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“He did love you,” I say firmly, reaching out with my right hand and catching Rei’s wrist, forcing him to ground himself against my grip. “Listen to me, Rei. There is no doubt there. He loved you with everything he had.”

“Then why did he trade you?! How could he do that to his own son? How could a father hand his son over to criminals?!”

“Because he was a weak, desperate man backed into a corner. He convinced himself it was a noble sacrifice. He told himself he was giving up one son to save the rest of the household. It was a coward’s logic, but in his mind, he was keeping you and Mom safe from the wolves by throwing me into the cage.”

“And then… the crash…”

“The car accident was real, Rei. It had nothing to do with the Kazumas. He saved you because he wanted to.”

Rei lets out a wailing sound, burying his face directly into his hands.

“He died for you,” I say, making sure he hears everything. “He gave his life so you could keep yours. I don’t want you to spend a single second of your life doubting his love for you. He was flawed. He made an unforgivable choice with me, but what he felt for you was real. You don’t have to rewrite that.”

“How could he love one son,” Rei chokes out through his fingers, “and just… just throw the other away? How is that fair? How did you survive that, Kento? Why aren’t you screaming at him? Why aren’t you screaming at me?”

“I hated him for a long time,” I admit quietly. “But I could never hate you.”

Rei lowers his hands, his face blotchy and shattered. He looks at me like a boy whose entire universe has just been knocked off its axis.

“I’m so sorry,” Rei whispers, his chin trembling. “I’m so sorry you were alone.”

“I’m not alone anymore.”

I reach out, sliding my fingers behind his neck, and pull him forward. “Come here.”

Rei falls forward against the bed, wrapping both arms around my neck, burying his wet face hard into the crook of my right shoulder.

A stabbing spike of pain flares through my bruised ribs and the stitched-up bullet wound on my collar, but I don’t pull back. “I’ve got you,” I murmur into his hair.

“I don’t want you to die,” he gasps into my skin, his fingers holding on to me. “I can’t lose you. I can’t.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” I say, pressing my forehead against the side of his head. “You’re stuck with me, little brother.”

Rei lets out a hitching sound and holds me tighter.

There are no clean answers for what our father did. There never will be. But as I hold Rei against the beat of my heart, feeling the life in both of us, I know it doesn’t matter.

***

A bit later, when Rei steps out to Dimitri, Ilya comes back and sits down.

“How are you feeling?” I ask.

Ilya starts talking immediately. “I’m fine. I’m okay now that you’re awake and not choking on lake water. The doctor said your vitals are steady, and if you stop trying to flex your chest, you might actually heal before next week. We need to get you out of this bed because your brother is going to kill Dimitri if they spend another ten minutes in the hallway, and—”

“Ilya.”

I tug his hand. “Your sister.”

His jaw clenches, and I can see the fury in his eyes, but then he shakes his head, staring down at our joined fingers on the cotton blanket.

“I don’t know what to say…” His voice is barely a thread now. “I think I got it all wrong. Everything. I feel like my life was never real to begin with.”

“Was she the one who hurt you?”

He shakes his head again. “It was Anton. But it was her making him do it. She convinced him that if he didn’t break me, she had her ways to make Papa throw him back out.”

“Where is Anton?”