Chapter 6 - ELAINE HAD LIED TWICEElaine broke when Grant confronted her.
Not immediately.
First:
“The tests are wrong.”
Then:
“You shouldn’t believe commercial DNA.”
Then:
“Samuel was only a friend.”
Finally:
“Yes.”
She had an affair with Samuel Vale.
Not Adrian.
Samuel.
Adrian’s older brother.
It lasted less than a year.
Richard knew eventually.
But not until after Grant was born.
He chose to raise Grant as his son.
That was why he hated Adrian.
Not because Adrian had slept with Elaine.
Because Adrian knew the truth.
And because Samuel died without ever publicly acknowledging Grant.
Elaine said:
“Richard made us promise.”
“Who is us?”
“Me. Adrian. Samuel.”
Grant stared.
“Samuel knew I was his?”
“Yes.”
“Did he want me?”
Elaine started crying.
“Yes.”
“Then why didn’t he claim me?”
“Because Richard would’ve destroyed everyone.”
Money.
Reputation.
Custody.
The usual family weapons.
Grant sat down.
I understood something then.
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His entire lifelong obsession with masculinity and biological fatherhood had grown inside a family that already knew biology was unstable.
His shame had been inherited from a secret he didn’t even know existed.
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