The alternative — a life in which I trust no one, suspect everyone, check the people I love for fangs — is not a life worth protecting.

He exploited the best thing in me.

That is his crime, not my failure.

Chapter 7 — Did She Say Anything

The question Luca had asked me, before he walked away, was this.

He did not ask whether his wife would live.

He did not ask whether she would walk again, or whether her mind had survived the minute her heart was stopped, or whether she would suffer any lasting damage.

Those are the questions of a husband.