Page 134 of Lee

Lee thought Gareth would follow Janessa out the door, but instead, he appeared to settle in for the long haul.

His dark gaze settled and stayed on Lee. “What’s really going on?”

“You’re the doctor,” Lee said, trying to keep his voice light. “You tell me.”

“This is something more than just physical,” Gareth told him.

“Why would you say that?”

Gareth gave a shake of his head. “I can tell there’s something more going on. I’ve known you since you were three years old.”

“But you didn’t know me before I was three.” Lee knew he shouldn’t go down that road, but he needed to talk to someone about it. He wasn’t sure Gareth was the best person, but he was desperate.

Gareth frowned. “What?”

“Do you remember what I was like when I first came to live with you?”

“They said you’d been in an accident.” Gareth’s frown deepened, but sadness was also present. “You were so, so skinny, and you had bruises on your body. All your hair had been shaved off. You were still in diapers, and you didn’t talk for ages after you arrived.”

Lee’s stomach heaved as his memory served up images from the documentary to match Gareth’s recollections of how he’d been when he arrived at the Halverson home. He flung back the comforter and scrambled for the bathroom.

Gareth was there with Lee, as he was sick once again. He rubbed Lee’s back, then handed him a glass of water.

Lee knew that Gareth was going to have questions. And in that moment, Lee found he wanted to give them. He didn’t want to carry that burden of knowledge alone any longer.

“It wasn’t a car accident,” he said when he’d returned to his bed.

“It wasn’t?” Gareth asked. “I just assumed that your parents had died in the car accident that you’d been in.”

Lee wished it had been a car accident. “I was taken from my parents because of abuse… and murder.”

“Murder?”

Lee took a deep breath, then told him what he’d learned about his birth parents from Peter’s research and the docu-series.

Gareth dragged a hand through his hair. “I watched that show.”

Lee’s stomach clenched again as it sank in that people had watched the show for entertainment. His and Ian’s pain had been paraded out in public for entertainment purposes.

“But both of the boys in that documentary died,” Gareth said. “I don’t understand.”

“The authorities faked my death so that I would have a chance to grow up without the stigma attached to having had abusers and murderers as parents.”

“They’re not your parents,” Gareth said forcefully. “Mom and Dad are your parents.”

Lee nodded, because he knew his brother was right.

“Why did you go looking for answers?”

“My last relationship ended because I wasn’t able to give her information about myself. Information that she deemed super important.”

“Did you ask Mom and Dad?”

“Yes. They said they didn’t know the details about my past.”

Gareth hummed. “I guess they might have thought it was a car accident.”

“I knew the circumstances leading to me ending up with your family weren’t good,” Lee said. “But there are bad circumstances, and then there’s… this.”

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