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People said those things when they wanted to make themselves feel useful.
Finally he asked, “Do you feel unsafe around Ethan?”
The question was simple.
The answer wasn’t.
I looked down at Lily.
“Not exactly.”
Adrian waited.
“He’s never hit me,” I said quietly. “He’s never threatened me. He doesn’t shout much. Ethan doesn’t need to shout.”
Something changed in Adrian’s expression.
Not alarm.
Understanding, perhaps.
“He makes you question yourself?”
I gave him a small, humorless smile.
“He makes you question things that happened while you were standing there watching them happen.”
The plane began taxiing toward the terminal.
“He told me the locks had been changed because there had been burglaries in the neighborhood,” I continued. “Then he said he forgot to give me the new key. Later, he said he thought he had given it to me and I must have lost it.”
Adrian’s mouth tightened.