Bank records.
Dates.
Every contact he had had with Isla.
He started counseling.
Then he told his parents that Isla would no longer be treated as a secret.
His mother immediately defended their old decision.
“We were trying to protect Ethan’s future.”
I looked at her.
“No.”
She stiffened.
“You protected his comfort.”
“Esme raised his daughter.”
I pointed toward Ethan.
“He was nineteen when you pressured him to walk away from Isla.”
Then I looked directly at him.
“But Ethan was thirty-six when he decided to hide her again.”
Nobody spoke.
“You don’t get to blame a teenager’s fear for a lie a grown man kept choosing.”
Ethan finally said what he should have said years earlier.
“Isla is my daughter.”
His voice trembled.
“Kai and Theo are not my only children.”
Then he looked at me.
“Nora wasn’t too fragile to hear the truth.”
