Chapter 12 - Tristan Had to Admit Selene Could Only Manipulate Him Because He Kept Choosing Convenience
Blaming Selene alone would have been easy.
Tristan refused.
He had missed warning after warning.
When Anna disappeared without saying goodbye, he accepted Selene’s explanation.
When Piper said:
“Selene says I forget things,”
he laughed.
When Piper became unusually sleepy, Tristan accepted:
“She’s going through a phase.”
When one therapist said nothing appeared seriously wrong, Tristan still allowed Selene to pursue additional evaluations.
When Piper said someone was inside the wall, he didn’t even stand up from his conference call.
That guilt was harder to process than anger.
A family therapist later told him:
“You did not cause Selene’s actions.”
Tristan understood.
But he also understood something else.
He had outsourced too much of Piper’s daily emotional life.
Work became his excuse.
Selene became the interpreter.
Selene said Piper was difficult.
Selene said Piper lied.
Selene said Piper was tired.
Selene said Anna quit.
And Tristan kept accepting summaries instead of asking his daughter.
The hidden wall had a physical version.
But there had also been one between father and child.
Built out of distraction.
Assumptions.
Convenience.
May you like
Tristan had helped leave that one standing.
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