Chapter 9 - NICHOLAS'S REASON
Nicholas did not apologize immediately.
He explained.
That was his first mistake.
“When you boys were kids, we did birthday pranks.”
“Not like this.”
“You hated plenty of them.”
“That is not helping.”
Nicholas rubbed his forehead.
“I saw Lily’s list.”
Joshua stared.
“Mom said you hadn’t.”
“She hadn’t shown Caleb. She showed me.”
“Why?”
“Because she wanted me to talk to him.”
“Instead you planned eggs.”
Nicholas looked ashamed.
Then defensive again.
“I thought the whole problem was that everyone treated Lily like glass.”
Joshua’s expression changed.
Nicholas continued.
“She’s shy. She gets embarrassed. Then everyone rearranges the whole family around it.”
“She’s ten.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Nicholas slammed his palm on the table.
“I thought one harmless prank would show her she could survive being laughed at!”
Silence.
There was the motive.
Not just money.
A belief.
Nicholas genuinely believed resilience came from being pushed through discomfort.
He had raised Joshua and Caleb that way.
Teasing.
Practical jokes.
Public embarrassment.
“Learn to laugh at yourself.”
Joshua remembered hating it.
He also remembered eventually laughing.
That complicated his anger.
Nicholas said:
“You grew up fine.”
Joshua answered:
“Did I?”
Nicholas looked at him.
Joshua thought about how quickly he had grabbed the egg basket.
How easily humiliation turned into retaliation in the Rivas family.
Maybe “fine” needed examination.
Then Joshua asked the question that mattered.
“If it was about resilience, why hide the cameras?”
Nicholas had no answer.
“Why coordinate with the sponsor?”
Silence.
“Why wait until I was away from the yard?”
Nicholas looked down.
Because even he knew Joshua would have said no.
Again.
The money and the philosophy had reinforced each other.
Nicholas believed the prank was good for Lily.
The business needed the clip.
The sponsor needed consent optics.
Everyone needed the outcome.
So nobody asked the child.
Then Joshua found another contradiction.
The raw eggs used at the birthday party had come from a grocery bag.
But the production notes listed:
FAKE BREAKAWAY EGGS / WASHABLE FILL.
Joshua showed Nicholas.
“What is this?”
Nicholas frowned.
Caleb had planned safer prop eggs.
They had never arrived.
The shipment was delayed.
Nicholas made a last-minute substitution with real eggs.
Caleb had objected.
Nicholas insisted.
Joshua stared.
For the first time, Caleb was not the person who escalated the scene.
Then Nicholas said:
“Caleb almost canceled the whole shoot.”
Joshua stopped.
“Why didn’t he?”
Nicholas looked away.
“Because I reminded him what happens if Sunridge walks.”
The father had pressured the son.
The son had pressured the child.
The pattern was older than Joshua wanted to admit.
Then Nicholas said quietly:
“There’s something else about the studio loan.”
“What?”
“I’m not the only guarantor.”
Joshua frowned.
May you like
Nicholas looked directly at him.
“You are.”
