Her laugh was bitter. “No. He was only seventeen. He just wanted to protect us. But he’d gotten a full ride to Miami of Ohio and I didn’t want him giving up an amazing scholarship to work a nowhere job just so we could keep the house. I tried to tell him that Brandi was bad news, that she hadn’t changed, but Deacon thought he loved her.”

She said the last words with a sad wag of her head that made Diesel very afraid. “You know that love exists, though. He’s found it with Faith.”

She met his gaze. “Oh, I know. That’s not why I hate what came next.”

And herself, he’d wager. The shame he’d glimpsed earlier was now front and center. “What happened?”

“Like I said, I knew the dealer. I cozied up to him, told him to meet me at my house after school. I figured he would and Brandi wouldn’t be able to resist. Deacon was working an after-school job, but I planned to call him home with an emergency and he’d catch her in the act.”

“But that’s not what happened.”

“No. I got delayed by one of my teachers, who was concerned that I hadn’t been doing my homework. I mean, my mother had just died. Homework wasn’t a priority. The dealer showed up at my house and he and Brandi did lines of coke before I got home. But Brandi had been using all along, and Greg got into her purse.”

“Oh my God,” Diesel breathed, horrified.

“It could have been so much worse, but yeah. There was just coke dust in her purse, but it was enough to nearly kill Greg. I got home just as he was seizing and called 911. The dealer ran. I’d been the one to ask him to the house, so I wasn’t in any hurry to tell the cops he’d been there. Brandi hid, and at that moment, all I cared about was Greg. Of course Jim blamed Deacon. Said that Brandi had to go. Deacon agreed, but Brandi cried and he let her stay one more day so she could pack her things.

“Deacon and I sat with Greg in the hospital all night, but I made him go home the next day to make Brandi leave. He . . .” She rubbed her forehead. “He caught Brandi and her dealer in Mom and Bruce’s bed, doing lines of coke. He called the cops and Jim was on duty. Jim gave him so much shit that day. Said that Deacon wasn’t capable of taking care of Greg. That he was a danger to Greg.” She swallowed hard. “I got what I wanted. Deacon gave up fighting for custody and agreed to sell the house. He went off to college and Greg and I moved in with Jim.”

“And you took care of Greg. How old were you, Dani?”

“Sixteen.”