"You were right," he blurted out, wrapping his arms around him. "He told me -- he was brokering some kind of deal with a man from the government. If nothing else worked, if he couldn't just -- just take care of me, he was going to turn me over to them. Like some kind of rabid animal."

He laughed, the sound equal parts bitter and hysterical, and dug his feet into the floor in an effort to push himself further into the wall. "I got angry. Hurt. Scared. Pick something. It was all too much for Joseph to contain. He -- he's -- he was right, Lydia."