Chapter 25 - Lila Learns the Real Story
At four, the explanation was:
Uncle Adrian kept Daddy somewhere he could not leave.
At six:
Adrian was scared because he had done something wrong with the business, and he made another very wrong choice to hide it.
At eight:
More details.
Money.
False disappearance.
Confinement.
Still no graphic description.
Caleb followed a therapist’s guidance.
Truth in layers.
No lying.
No overwhelming.
At eight, Lila asked:
“Did Uncle Adrian hate you?”
Caleb took time.
“No.”
“Then why?”
“He cared more about escaping consequences than about what he was doing to me.”
She frowned.
“That’s worse.”
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Caleb later told me he had no answer.
Children sometimes reach the sharpest conclusion with the fewest words.
