He ground his teeth audibly. “You did not betray him. You sure as hell didn’t kill him. He could have fought for his life. He could have taken the cocktail. He could have found out that he was positive long before he developed full-blown AIDS and not given it to you. And if he didn’t want to fight, he could have OD’d on sedatives. He could have arranged to be found by someone who didn’t know him. There were lots of things he could have and should have done.”

Dani retreated behind the mask she wore when people around her became angry. “All those things are true, Diesel. But my point is, when he needed me most, I became like Jim. I was not nice. Under stress, I am not nice.”

Diesel shoved to his feet, his chair flying backward to clatter on the floor, making her jump. “You did not become like Jim,” he snarled. “And wipe that look from your face. Right now. Don’t pretend you don’t know what I mean. That’s the face you wear when things get heavy. When you have to deal with confrontations. I’ve seen it too many times, Dani. I will not be the cause of it. You wanted to talk? Let’s talk now, shall we?”

“Not if you’re going to yell at me,” she managed in her frostiest voice.

“I will damn well yell!” he shouted. “And so will you. Do you know how to yell? Have you ever done it? When was the last time you really yelled at someone?”

Her mouth opened, but no words would come. She licked her lips and tried again. “When I yelled at Adrian in the hospital,” she whispered.

Diesel’s fury seemed to disappear. He leaned against the kitchen island, his hands gripping its edge so tightly that his knuckles were white. But his big body sagged. “And before that? Had you ever just yelled because you were mad, Dani?”

She tried to remember. But came up blank. “No. That was the first time.”

“And it ended very badly,” Diesel ground out. “I’m betting that you didn’t yell when you lived with Jim, before your mom married Bruce. Or Jim would have thrown you all out.” He turned his head to stare at her, still leaning against the island like he was midpushup. “Did you?”

She thought about her younger self. And realized he was right. “No.”

“And when your mom married Bruce. Did you yell then? Or were you afraid that Bruce would stop loving you and your mother if you misbehaved?”

He was right again. “No. I mean yes. No, I didn’t yell. Yes, I guess I was afraid he’d leave.”

“And then he left anyway,” Diesel murmured.

She flinched. “Bruce didn’t leave. He died.”

“Same outcome, wasn’t it? You were alone and living with Jim again. Right?”