There was no time to think, toplan, to analyse the situation. There was someone in her bedroom, on her bed,someone strange, violent and dangerous, som...eone readyto hurt her and her family. ?please? i? please? take whateveryou want? just don?t hurt me? please?? She pleadedin her broken whisper, trying to reason with him, trying to bargain with him.He could have it all. Her possessions, her money, herproperty ? everything. All these things lose value the very second youare reminded your life is. I pulled my fist back for another blow... and felt a cold, metal cuff snap closed around it. I felt my other arm yanked behind my back, my other wrist encircled in steel, and the words of an all-too-familiar routine beginning... "You have the right to remain silent... "=-=-=I told you so... the voice lectured me as I felt the same ever-so-slender hand being forcibly stuck on an inkpad and then rolled onto a card. The standard routine of name, address, and so on began, only to be stopped by me. Now Deena’s thinking she caused her whole world to collapse in on us.Hold on tight. Hug. Soothe. “That’s not how this works, Deena ... This stuff was set into motion way before us doing energetic snuggling.”The absurdity of the ‘energetic snuggling’ comment must’ve shocked her a little, which was premeditated on my part. She pulled her face back from me. “Oh, dammit, Haley ... You’re making jokes...”“Not a joke, sis,” I said. “But if the world tilted sideways every time somebody colored outside. .”Oh, oh, I’m in for it now! They’d had this conversation before. Jessica struggled to keep a straight face, and before Kasrin could go on she interrupted, “Ms. Brandt, it’s my job, and you are my employer ... and if anything happened to you, I’d be out of a job, to say nothing of having to answer to Harrison, Jenny, and worst of all, Xena.”Jessica grinned at the shocked look on Kasrin’s face. “Did I get it right?”As she got out of the truck, Kasrin shook her head and mumbled something about.