"The only thing that stands between you and certain disaster is me. I could leave, but I won't. Because I know what would happen. I'd be throwing you to the wolves, letting them have at you. Oh, it might not be tomorrow, or next week, or next month, but it would happen…sooner or later it would happen. And then where would you be? You came this close to dying," he said, holding up two fingers barely a hair's width apart. "Next time you might not be so lucky. I can't abandon you Alex. It would be like turning my back on a drowning child. Whether you like it or not, my duty's clear: I'm going to
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