Warner never said a word.

None of us knew.” “You didn’t know,” I said gently, “because it was easier to believe your brother was a god than to admit he needed a woman you thought was ordinary.” She nodded, swallowing.

“I don’t think he deserves your forgiveness.

It’s like my whole family lived inside a hallucination he built, and now we’re all hungover.” I didn’t offer her absolution.

Every family runs on a shared myth, and theirs had been Warner’s infallibility, with me as the background lighting that made him look good.

I’d smashed the bulb.