The Day My Mother Opened Me Up

At the case briefing, the officers present had grave expressions after Mom finished her autopsy report.

My body was too mangled for a facial ID. That abandoned building was a dumping ground and not the murder scene, which meant the investigation would be twice as tough.

Dad gave orders to the officers under him and sent them door to door near the building.

"Run another autopsy and see if anything new turns up. Get the DNA samples to the lab as fast as you can."

He tossed that over his shoulder to Mom before heading out with his team. They seemed to care more about the body than they ever did about me.

Once, Mom stroked Leo's hair and told him how being a forensic pathologist was a noble job that spoke up for the dead. I watched Leo nod obediently, but the second she turned away, he wiped his hair in disgust.

I slapped him for that, but ended up getting punished by Dad by having my head shaved bald.

Now, Mom ran her hand gently over what was left of my hair in grief. "Such a brutal death… His family must be heartbroken," she murmured.

A bitter smirk curled up at my lips, knowing that my family would probably celebrate my death. Perhaps Maeve would shed a tear, and that was all.

Mom's gloved hand reached my back, tracing the massive areas of burn scars I'd gotten after I was kidnapped.

When they'd first brought me home, she'd seen those scars while I changed clothes. She'd seemed surprised yet faintly disgusted. "What did you do to your back? Don't scare Leo with that; it's revolting."

Could she have recognized me with those scars? I bit my lip as nervous beads of sweat dripped from my forehead.

But she indifferently muttered, "Not from this time."

Suddenly, her assistant gasped, "Kamille, there's a piece of paper in the stomach!"

Mom's eyes widened as she took it. Then, she gave a sigh and said, "It's mostly eaten away by stomach acid. Get it to the trace evidence unit, and maybe they can pull something from it."

Suddenly, her phone rang with Leo's favorite song as its ringtone. She ripped off her gloves and rushed to the hallway, her voice softening instantly.

"What's up, sweetheart? I'm at work."

Then, she paused and said, "Tomorrow? Of course, your dad and I will be there to cheer you on. Maeve's away on business, so she can't make it back."

Leo's excited voice spilled through the line. "You're the best, Mom! I still hope Bastian will come and watch, too. If he cheers for me, I know I'll win.

"Still, it's fine if he doesn't. I understand why he doesn't like me; I did take away all your love from him for years."

We'd never gotten along, and he'd been undermining me from the moment I came home, but he always played the perfect brother when Mom and Dad were watching.

Going by past experience, Mom was probably gearing up to yell at me any time now.

And right on cue, her voice sharpened. "You're our treasure, and Bastian's nothing! Just from the fact that he steals money and picks on you behind our backs, he doesn't deserve to be my son.

"Don't worry. Even if I have to break his legs, I'll wheel him to your game myself."

Leo chuckled. "Dad called me earlier to be careful, and you should remind Bastian too, Mom."

"You take care of yourself, sweetheart. As for Bastian, I don't care where he goes as long as he doesn't die right before my eyes."

Mom always spoke of me with that particular distaste, maybe because, as the son they recovered, I was uneducated and a stain on the family portrait.

They didn't bother to change my last name after I returned. To Mom and Dad, Leo was their only son.

They worried so much about his safety, and never did it cross their minds that I was their rightful, biological son.

I wondered what their reactions would be when they learned the truth of my death. After all, Leo orchestrated it, and their hands weren't exactly clean either.