“Gabriel, she made it.” And then my mother stepped closer, arms opening wide for a family embrace, and every bit of the rage that had been rising in me all night rose at once to the surface, and I stepped back sharply, out of her reach.

“Don’t you dare touch me,” I said.

“Not after what you did to her.”

Chapter 25 — The Hallway

“What I did?” My mother frowned, arranging her face into a mask of bewildered innocence.

“Sweetheart, what on earth are you talking about?”

I held up the crumpled contract in front of her face, and I watched the color drain from both my parents’ faces at the sight of it, that fast, all at once, the composure cracking like ice.

“You were going to send her away,” I said, and I did not lower my voice.