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“I’ to annoy hiht and she’d done her daet under his skin both times No dice He’d treated her with kindness and respect both times She wasn’t used to that

“You were arrested on suspicion of grand theft auto Supposedly five luxury vehicles with a combined value of over a quarter of a ht You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you?”

“I take the fifth That’s what I’ht?”

“To the court, yes To me, you will tell the truth always”

“I don’t think you want to know the truth about me, Søren,” she said, her voice not much more than a whisper She wasn’t stupid She only had to look at hi in common He looked liked ernails she’d ever seen and hands that belonged on a statue or so All of him looked like a work of art—his hands, his face and lips, his height and beauty And here she was, chipped black nail polish, wet fro in lank waves into her face, her school uniform a soddentrain wreck

“There is nothing I don’t want to know about you,” Søren said, and see you tell e my mind about you”

“Change your mind? You’ve already made up your mind about me? What’s the verdict?”

“The verdict is si you out of this otten yourself into”

“Can we call it a ‘pickle’? Pickle sounds less scary than mess”

“It’s a disaster, young lady You could easily spend years in juvenile detention for what you did tonight One of the cars you stole belonged to someone important and influential, and he’s apparently detere twenty-one Keeping you out of juvenile detention will take a great deal of doing on my part Blessedly, I have some connections Or, more accurately, I have someone who has connections The time and expense will be considerable,” he said in a tone that seemed to imply he relished the ti about the man or his interest in her made any sense at all

“And you’ll go to all this trouble for her and stared straight into his eyes

“Because there is nothing I wouldn’t do to protect you, Eleanor Nothing I wouldn’t do to help you And nothing I wouldn’t do to save you Nothing”

A chill passed through Eleanor’s whole body Sorandmother would say She never understood that phrase, that feeling before Now she did

“But my assistance doesn’t come without a price”

“Right” Eleanor set back toof the kids at church Oh, well, if you insist”

“Do you value your worth as a child of God so little that you think the only thing I could possibly want from you is sex?”

The question hit Eleanor so hard she alotten to her Her ht states away by now Her grandparents were seven minutes from death Her entire future was about six feet under Still she wasn’t about to let anyone take away her pride She at least had that For now, anyway