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It had taken Jonas too long to agree tocheck hadn’t convinced him Jonas was protective of her Therefore, Ali had to explain the situation to Jonas I was not a man that accepted no And Jonas was not the sort of man that could say no to me After that, Jonas took the check

Layla hit ht you to New York?”

“Your eained the attention of an unsavory character”

“Theto play with my feet?”

“That’s hier hit me Of course it wasn’t directed at her I just knew Archer’s intentions for Layla and her feet The very idea of her being in danger shoved e “Why do you ith Mr Meade?”

She looked caught off by the answer “Wellhe’s helping ”

“What?”

She raised her eyebrows “It’s private”

“What if I could help you too?”

“I don’t think you can” She looked uneasy as she focused on her plate,potatoes around with her fork “It deals with my sister”

“I would never judge you or your family for any reason”

Although, I do want to knohy you have her tied up

Layla put the fork down and picked up her chas for many years Our parents were the same way”

H to detox her?

I studied her “I too had a si”

Layla opened her mouth in shock “Did it destroy your family?”

“It did And row up much faster than I wanted”

“I understand that too well” Sipping her chaazed at the carousel “There’s a lot of times I wished I could have played like other kids But many times I had to watch overGod knohat”

“And then she grows up and falls to drugs herself”

“It ne This tiulp

“Because she witnessed what your parents went through and should know better?”

“And” She shook her head “You knohat? Never mind I’ant setting We should talk about—”

“You That’s e’re here”

She blinked

“What’s the other reason you’re mad?”

Layla took another sip of chane “I’ sure she had the best chance at winning I even filled out her college applications for her and paid for four years of college with my ballet money”

“I bet you had quite a career in ballet”

“I did, butunfortunately, I would send her the e And I never saved any for myself”

That enraged iven so much of herself away

She looked back at the carousel “And then her senior year, I went to her college to visit Tina kept ignoring raduation When I went, I discovered that she’d never gone to college at all”