Chapter 3

3

"Yes, of course."

The door opened and Mom and Dad left.

I lay there, freezing in my personal hell.

They didn't know I was immune to the drugs now, I could hear everything, and record it.

They flew a doctor in to fool me, and paid him for five years!

No wonder the rehab was on the twelfth floor of the hospital, it was all fake.

My heart ached, tears silently sliding down my face.

After my "treatment," Mom and Dad took me home.

Emily was already there, wearing an apron, after spending the morning with Chad.

"Honey, rehab's tough, huh? I made your favorite soup, it will help you feel better!"

Her eyes were loving and worried, just like the woman who loved me and would take care of me forever.

If I hadn't seen her with Chad, if I hadn't heard their words, I might have been moved.

But now, her smile seemed like a mask.

She loved the guy who put me in this chair.

She'd sacrificed her marriage, faking her love.

I looked at my son playing on the couch. For years, I'd missed it.

He never called me "Dad."

Emily always said he was too young, it was normal, not to worry.

Now, I knew.

At dinner, Mom stared at the food and started to cry.

Emily rushed to her side, Dad rubbed her back.

"She's just missing Chad, seeing his favorite foods," he said.

"That kid, even if he screwed up, he was ours for over a decade, he didn't deserve to die."

They were watching my face, and my stomach churned.

Didn't deserve to die? So you sacrificed me?

"Honey, it's been five years. Chad was only twenty, it's easy to do something stupid."

"We grew up together, and he gets jealous. He thought you wanted to take everything from him."

"Five days from now is the anniversary, I know you don't want to go. Can I take Mom and Dad to the cemetery?"

Emily was anxious, worried I'd flip out.

"Sure, he was here longer than me, you're right to have feelings for him."

I tried to sound uninterested.

Emily relaxed, her voice softer.

"Honey, I knew you were good, not mad about losing a brother."

Mom dabbed her eyes.

"Good boy, you're the best son a mother could have."

I bowed my head, letting the tears fall.

They knew I was their real son.

My stomach clenched, and I pretended I wasn't feeling well.

Emily brought medicine, and helped wash my face.

For ten years, she only had eyes for me.

I understood it now.

She didn't love me, she loved the idea of marrying the next Lewis Group heir.

She separated love and marriage.

Late that night, I got up and grabbed Emily's phone after she and my son were asleep.

The password was my son's birthday.

I was the first pin on her contacts, then my parents.

I couldn't find anything weird.

Until I switched accounts. Emily had a burner.

Only one contact, Chad.

[Emily, it's been five years, how much longer do I have to hide?]

[He doesn't have the evidence of what I did, and he's a cripple, he's nothing to be scared of.]

[Can you really keep my son away from his father forever?]

Emily reassured him.

[Mom, Dad, and I are coming up with a plan, don't panic.]

They'd already brought Chad back, changed his name, and gotten him a real estate company.

Five days from now was the ribbon cutting.

My hands shook as I scrolled.

The last five years, Chad was living the high life abroad.

He was wearing Lewis Group gear, living in a Lewis Group villa.

Emily was flying over on "business trips" to be with him.

Even my parents were smiling in the pictures.

They were a family.

I took screenshots of all of it, and switched back to my main account.

Then I noticed Emily changed her profile.

Before, it was one word: [Waiting].

I asked her what it meant, and she said it was waiting for my leg to heal.

Now, it said: [Homecoming].

Waiting, was for Chad's return.

Homecoming, Chad was home.