Anthony had only meant to clarify what Gabriel had already told him in order to fit the pieces of the boy’s life together—he had neither expected nor meant to ask for a confession.

He remembers something Gabriel once said to him when he was being particularly taciturn about something or other: home was full of secrets. Most of them were mine.

Startled by the revelation, as well as the fact that Gabriel has chosen to share it, Anthony knits his brows together. “I see.” After a beat he adds wryly, half-quoting Tolstoy, “It's true--unhappy families are all unhappy in their own way."