Chapter 17 - Ethan Grant
The next secret came from Victoria herself.
Not Lily.
Not Claire.
Me.
Victoria wrote:
Arthur,
There is one person I never told you about because hiding him began before I met you.
His name is Ethan Grant.
He is my son.
I stared.
Victoria had a son.
Twenty-two years old.
Born when she was eighteen.
Raised by Victoria’s aunt.
He knew Victoria as a cousin.
Why hide him?
Theodore Vale.
Her biological father.
Victoria believed acknowledging a teenage pregnancy would destroy any chance of being recognized by the Vale family.
So she repeated the first lesson she learned from Theodore.
Hide what threatens the image.
Ethan knew nothing.
Victoria now wanted him told the truth.
But she did not demand contact.
That was something.
Independent counselors approached him.
He agreed to DNA confirmation.
Then refused to meet her.
His choice.
Lily asked:
“Do you think that’s why she hated Mom so much?”
“Partly.”
“Mom got to be Theodore’s daughter publicly.”
“Victoria didn’t.”
“And Victoria couldn’t even be Ethan’s mother publicly.”
“Yes.”
Lily became quiet.
“That’s sad.”
“It is.”
“I still hate what she did.”
“You can.”
Two truths.
Again.
Ethan eventually contacted Claire.
Not Victoria.
He wanted family medical history.
Claire gave it.
No pressure.
Then, years later, he visited Victoria in prison.
Once.
Afterward he wrote Lily.
Thank you for not pretending she was only a monster.
May you like
I needed to meet the person, not the headline.
Lily kept that letter too.
