Meanwhile, my father took me abroad.
Under the care of a private doctor, I slowly recovered.
Three months later, on an ordinary afternoon, I sat with him in the courtyard and drank the last of my herbal tonic. He watched me set the bowl down, and without warning his eyes went red.
"This is my fault," he said. "If I had put my foot down from the beginning and kept you away from that man, none of this would have happened."
I reached over and covered his trembling hand with mine.
"Dad, you couldn't have known." My own voice surprised me with its steadiness. "Pain is something everyone has to go through. If anything, I'm grateful for it now."
He drew a slow breath, and when he spoke again his tone had hardened. "I've already started moving against the Hale boy. The Crownwell projects, th
