Chapter 5
I went to Elsie before continuing.
She was sitting on a rehearsal bench with one of my guards, trying to press the torn paper flower back together.
That nearly broke me.
“Can I help?”
She nodded.
I sat beside her.
We folded the torn edges carefully.
It looked worse afterward.
That was fine.
Repair is not the same thing as pretending damage never happened.
She watched me work.
“Grandpa?”
“Yes?”
“Is Daddy mad at me?”
My hands stopped.
“No.”
“Vanessa said I ruin things.”
I looked at her.
“You didn’t ruin anything.”
“She said Daddy gets sad when I call him Dad.”
Silence.
There it was.
Not only public denial.
Training.
Julian had been teaching Elsie to participate in her own erasure.
“What did he tell you to call him?”
She looked down.
“Mr. Julian when people are there.”
I felt something cold move through me.
“How long?”
She shrugged.
Children do not measure humiliation in months.
Only patterns.
“At parties.”
I closed my eyes.
Then she added:
“He says it’s our secret game.”
That phrase changed everything.
Not one gala.
Not one woman.
A repeated ritual.
I handed her the repaired flower.
“Listen to me.”
She looked up.
“You never have to pretend he isn’t your father again.”
Her eyes widened.
“Even if people come?”
“Especially then.”
She thought about it.
Then asked:
“Will Daddy be mad?”
That was the ugliest question Julian had created.
Not whether the lie ended.
Whether truth would cost her love.
“No.”
I paused.
“And if he is, that is his problem.”
She smiled faintly.
Then held the flower out.
“For Daddy.”
Still.
After everything.
I took it carefully.
“Do you want me to give it to him?”
She nodded.
I stood.
The flower was torn.
May you like
So was something else.
And both belonged to Julian now.
