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Dylan couldn’t believe what he was hearing, but apparently Claire wasn’t finished dropping bos, but even then she couldn’t stop gah to support the habit, she took out a second e pays, so that’s when she confided in Chris"

He sucked in a breath "So my brother knew this whole time and didn’t say a word about it tooff a headache "He told me you knew, but that it wasn’t your responsibility to do anything about it He was the man of the house since your father died, so it was his problem That’s why he took the job with Lowenstein and Tate instead of the assistant prosecutor position"

There were sothrown around he didn’t knohich one to focus on

"What are you talking about? Chris was always going to work for a defense firm It was the only reason he went to law school, so he could practice criminal law"

She frowned "No, he didn’t He was committed to the city job When we first ot an offer, but trust me, he never intended to accept It’s always been his drea-shot defense lawyer"

Her teeth clamped over her bottom lip Another silence fell over the room as each of them absorbed what had been said

"Were you--"

"Are you--"

They both laughed aardly "You first," Dylan said

"Were you really in the dark about all this?"

"Yes" He gave her a gri in my power to help my mom out Why the hell didn’t she tell ht, he already knew the answer Because he was her favorite Her baby His mom had tried to shield hi the world to him as a place full of sunshine and rainbows and cuddly kittens He was always the last one to find out when so bad happened, and there had been times when he wouldn’t be told at all, only to discover the truth years later

"Maybe she was trying to protect you"

Claire’s soft assessh he concurred, that didn’t

"So Chris has been e pay to make sense of it all

Claire nodded