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“I can,” Joey offered tersely. “Easily.”

“For the first time in her life, she is fighting back,” Darren bit out. “She istryingto do the right thing by us. She’s not a bad person and you both know that. She’s a frightened woman who let her fears make terrible decisions for her.”

“Her bad decisions nearly killed us,” Joey shot back. “They put my sister in a hospital bed.”

“Ourfatherput our sister in a hospital bed,” Darren corrected. “Don’t let your anger cloud your logic, Joey.”

“I’m not doing this,” Joey hissed, throwing his hands up. “I’m not. I’m not going to listen to you justify her reasons for letting that bastard do this to us.”

“All I’m saying is that it’s not all black and white,” Darren replied before turning back to me. “The Gardaí will be here later on in the day to take your statement. You’ll either need Mam or me to be present with you when that happens.”

“No.” Anxiety was churning inside of me, festering away at all that was good and pure until I was nothing but a trembling mess. “I don’t want to do this.”

“It’s okay,” Darren said gently. “We’ll talk it through and you’ll have nothing to worry about.”

“It can be me if you want, Shan,” Joey interjected. “Doesn’t have to be you.”

“The last thing you need is to be around Gardaí in your condition,” Darren growled. “What was it this time? Are you back on the—”

“Glad to hear your special phone calls with Mam kept you in the family loop,” Joey spat out. “Pity she didn’t tell you about theactualproblems we were having—oh wait, she probably did, and you just went right ahead and blocked it out. Must be nice to have a conscience with an off switch. Selective hearing must feel fucking fabulous.”

“Stop,” I groaned. “Please.”

“There’s a social worker lurking around outside,” Darren announced, turning back to me and dutifully ignoring Joey. He pulled at his blue tie and popped the top button of his crisp white shirt before continuing. “You’ll have to talk to her alone, of course, but once we all have our story straight, it should be fairly straightforward.”

“Ourstorystraight?” Whatever ounce of self-restraint Joey had been clinging to evaporated the moment those words came out of Darren’s mouth. “Fuck that!” Jerking to his feet, he began to pace the room. “No more goddamn stories.” Running a hand through his blond hair, he tugged at the ends and growled, “No more.”

“I’m not asking any of you to lie,” Darren replied. “I’m simply saying we need to rally around Mam—”

“You’re asking Shan to omit the truth,” Joey countered. “To leave out the parts where Mam covered up what he did to us—where she stood by and watched. Where she didnothing. And in my book, an omission of truth is a fucking lie.”

“Well, if you want to stay together, then I suggest you accept her and get with the fucking program,” Darren barked, losing his cool. “Because this is how I keep you guys together, okay? If we don’t have her, if she’s seen as anything other than what she is—a victim of domestic violence who did her best for her children—then Shannon, Ollie, Tadhg, and Sean might as well pack their bags now. And god knows where they’ll send you. It’ll be new schools, new homes, new friends, new fucking strangers. If you want that, then go right ahead and fight me on this, but it doesn’t have to be that way. We can make this work, guys.”

“I can’t.” Joey walked over and gripped the windowsill with so much force, I was surprised he didn’t tear it off. “I can’tdo thisanymore,” he muttered to himself. “I can’t keep living likethis.”

“Joe,” I croaked out. “It’s okay—”

“No.” His voice cracked. “No, Shan,” he whispered, keeping his back to me. “It’s really not.”

“We have another issue,” Darren added, breaking the palpable tension.

Tearing my eyes off Joey’s back, I looked back to Darren. “What?”

“Johnny Kavanagh.”

Joey grunted in what sounded like approval.

“Wh-what?” Shaking my head, I fought down the tsunami of butterflies trying to claw their way out of my throat. “What does Johnny have to do with any of this?”

“Fucker figured it out on his own,” Joey muttered to himself, keeping his back to us. “Must be worth something after all.”

“He’s making a right nuisance of himself,” Darren confirmed grimly. “Calling the Garda station morning, noon, and night. He’s had four Garda cars out to the house since yesterday.”

“Wh-what?” Now I did clutch my temples as the throbbing in my brain threatened to kill me. “How does he know?”

“Don’t worry, Shan. It’s a good thing he knows,” Joey piped up. “You don’t have to lie for these people anymore.”

“Can you just shut the hell up?” Darren snapped. “I’m trying to fix this and you’re not helping matters.”

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