37

Kristoff

What Pete found out in Tennessee is astonishing.

I did assume that Adrian Hart had abused Titania. I'd guessed correctly that he'd fucked her while she was still a minor. I thought that was all to it. I thought that was as much evil as a man could do. And with the way Titania guarded the secret against her uncle, the way she was broken, yet betrayed their bond by not telling him about this, I thought she was simply blaming herself for everything that wasn't her fault.

Oh, how wrong I was.

Just like he'd done back in California, Adrian Hart settled back into his old, disgusting life in Tennessee. The old man who'd thrown Pete out at the mention of his name later opened up after Pete lied that he was from the FBI, and wanted to bring Adrian to book. His only daughter has been one of Adrian's victims. He told Pete the full story; how he'd found Adrian lying by his doorstep late at night, shivering in the cold, how he'd taken Adrian in and treated him like a son he never had. How