Carlos just stared a bit as Gael spoke. They weren't words he hadn't heard before; no one except his mother tried to defend Felipe. Not his siblings - though they still spoke to him, and went to family dinners - and Hadyn Novak and Elisha Kagan had made that evident in their own ways. For himself, it still hurt, what had been done. He did not think he would ever forgive Felipe. It was harder to block out his mother, who was apologetic but who had still stood by his father as he'd kicked out one of her children.

He laughed a little, a slightly bemused sound as he tugged Gael close to him. "Felipe Sanchez was hardly ever father of the year anyway," he said. "There were too many kids for him to bother with me much until I fell out of line. Hadyn and Elisha were more my parents from the time I met the twins." Which just somehow made the thing sound all the more horrible, he thought. He didn't really think his childhood had been that terrible.

"I've been going with the revenge of being more successful than they'll ever be." Felipe and Bethany were both Fours; Victoria was, at Five, the highest ranked of his siblings. And Carlos had already chosen a Nine - Leith Cole - to challenge next. "If happiness is the way to go, I might need help with that."