"We wait for him to release Carl," Dominic said, voice flat as pavement.
Valerie's laugh was abrupt, harsh. "You're just going to give up? Sit and watch him play god with our people? With our lives?"Dominic stared into space . "You heard him," he said. "He told us what his rules are. I can't keep trading my daughter's years for other people's victories."
"You think this is giving up?" Valerie's voice cracked. "This is surrender. Keller kills for sport. He won't stop at Abel . He'll take whatever else he wants to prove a point. Waiting won't save us waiting makes us prey."
Dominic's jaw tightened. He heard the accusation in her tone,the anger that, at its core, was fear. He felt the tug of it too: the hunger for retaliation, the old reflex that had once made him a weapon. But there was another hunger now, softer and deeper, that had hollowed out the sharp edges of the avenger.
