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She had been hungry, though there had been food in the kitchen She had been thirsty, and there ater available But her irl She didn’t climb and she didn’t try to cook And her hbor to watch Ria that weekend because the neighbor had been ill Ria’s ht Ria how to stay alone if she needed to

“Moone for a few hours,” she said softly “I was to be good until she returned”

“And she didn’t return?”

Ria shook her head “Dane arrived He stepped into the bedroom, and the moment I saw hi were true”

She re back at him as he stepped into the room, his expression lined with sorrow as he moved to the bed, picked her up and carried her from the apartment

She shook her head “I’d drank water froed “There had been soe and I’d eaten it And I slept Huddled in my mother’s bed”

For three days, alone Mercury stared back at her, hearing a child’s horror in the too calm words that the adult spoke

“The Vanderales took good care of me” She cleared her throat “They found a foster family to take me in And when that didn’t work out, they found a better one We finally struck it lucky the third time, but I was already incare offor the clothes I needed and school supplies He brought me Christmas presents, and sometimes, I’d spend an odd weekend here and there on the Vanderale estate w

hen they were there”

But she had never had a family of her own She’d been shuttled fro a few of those places hadn’t been happy ones

“How did you co the inforether hat she said

She shrugged “I was on the estate one weekend when I was sixteen I’d been driving Leo insane I was always being a brat” She lowered her head Mercury guessed she had always been looking for attention, looking for a place to fit in “Anyway, he pushed me into his office, sat me down at a desk and told me that if I could find the puzzle in the papers there, then he would teach me to ride one of the horses on the estate That hat I was begging for” She sht he didn’t think I could do it Fivefor, but I had also broken the code”

“And did he teach you to ride?”

Her gaze slid away from his “Eventually, yes Leo always keeps his word”

But he hadn’t taught her to ride that day, he guessed