"Did you sign the adoption papers, Victor?"
The words leave my mouth before I can soften them, and maybe that is good. Softness has not helped me much tonight.
Victor looks at me across the boat. The lake wind moves his silver hair. His face is pale, drawn tight with pain and something older than pain. Regret, maybe. Shame. I am tired of having to guess which one.
"Yes," he says.
Julian curses under his breath. Adrian goes very still behind me. The engine keeps cutting across the water, loud and rough, but inside the boat everything feels quiet in the worst way.
"You signed them," I repeat. I need to hear it twice. I need it to hurt in a shape I can understand. "You put my brother under another name and said nothing to me."
Victor swallows. "I was trying to keep him alive."
The answ
