Levy shoulders me. “Hey. You doing okay?”
I shake my head.
“Anything in particular bothering you?”
I rinse the lettuce, weighing my options. Fuck it, this needs to be said.
“Two things,” I say, washing the tomatoes a little too aggressively. “That kid is the exact same size Ant was when he was sold.”
Levy inhales sharply, feeling it as much as I am. “True. And the second thing?”
“I just found out my nephew took a life. So…yeah.”
Levy drops his chin to his chest. “Fucking Anders.”
“Were you ever going to tell me?”
“Absolutely. We definitely were, but it’s been an intense few days. There’s knowing you’re actually related, there’s knowing you’re involved in the work, but there’s no statute of limitations on murder. Even if we can prove self-defense, it puts a lot of focus on the work we do, and we don’t want that.”
As if I’d ever let the law touch him.
“So you’ll let me fuck you, but you won’t tell me what’s going on with my nephew?”
“Hey.”He scans the area, I assume to see if anyone heard me. “I know you’re upset, but don’t do that. We’re all trying to make sure Ant has as normal a life as he possibly can. Also, Elias looks happy right now, but that doesn’t mean he isn’t also incredibly fragile. As a mental health professional, I’m going to advise you to take whatever this reaction is and lock that shit up.”
I clench my jaw and lower my voice, speaking directly into his ear.
“Yeah, well, the psycho you’re allowing to hang with my nephew said we should give him the list of the people who bought and sold him and let him go after them. Let him kill them.Murderthem.”
Levy shakes his head, cursing Anders under his breath. Still, he doesn’t outright disagree with him.
“Levy?”
He shrugs. “Anders would know what he’s talking about.”
“I can’t tell—are you trying to be funny?”
“No, I’m serious,” he says, stepping in front of me. “We’ve been working closely with Ant’s therapist, and he’s doing well, but having his childhood stolen wasn’t exactly a neutral event in his life. I want you to think about how you felt the first time you killed someone.”
Ant looks up from playing with Elias, and his eyes lock on us. I wave away his concerned look, but I don’t think it’s particularly effective.
“If, hypothetically, I did kill someone,” I say through my teeth, “it would have been the most difficult thing I ever did. Even when the person allegedly deserved it.”
“Exactly. Ant’s having the opposite reaction. He’s not only not sorry, but he also isn’t bothered in the slightest that he took a life.”
My mouth opens, ready to say something, but…no. Nothing.
Levy raises his brows. “See the problem now?”
“What should we do?”
“Honestly, we don’t know yet. We’re keeping an eye on him. The reality is he’s the one who provided Erik with the list. He’s already got the names memorized,” Levy says, tapping his temple. “Erik’s stalling him at this point.”
“Fuck.”
Holding up his hands, Levy tries to calm me. “We’ve put boundaries in place, and he’s honoring them…for now. Thankfully, he’s doing better and is more in control of his actions. Unfortunately, he also ticks a lot of the same boxes Anders does.”
“So?”
