Chapter 9
The lockbox held Edward’s journals.
But not only journals.
Photographs.
Bank ledgers.
Medical notes.
Letters from Clara.
And a birth certificate.
Brandon’s birth certificate.
Except the father listed was not Arthur.
It was blank.
Arthur sat down on the cabin stairs.
Brandon stared at the page.
Gene’s face turned to stone.
“Those papers are fake.”
Clara’s voice came from the ambulance doorway.
“No, Gene. You made them disappear.”
Arthur looked at her.
“Clara?”
She took a breath.
“Brandon is your son in every way that matters. But Edward knew Gene lied about the pregnancy timeline.”
Brandon looked like the floor had vanished beneath him.
I reached for his hand.
He held mine too tightly.
Gene shouted, “This is disgusting. On Christmas!”
Melissa flipped through another file.
“There’s a paternity test.”
Arthur closed his eyes.
Brandon did not move.
I whispered, “You don’t have to read it now.”
He shook his head.
“Yes, I do.”
The test showed what Clara already knew.
Arthur was not Brandon’s biological father.
The biological father was a man named Malcolm Pierce.
Gene’s former business partner.
And according to another document, Malcolm had died in a boating accident three weeks after asking Edward for money.
Arthur looked at Gene.
“Malcolm?”
She said nothing.
Clara did.
“Edward believed Gene caused that accident.”
The wind outside struck the cabin windows.
Holly clung to my coat.
Brandon’s voice broke.
“You called Holly not real family?”
Gene’s face twitched.
May you like
Brandon held up the test.
“You built your whole life on a lie.”
