Chapter 3: The Hidden Truth
Chapter 3: The Hidden Truth
That evening, Brandon drove straight to his mother's house.
She opened the door before he knocked.
"I knew you'd come."
He held the hospital papers in front of her.
"Why?"
Madeline looked almost relieved.
"Because it was time."
"Time for what?"
She invited us inside.
No one spoke until she reached an old cedar chest in the living room.
Inside rested a faded envelope.
Hospital stationery.
Twenty-four years old.
She handed it to Brandon.
"Read it."
His hands trembled.
The letter came from his late father.
"If you're reading this, I can no longer protect the truth."
Brandon looked up.
"What truth?"
Madeline closed her eyes.
"The doctors accidentally switched two newborn boys at the hospital thirty-six years ago."
I stopped breathing.
"One of them..."
"...was you."
Silence filled the room.
"My father knew?"
Madeline nodded.
"He spent years trying to prove it."
"Why didn't you tell me?"
"Because the other family lost everything."
"They begged us never to expose it."
Brandon whispered,
"So..."
"I'm not biologically your son."
Madeline slowly nodded.
"No."
"But I raised you."
"I loved you."
"And your father loved you."
May you like
Brandon sank into a chair.
Everything he believed about himself had changed.
