Chapter 38. Stupid Actions

I sit with Dario. His brothers and his dad are facing me.

"You slept with him, just say." Marco laughs.

"I did, but that isn't it. That time, I never returned; about a year into it, Dale had bought a holiday home. He sent me to it alone and told me not to leave as it wasn't safe. I stayed there for maybe six months. A few weeks after I got there, the guy showed up. He basically moved in with me."

I see Carlos' mouth drop open. "He never stayed in one place!"

"He stayed with me. Dale would send maybe one message a week saying I wasn't safe and to stay hidden. If I tried messaging him, it wouldn't go through. I told him I couldn't keep calling him Mad Hatter, so he said to call him Tim for now. That wasn't his name, I don't think. He confided in me, told me about his childhood and things, and I know I should have said, but I saw him as a friend." Which was stupid.

"And now you don't? Why?" Marco looks at me, waiting.

"B