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cupboard, wrenched off the top like it had insulted him, then dumped the contents into the pan with a jerk of his arm. The warm scents of curry filled the air, but I had completely lost my appetite.  
    “There’s a bottle of wine in the refrigerator, and I need a drink,” he said.

    ~~~

    I split the last of the wine between our glasses. I had a nice buzz going and didn’t want to lose it.  
    As we ate, Corbin had told me about how he’d gone through his wife’s email. After that, he had called in favors from friends. He spent a month in Nigeria and eventually tracked down the interpreter who had tipped off the kidnappers to his wife’s whereabouts.
    “I killed him.” He wiped his lips on a cloth napkin. “And before you ask, murder wasn’t my goal when I went down there, but at the same time, I wasn’t surprised when I did it. By the third time, it had become a pattern.”
    My stomach knotted up, gurgled. I could taste bile.
    “Not claiming that’s a good thing. In fact, I now think the opposite. That it was bad for me. But I was crazed with grief. I wasn’t myself. And I’m different now.”
    “Well that’s good,” I muttered.
    “You wanted to know.” He tossed back the rest of the wine. “It didn’t take long for my activity to catch the attention of a few people who thought they had a better way to channel my… newfound talents. Are you ok?”
    I had clutched my stomach. “Yes,” I said. I just wanted him to get the confession over with.
    “My actions were causing trouble. People who were important for greater purposes were disappearing. And anyway, I had dealt with everyone except for four men, the people who would surely be able to lead me to Audrey’s remains, but I wasn’t making any progress in finding them. The deal that was offered to me was a chance to make a difference in exchange for help. The truth is that the men I had found were unsophisticated thugs. Easy to find and kill. I would need more than luck to locate the last four. Please try to eat.”
    I pushed away my plate.  
    Corbin sighed but didn’t press the issue. “That’s what I’m closing in on now. The last two. The end. I didn’t start this fight, but it was brought to my doorstep. The day I chose revenge, I gave up my right to a future. For every man I’ve killed, there are several others who now want to kill me. It’s like a bloody Ponzi scheme.” He rotated the empty wine glass, twisting the stem between his fingers. “Some nights I think that if I could kill them all, I would. Every murderous scumbag on the face of the earth. These are the ones dealing in human trafficking. Raping children. Letting entire villages starve. They are the most despicable people imaginable. You know what I like about you?”
    The sudden conversation shift left me reeling. “No, actually.” I hadn’t meant to speak so bluntly, and my face heated as Corbin stifled a laugh. “It’s ok,” I said, smiling weakly. “It’s funny.”
    Corbin shook his head. “I would never laugh at you. With you, only. There are many things I like about you, but what always amazes me is the way you see the world. Whenever I think you’ll do A, you do B. A little impetuous, yes, but you’re intelligent and inquisitive. Jaded, but not really. Not deep down. You’re a lot like I was before I let the blackness eat me up inside. I became calculating. Cynical.”
    My face had gotten so hot that the potbelly stove and electric heating were completely superfluous.  
    “I won’t allow blackness to devour you, Audrey. You’re my light. God, you have no idea. You fell into my life at the right time. The weekend that I saved you, I was about to cross a line I never had before. And don’t ask what it was because I’m so ashamed to admit it. And there you were, a frozen lump in the road. Someone I could help instead of hurt. I felt my humanity, which I had thought extinguished. It hasn’t been easy thinking about the things I did, the things I would