“I don’t know why she’s doing this, but Darcy would never hurt those kids.”

“She already has,” Peter snapped. “She kidnapped them. Don’t you remember how that felt?”

He sighed, not wanting to tell Alanna about his own past, but wondering if that was the best way to reach her.

“I do remember. I still have nightmares about it sometimes. I know you don’t understand how I can—” she took an audible breath “—love them.”

“I do understand that.” Or at least, he understood that she thought what she felt was love, instead of a complicated mix of fear and dependency multiplied over fourteen years. “Stockholm syndrome is real. It’s—”

Her snort of disbelief cut him off. She looked offended. “I got a psychology degree after I left Alaska. I understand why you think that’s what’s happening here, but don’t forget—I’m the one who turned them in. They both went to jail because I left that note. My... Julian died because of me.”