Chapter 18: Her Say

Lenora's POV

I found out where he had put Gregory by following Rocco's face.

It was the basement clinic, my clinic, with my steel case still on the bench and my gloves in their box.

Gregory sat in the exam chair with his wrists cuffed to the arms.

His camel coat lay over a stool.

He had a small cut over one eyebrow, and he was smiling at the ceiling.

Alessio stood by the door with his arms folded.

"You said you'd tell me yourself," I said.

"I'm telling you now."

"You said it would be when he was in the basement. You didn't say you'd put him in my chair."

"It was the nearest room with a lock."

"Alessio."

"He was headed for Salerno." His voice stayed even.

His hand opened and closed at his side.

"If I hadn't taken him, you'd never have seen him again."

"You gave me your word."

"I know."

"Nobody touches him without my say. That was the term, and you wrote it yourself."

"I know that too."

"Then say you were wrong."

He looked at me for a long moment.

"I was wrong to take it from you," he said. "I'd do it again to keep him in reach. Both are true."

It was my own sentence, handed back.

I hated how much I wanted to forgive it.

"Len," Gregory said from the chair. "Don't be angry with him. He's protecting you."

"Be quiet."

"He's a very protective man." He tipped his head back. "Is this what you want to watch, Len? Me, bleeding in your chair?"

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