I Died to End Their Lie novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: My Real Parents

Dad drives him home to a farmer and his wife and calls them his birth parents.

Dad drove with both hands tight on the wheel and didn't say a word for the first ten minutes.

I sat beside him with my forehead against the cold window.

My fever had come back, and the road kept sliding to one side.

"Say something," he said.

"I'm sorry."

"I don't want you sorry. I want to know what you thought you'd find."

"A blood relative," I said. "For a match."

I said it so quietly that it was almost nothing.

Dad snorted.

"A match for what? A birthday present?"

I almost told him then.

I almost said the word leukemia out loud, to the man who had just admitted through a wall that he was my father.

But he had already decided what I was.

He had already decided what I was, and he would hear a diagnosis as one more excuse.

"I wanted to understand why nobody wanted me," I said instead.

"Nobody wanted you?" His laugh was short. "Is that what you think we did? Your mother and I raised you for thirteen years like our own."

"You told me I wasn't yours."

"Because you needed to hear it." His voice never rose. "You were a greedy little boy, Jesse. You'd have taken everything your brother had."

My brother.

My brother, who was adopted.

I looked out the window so he couldn't see my face.

"And you think your registry can give you something better than what you have?"

"No."

"Then why?"

"Because I wanted to be allowed to stop owing you," I said.

His hands tightened.

"Owing me," he said. "I'll show you what you owe."

He turned the car around at the next light and drove us home.

The house looked the same as I had left it.

The lawn was cut, the garage door was closed, and Cade's grand piano was visible through the front window.

Dad walked up the steps without looking back and opened the door.

I followed him in.

There were two people sitting on the living room sofa.

A man in a canvas work coat sat with his knees apart and his hat in his hands.

Beside him a woman in a faded cardigan sat holding a purse on her lap, and her eyes went straight to my sneakers.

They both looked up at me and neither of them smiled.

Mom stood by the piano with her arms crossed, and Cade stood behind her, one hand on her shoulder.

Dad's assistant stood at the window, looking at his watch.

"Sit down, Jesse," Dad said.

I stayed standing.

"You wanted to know where you came from." Dad stepped beside the sofa. "This is where."

I looked at the strangers.

The woman's mouth opened, then closed again.

"Meet your real parents," Dad said.

I knew it was a lie, because I had heard him say who my parents were through a wall.

I kept my face still.

"What was my birthday?" I asked the woman.

She looked at my father.

"March," she said. "March something."

"It's in August," I said.

"Close enough," the farmer muttered.

Dad's jaw tightened, and nobody in the room said anything about it.

The man on the sofa looked at the carpet.

His hands were big and cracked, and his boots had left a line of dried mud on Cade's rug.

I knew a farmer's hands when I saw them.

I also knew that no father I'd ever heard of had checked his watch while meeting his child for the first time.

"They've been looking for you for nineteen years," Dad said. "They just never had the money to come."

I looked at my mother.

She lifted her chin and looked away.

I looked at Cade.

His eyes were wet, and his hand was tight on her shoulder.

"Jess," he said softly. "I'm really sorry it came out like this."

I didn't know what he was sorry for.

"Pack a bag," Dad said. "You're going with them."

"For how long?" I asked.

"Until you understand the difference." He put his hand in his jacket and took out the registry letter.

He dropped it in the farmer's lap.

"He's yours now," he said to them.

Mom stepped forward with a thick envelope.

She put it in the farmer's hand.

"For the trouble," she said.

← Chapter 2 · All chapters · Chapter 4 →

Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend