Chapter 20
Julian met Elliot again when Elliot was twelve.
The request came from Elliot.
Not Julian.
Conrad still said no first.
The word came out automatically.
Elliot stared.
“You always say choice later.”
“You are twelve.”
“That is later than four.”
Rachel covered her mouth.
Conrad looked at her.
“Don’t.”
Elliot continued.
“I want ask him.”
“What?”
“Why he thought you keep hitting.”
Conrad became quiet.
That question had lived inside Elliot longer than he realized.
The meeting took place in Dr. Price’s office.
Julian had completed the legal obligations associated with his plea years earlier.
He had not returned to Bellafonte Holdings.
His development company no longer belonged to him.
He worked as an adviser to an unrelated real-estate firm under restrictions that kept him away from Bellafonte business.
Conrad had seen him twice at funerals.
Nothing more.
Julian entered looking older.
Elliot recognized him immediately from photographs.
“You look like Dad.”
Julian smiled faintly.
“We’re cousins.”
“Did you like him?”
The question hit harder than expected.
“Yes.”
“Then why want him hurt?”
Julian sat.
“I wanted him to hit me.”
“I know.”
“Why?”
“Because I thought if he lost control in front of the board, he would be removed temporarily.”
“That’s company answer.”
Julian looked at Dr. Price.
She did not help.
Elliot continued:
“Why think he keep hitting?”
Julian’s face changed.
“Because I knew his temper.”
“He stopped.”
“Yes.”
“You were wrong.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Julian took a long time.
“Because I remembered who your father had been when we were younger more clearly than I noticed who he had become.”
Conrad heard the sentence from the adjacent room.
He had chosen not to sit inside.
Elliot asked:
“Was Dad violent?”
“Sometimes.”
“Bad?”
“Sometimes.”
Julian did not protect Conrad’s image.
That mattered.
“He got into fights. So did I. He learned to stop earlier than I did.”
“Then why you think Elliot—”
Julian stopped himself.
“Sorry.”
Elliot raised an eyebrow.
“You are Elliot.”
“No, I almost said your dad’s son like you’re not here.”
Elliot accepted the correction.
Julian continued.
“When Agatha said you were the one thing that might make Conrad forget everything he learned, I believed her.”
“Did you want me hurt?”
Julian’s eyes lowered.
“I told myself no.”
“That not answer.”
“No.”
Julian looked directly at him.
“I did not want you seriously hurt. I accepted you being frightened and restrained because I wanted what happened afterward.”
Elliot became very still.
“That means yes little.”
Julian’s face collapsed.
“Yes.”
Silence.
Then:
“Do you want family again?”
Julian breathed carefully.
“I want relationships with people I harmed if they want them too.”
“Do you want company?”
“No.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because I once treated company authority as something worth using a child to protect.”
Elliot considered.
“Can see you again?”
Julian looked surprised.
“That is your choice.”
“No. I ask you.”
Julian almost laughed through tears.
“Yes.”
The meeting lasted thirty-four minutes.
No hug.
At the end Elliot said:
“I don’t forgive chain.”
Julian nodded.
“I understand.”
“I forgive some talking.”
Julian nodded again.
Outside, Conrad asked nothing for almost five minutes.
Then failed.
“How was it?”
Elliot looked at him.
“He told truth.”
“You think?”
“Yes.”
“You trust him?”
“No.”
The answer was immediate.
Conrad nodded.
Then Elliot added:
May you like
“But I might know him.”
That distinction became the beginning of something neither adult tried to name.
