He spoke to the hostess in low, confident tones, and within minutes we were seated in a small booth near the back. I looked around, still trying to process this new side of him. Lysander, the man who wielded power with a single word, who had made my life a carefully controlled nightmare, was now sitting across from me in a tiny, bustling restaurant, his presence seeming almost out of place.

“You don’t like it?” he asked, his voice pulling my gaze back at him.

I shook my ...