Thomas had learned early that privacy was not always secrecy. Sometimes, it was survival.
In his family, anything he earned had a way of becoming someone else’s solution. His sister Claire would need help. His mother would make the need sound unavoidable. His father would turn it into a command. Thomas, who had always been expected to stay calm and useful, would give in.
Over time, he stopped arguing. He also stopped telling them the truth about what he had.
As a teenager, he worked long shifts and ate cheap meals between them. When he landed his first steady job, he downplayed his income. He opened a bank account his parents knew nothing about. None of it came from cruelty. It came from understanding the pattern.