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My brother’s voice was gruff, but I didn’t miss the admiration in it It made his betrayal just hurt that much more

“You weren’t scared?” Aleks asked me

I shookto the top of a tree always ,” I said softly

“Central Park… that’s in New York City, right?” Aleks asked “I saw it in a nus would take ”

“It does,” I acknowledged and was about to offer to show him around someday when I realized he and I would never have a soet hio back to mine Even on the off chance I found et out of the world of kids being trafficked for sex – there were just toofor help to come

Not to et Aleks’s trust back now I didn’t deserve it anyway

The look on his face when he’d put two and two together and realized I’d left hih I’d had the power to stop it…

Right after that his eyes had gone blank I’d been trying to talk to hi an eye on Luca and Con, so I hadn’t seen him pull my knife frorabbed hiht for Con and Luca I’d been so stunned by the knife slicing through my skin that I’d released him and he’d run at my brother and friend

But I suspected he hadn’t really even seen them in his altered state of mind Con had rushed to aid me as I’d tried to catch up to Aleks but when I’d closed ain and I’d barely stepped back out of the way to avoid getting nailed in the side with it

That hen Luca had intervened

During the scuffle, Con had grabbed un at Luca, probably because he hadn’t been certain I wouldn’t shoot my own brother to protect Aleks – a fact I hadn’t been so sure of rabbed Aleks’s arm from behind Aleks had lashed out at him and the et a hold of the hand Aleks had been holding the knife with

I’d been certain he’d do e’d both been trained to do – snap the wrist to disarm Aleks

That hy I’d knocked Con off un to Luca’s head