Griffin gripped my shoulders. “Cool it. You blowing your lid isn’t going to help.”

I felt as if I were in some weird alternate dimension. Will, my Will, punching someone? “Can we go in?”

“Sure.” Nicole stood, leading us towards Mr. Henry’s office. She knocked twice, and he beckoned us in. Nicole gave me a sympathetic smile and left.

My eyes went instantly to Will. He sat slumped in a chair, an ice pack across his knuckles. I hurried over, sitting next to him and wrapping an arm around his shoulders. “What happened?”

He wouldn’t meet my gaze. “I’m sorry.”

I rubbed a hand up and down his arm. “Will, no matter what, we’re going to figure this out. We’re a team, remember?” He nodded slowly. “Now, tell me what happened.”

His head rose, his eyes blazing. “Is Mom dead?”

I sucked in a sharp breath. My gaze jumped from Will to the principal and back again. At least Mr. Henry was giving us a moment to talk before he jumped in. Griffin squeezed my shoulders. I wanted to sink back into his hold. Run away from the truth I had to lay at my brother’s feet. “I’m sorry, Will.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I—I needed some time to figure out how. And Sheriff Raines didn’t want people to know yet—” My words cut off as I realized someone had spilled the beans. “Who told you?”

“Drew,” Will muttered.

I gritted my teeth. Drew’s mom was a dispatcher at the sheriff’s department. Parker was definitely getting a heads-up that he needed to have a talk with her. I refocused on Will. “And you punched him when he told you?”

“He said she was probably whoring herself out for drugs, and that’s why she got killed. He said we were homeless.” Will swallowed, his voice catching. “That no one wanted us, so you were forced to drop out of college and take us in.”

A fiery rage lit through me so fast, I nearly toppled off my chair. I never thought I’d have an urge to be violent towards a child, but I wanted to deck Drew myself. I gripped Will’s arms, making him face me. “You are wanted. There’s no one I’d rather be with than you and Ava and Mia. You’re my life. Not because it was forced on me, but because I love you. From the minute you were born and started terrorizing me.”

Will’s lips gave the faintest twitch, and I pushed on. “I’d be lost without you three. You make my life so much better. And if anyone says otherwise, it’s because they’re miserable. You hear me?”

Will nodded. “I hear you. I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have hit him, but it was instinct. He started shoving me around and I just reacted.”