Chapter 24
The question hung in the dusty air of the archive room. It was not loud. It was worse than loud. It was precise. It cut through the silence and the fear and landed right in the center of her chest.
Why did you let him?
Ziva clutched the files to herself like a shield. Her mouth was dry. The truth was a solid, painful thing stuck in her throat. She had no answer. Any answer she could give would sound small and pathetic. I was tired. I was grateful. I thought he loved me. I was afraid of the silence he threatened me with. They were reasons, but in this dusty room under the gaze of this man, they were only excuses.
Her eyes dropped. She looked away from his intense, dark stare. She looked down at her own sensible beige flats. They were covered in a fine layer of archive dust. T
