Josie nodded, gazing at the table.
"I know what you must think of me. Lying to everyone about where I've been. Using your friend's name as she lay bereft and in agony, while I did, in your eyes, things I should not. But — "
Could I trust Josie? I'd known her all my life. The way she'd been acting lately was strange — flying into rages, especially — but Joe had never been so badly hurt before. She must be under tremendous strain.
Joe trusted her with his life. And I trusted Joe.
"I need to explain what happened since they took me away."
I sat beside her. In whispers I told her how I was grabbed by strangers at random times from the age of twelve. They dragged me to Spadros Manor, where I was stripped, beaten, and forced to learn the Spadros Family Business. I revealed how Roy forced me
