He'd have friends there. None of his other friends understood this — none of them understood Cash in the way that Angie did, although he wasn't sure if that meant they knew him more or less than she did — but they would still be there. His family would be there, too. He could rely on Claude if he needed someone to help make sure he showed up at the right times.

He wished that Valeria wasn't dead. At least she would have understood the sense that he was being sold.

Cash smiled ruefully. "If I was going to run away with you," he said, "it would have had to have been a very long time ago." Before the Vow, although he did not think Angie knew about that. But — even if it wasn't for the Vow, what would the point of running away be now? It was already too late; Eli was already dead. This life was what Cash owed him.

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