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Dad’s voice stayed controlled. “Why tell us now?”

Ben looked at me. Before he could answer, the words came out of my mouth.

“He wants to take me, not kill me.”

Everyone froze. I could feel Declan going still against my back.

I went still too. I hadn’t known I was going to say that. I didn’t know where it had come from.

Ben spoke first. “Why do you say that? Why do you think he just wants to take you?”

I thought it over, came up with nothing. “I don’t remember.” I paused. “Probably to do whatever he did to me last time.”

Declan’s arms tightened. Dad’s face changed.

Worse than fear. Pain. And made worse because he was trying so hard not to show it.

Ben stared at me for one beat too long. Then he looked away.

Dad moved closer. “Hazel, listen to me.”

I did.

“He is out,” Dad said. “We should have told you. That’s on me. But we did not just hear he was released and hope for the best.”

Riot picked it up. “We’ve had somebody keeping tabs on him. An ex-cop, one that we trust.”

My stomach turned.

Our guy. I looked at Riot.

He saw it happen.

“That’s who you were checking.”

Silence.

Dad answered, “Yes.”

The bedroom. The football game. The hospital.

Our guy? Checking.

Everything is as it should be.

I stared at him. “Every time something happened?”

“Every time it was bad enough to worry us,” Dad said.

Riot nodded. “We weren’t taking somebody’s word over the phone, either. We had a person we trust putting eyes on him.”

Dad’s voice was careful now. “He’s under supervision well away from Briar. He’s being watched. Checked. He isn’t supposed to be able to disappear without somebody knowing.”

Riot looked at me. “For all practical purposes, the leash is short enough that he might as well still be locked up.”

That should have helped. It almost did.

Dad must have seen it. “Last night,” he said, “we checked again.”