If I would still have him? I had almost given up hope. "Dealer help me," I whispered. What was I to do?
"I have to get out of here," Joe said. "I can't live like this anymore. And I can't — I won't leave without you. My grandfather is a monster. The things he's done —" Joe shook his head. "He doesn't know you're here. We plan to tell him you came, then left when you heard I was unable to come down. He would kill me if he learned I told you these things."
I stared at him, horrified. "Why do you stay?"
"Why do you stay?" He turned his head away. "I know of Roy Spadros. I've heard of his brutality, his torture room, his disregard for life." He turned his head to look at me. "What keeps me from despair is that he threatened your home and family, and that you're a woman who values her kin. I
