“It’s not nervous so much as… Well, maybe it is nerves. I’ve made a decision that is going to change my life.”

“The decision to go to New York?”

“Yeah. And to talk about…you know.”

“You still don’t have to.”

“But…isn’t that why you wanted me to come with you?”

Was it? Yeah, on one level.

On another level, I hadn’t been ready to say goodbye to Zee.

I wanted to spend more time with her.

Funny, just a few days ago, I was ready to seduce her and use my womanizing charms—which were well tested—to get what I needed out of her.

Those aspirations were gone now.

I cared about this woman, and I wouldn’t use her.

No matter how much my body wanted it.

We arrived at LaGuardia a little before eleven p.m. After we deplaned, my driver met us at the terminal.

“Home, James,” I said to him.

His name wasn’t actually James. It was Wayne. Now that I knew the truth about Father Jim, I vowed to stop the whole “James” thing.

Zee turned to me. “I need to book a room somewhere.”

“That’s not necessary. You can stay with me.”

Her eyes widened.

“My place has three bedrooms,” I told her. “I didn’t mean…”

“I know,” she said softly, though her demeanor negated her statement.

We arrived at the Wolfe building and I helped Zee out of the limo. “Thanks, Wayne,” I said.

“Good night, sir.” Wayne waved as he drove off.

Zee looked up and then stumbled into my arms.

I steadied her. “You okay?”

“This… This place…”

“Oh, shit,” I said.

“I can’t… I can’t go in there.”

“You remember.”

“I ran out. Naked. A nice person helped me. And then…”

So much more to Zee’s story than I knew. What had happened to her after she got away? I knew only that she’d gotten hooked on drugs and had eventually gotten through rehab.

That was something to be proud of.

“Do you want to tell me what happened?”

“I suppose I have to. I mean, that’s why I came here, right?”

“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do. If you’ve changed your mind, no one, especially not me, is going to force you to tell us anything. I need you to believe that, Zee. I need you to trust that.”

She nodded, still clearly nervous, her lips trembling.

“I also need you to trust that you are safe here. This is my building now, and I swear to God, I will never let anything happen to you.”

My words surprised even me, and I meant them. I meant them with all my heart.

She nodded again. “Okay. Thank you.”

“You have my word. Nothing will happen to you on my watch.”

23

Zee