Chapter 21

“May I ask, Anatole,” I began, “why it is you lock me in?”

We looked at each other for long seconds. Then he lowered his gaze.

“It is just for now,” he said to the floor.

“Really?”

“Yes,” he said quietly. “Perhaps—perhaps it is wrong.” He paused. “But I was, am concerned for your safety.” Here, he suddenly looked up, and I was hit again with that piercing dark stare, underneath a frown. “You are a very silly young person.” He took a deep breath. “You were almost killed. You know that?”

I stared at him.

“I tried to warn you,” he continued, “that first time, when you were looking so hard at the bodybuilders. But the men at that gym, some of them, they are not nice people.” He tightened his lips. “I have seen other things.”

It took me a few seconds to realize what he was talking about.

“It was you?” I asked. “Bumping into me, that day, when I was touring the gym?”

He glared at me and nodded. “I was warningyou, okay?”