Neva Altaj

Hidden Truths

Dad liked to say that I was antisocial. I wasn’t. I’m not. I’ve just always been . . . socially awkward.

“I ended up preferring books to people.”

“He said he looked inside and found a bunch of paperbacks with naked men on the covers, and now, he thinks you read porn.”

 “Some of those books do set really high standards.”

“But you need to keep one thing in mind. If I’m right, and Sergei for some reason thinks he needs to protect you, he won’t be reasonable.”

“I mean, he will kill every person he feels may be of any kind of threat to you. Real or imagined.”

I squeeze her to me and bury my nose in her hair again, and for the first time in years, I feel like I might be okay.