“She said she’d throw me out. That I’d have to go to the homeless shelter.” Michael gritted his teeth, but a tear leaked out of his eye. Angrily, he dashed it away. “I’m fourteen. I’d end up in the system. And I’ve heard the stories about kids in the system. Plus, that would leave Joshua alone. I don’t think the bastard hurt him, but if I left, he might. I wasn’t going to let that happen. So I shut up and stayed.”

“For your brother,” Rex clarified.

“Yes.”

Rex took a moment, and it was only because Diesel had known him so long that he knew the man was shaken. Rex had a good heart under his Armani suits. Diesel hadn’t been lying when he’d said that he’d trust him with his life.

“Okay,” Rex finally said. “Where did you get the gun?”

“From Brewer’s safe.”

Rex’s brows went up. “You knew the combination?”

“I watched him open it once. He didn’t know I was there.”

“Weren’t you afraid he’d miss it?”

Michael shrugged. “He had five more. I got the one at the back.”

Diesel wondered what else was in the bastard’s safe. The contents would fall into the hands of the cops soon enough, if they hadn’t already been entered into evidence. He wished he could get a look at that haul.

Brewer’s finances were hinky as hell.

“Do you know how to fire a gun?” Rex asked, jotting more notes.

Michael nodded. “I found a YouTube video with captions. I didn’t fire it, but I practiced loading, aiming, and flipping the safety.”

“The police will be able to verify that the gun hasn’t been fired recently,” Rex said. “So I don’t want you to worry too much about having it. They have the gun now. When did you take the gun from your stepfather’s safe?”

Michael drew a deep breath, let it out. Glanced at Diesel, looking for encouragement.

Diesel nodded. “You can trust him.”

Michael squared his shoulders. “Last Friday night. Or maybe it was Saturday morning by then. A week ago. I don’t remember what time, but it was still dark outside.”

“Why then?” Rex asked. “If he’d been abusing you all that time, why did you get the gun just last week?”

Another deep breath, another shuddering exhale. “You won’t believe me,” he said, his face the picture of misery.

“We believe you, Michael,” Diesel signed.

“It’s stupid. It sounds stupid to me, and I saw it.”

Rex put his pen down. “What did you see, Michael?”

Michael gave Diesel another quick glance before returning his full attention to the lawyer. “I saw a man kill my stepfather.”

Diesel’s eyes widened and he looked at Dani, who’d turned to him, her expression equally stunned.

Rex blinked once. “Who was it?”