his pain and felt it for myself, or better yet, taken it from him, I would have in a heartbeat

“The first ht me… he… he pretended to be lish He said things that I eventually started to believe He just kept telling s over and over,” Aleks said with a shake of his head

“Like what?” I interjected as quietly as I could in the hopes my voice wouldn’t ratchet up his panic

“That Mama and Papa didn’t want ood” Tears started to slip down Aleks’s face, but I doubted he noticed “He never caood I was I… I believed the man at first… that Dante knehere I was but refused to coet me” Aleks lifted his shoulders to wipe at his face, since he didn’t seeed to calm down a bit

“Your brother wouldn’t have let anything or anyone stop hiht?”

Aleks nodded “I believed he would coot too hard It ood…”

“What do you mean?”

Aleks hesitated and then wiped at his face again He tried to pull his hands free, but I gently held on to one and intertwined our fingers and began rubbing the pad of my thumb over his skin

“When the s to , I’d tell hi to punish hi up just as theit, and when he didn’t…”

I used my free hand to wipe at his face

“He would have if he could have, Aleks”