Fear and regret coiled tight inside him, gnawing like a relentless predator.

He could count on one hand the times he had felt this way. Regret, especially, had never found a place in his vocabulary. He had always moved through life without second-guessing his choices perhaps because he had never done anything that could stir such a bitter emotion in the first place. Calm by nature, deliberate in thought, and deeply principled, he had lived by a code that kept his conscience ...