"The butler was the one who reported it, apparently it started before he was even put in jail," Mom tells me. "The gunshot was Freddie's grandma trying to get them to stop, she didn't hit anyone, luckily."

"So, he's been beating Freddie for most of his life, and only now he's been caught? That's so screwed up, what about Greg's mom? Didn't she say anything?"

"Freddie always told her it was just kids at school, she's old her memory's going. He's pleading guilty and he'll probably get a couple more years." As far as I'm concerned, he deserves a lot more than a few years.

"What happens to Freddie now?"

"He's going to stay with his Grandma," Mom says.

"But you just said yourself, she's getting old, how can she take care of him?"

"He's appealing to become an emancipated minor; he's been raising himself for most of his life so it's looking good for him."

"That's so sad, he's just a kid," Callie sits with us at the table. "He needs a family."

"Well, he's got me." Before, I didn't want anything to do with him, but maybe we need each other. "Like you said, he needs a family."

"Are you sure you want to get caught up in this?" Mama asks.

"I don't know, he is my brother. At least now that Greg's where he belongs, I can stay here, it just sucks that silver linings have to come from the darkest of clouds."

AJ and Mike come over with all of the books AJ promised me, there's a whole stack of them, crime novels, romance, thrillers, everything.

"Wow, when you said you had some books for me, I wasn't expecting this many," He helps me bring them up to my room and put them on the dresser, "Thanks, AJ."

"It's cool, I'll never read them. I'm more of a comic book guy. Although." He picks up a book, "I have read this one. Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz."

"Is it good?"

"I can't remember, to be honest, I was like twelve or something, the movie's pretty good though."

"Well, thanks again AJ, it means a lot." We go back downstairs for dinner, AJ and Mike are joining us.

"You alright after today Gracie? Can't have been easy," Mike says.

"I'm okay, you know the more I think about it the less surprised I am. I should have seen it coming. When Freddie came to see me at school, I-"

"He came to see you?" Mama says. "Why didn't you come and find me?" She's mad.

"I'm sorry, I thought he was just being weird, he warned me off of Greg."

"If you had come and told me, maybe Freddie wouldn't be in the hospital right now with bruised ribs and a broken arm," Mama yells at me.

"Lena, calm down this is no one's fault but Greg's," Mom defends me.

The rest of dinner is a long awkward silence, with only the sounds of forks scratching against plates to break it. Mama's right, though, this is my fault. If I had gone straight to her when Freddie came to see me, he wouldn't be as badly hurt as he is now. Mama won't even look at me, she's so disappointed. I should have asked him how he got the black eye. I just keep making these dumb mistakes. When we're done, I go to my room and start reading one of AJ's old books. Lena knocks on the door.

"Hey." She sits on the end of my bed. "Good book?" I nod, I don't want to say anything to make her even madder. "I'm sorry for snapping at you, it's not your fault."

"It is, you were right I should have brought him to you, I could have stopped it." I close my book.

"You weren't to know, Greg had you fooled. He had us all fooled." I keep my eyes down, focusing on tugging a loose seam from the sleeve of my sweater. "Gracie." She takes my hands. "I promise you, it's not your fault."

"Are you sure? Everything that's happened lately is because of me."

"Sometimes things have to get worse before they get better."

"And then they get worse again, it never stops."

"It will stop, okay? Because you're an Adams-Foster, it might not be by blood, but strength runs in our family." She hugs me. "Now, come back downstairs, we're all gonna watch a movie before mom goes back to work tonight."

"I think I'm gonna go to bed, but don't let me stop you."

"Alright, goodnight sweetie." She kisses me and goes back downstairs.

I am tired but I can't get a minute of sleep. I can't stop thinking about Freddie, the second Greg got out of prison he must have been terrified. I wish I was there for him from the start, maybe I could have helped somehow.

"Gracie?" I try to stay silent and act like I'm asleep, but Callie must have heard me crying. "Hey, what's up?" She turns the light on.

"I just, when I heard Greg came from money, I imagined my life would be so much different, better. I would have gone to a good school, got good grades, had good friends and family." She sits on my bed, "But now... now I'm wondering if it would have been any different at all. Yeah, I would have gone to a good school and all that, but there would still be someone I'd be afraid of, he would have hurt me like he did to Freddie. And in turn, I still would have been depressed, I'd probably be dead right now."

"Hey, don't think like that." Callie takes my hand. "It didn't work out that way, you're safe here."

"I know." I roll over to face her. "It's just scary to think about, I mean at least I wouldn't have been going through it alone, but Freddie did. I just wish I was there for him."

"Don't worry about that now, he's going to be fine. He's your brother, he's a strong kid."

"He shouldn't have to be."