After hearing what they said, I patiently waited until they told me to return to the basement. I pretended nothing happened, but as soon as I was down there alone with Chasel, I ran to him.
"What did they do to you? Are you hurt?" he asked as he examined my body, turning my arms over, looking for wounds. I wanted to tell him what they'd said, but the feeling of his gentle fingertips along my skin and his careful, protective eye warmed my heart.
He was the first man who honestly cared about me in the past ten years. That was obvious to me now, when I compared my father and Carl with Chasel. He'd stood up for me when gravely injured and took beatings for me. Nobody else had done that for me.
As I studied him, I made a silent promise to myself and him that I'd help break him free of th
