“Stop it,” he says, his voice breaking into two. “Stop playing this game with me. Don’t you care at all about who I am? I wanted to build a life with you. A forever one.”

He’s visibly shaking. I had no idea he’d come at me with such force.

“You’ve ducked and you’ve dived,” he goes on, “given me slipperiness and half-truths while I … I handed you everything. You know what I’ve realized, Alex? You’re the virus.”

“Excuse me?” I say, both hands on my hips now. “Have you completely forgotten what she did? She stole cocaine, Chase, from a felon, and she brought all of it into our home.”

His eyes brim with hurt. “You denied moving those drugs. But you did it. And you threatened some guy who came to our house, Alex. You hurt him.”

I can feel the heat gathering in my cheeks.

“I wasn’t lying,” I say, but Chase only groans. “I wasn’t! I thought she’d made the drugs up, but then I saw her with them.”

“If that’s true, you’ve known about them for a while. Why didn’t you report them sooner, if you were so worried about her fitness to parent?”

“Oh my God.” I venture a few steps toward him. “How many times do I have to tell you? I don’t have all the information on everything she’s done. I saw her with the tin just this week—that’s why I reported it now. And that’s why they’re placing the baby with me, here, where he’s safe. It was Morris’s call, not mine.”

He blinks at me for a few seconds like I’ve grown a second head. “What? You’re the one taking Will? You’re the mystery foster home?”

“We are. It’s your home, too.”

He seems to stumble and has to steady himself with one hand on the countertop. “How can you—? This is your sister you’re doing this to!”

“Exactly. You don’t know this world, Chase,” I say, inching closer again. “You’re only freaking out because you’re out of your element.”

“I’m not doing this to Ruth. My apartment isn’t available as a foster home. Get out of my house,” he says.

A line in the sand. Who’d have thought he’d stand up to me like this? Well, it’s not that easy, I’m afraid.

“You can’t kick me out,” I say. “If I don’t have stable accommodation, Will goes to a random family in the foster-care system. He’ll likely get bounced around all over the place. Do you really want that to happen?”

Chase stands tall, his jawline set. I can almost see his mind whirring.