And when it’s all over and we’re back in the safety of a quiet conference room in the COE building, Vanessa turns to me and looks up at me with those big doe eyes, a single note card still nervously clenched in her right fist. She says, “Thank you, Roland.” I feel the fabric of my being shift. And that’s it. It’s decided. She’s mine. I’m gonna grab her, steal her, take her away so nobody can fucking find her again . . . No. That’s what a madman would do. My hands flinch and react toward her in menacing, kidnappery pulses that she doesn’t seem to notice, and I know that if I stay here another
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