When the murderer tortures me to death, my criminal investigator dad and chief forensic pathologist mom are cheering at my brother's match.

The criminal saws off my tongue. He answers my Dad's call with my finger.

Just before the call ends, Dad's cold voice cuts through. "Playing dead, huh? We should never have brought him back."

The murderer chuckles mockingly. "Looks like I grabbed the wrong kid. I thought they'd care more about their real son."

When Mom and Dad arrive at the crime scene later, they stare at the mutilated body in shock and rage at the murderer's cruelty.

But they never realize that the broken, bloodied body is their biological son.

My body was found in an abandoned building.

One of the construction workers threw up so hard he could barely dial 911.

When Mom and Dad rushed over straight from Leo Hawkin's celebration party, a criminalistics expert frowned as he gestured for them to put on their masks.

Dad was one of the top criminal investigators the city ever hired from outside the force, while Mom was the best forensic pathologist in Jarrowood.

Despite the countless crime scenes they'd seen, they both froze when they saw the body.

It was the peak of summer, and the heat made everything worse. The body was bloated, and the face was crushed beyond recognition.

Bruises and injuries covered the body, and there was barely anything left of the head but the torn skin clinging to the neck.

The pungent smell of decay hit them in waves.

Mom closed her eyes and took a deep breath before putting on her gloves and getting to work. She looked down at what was left of me, and pity filled her eyes.

She'd never looked at me that way when I was alive.

I watched her nervously as she slipped the blood-caked ring off my finger.

That was one of the matching rings I'd made for everyone in the family, and Mom and Dad had yelled at me for Leo's ill-fitting ring.

"Of course, you did it on purpose… You're always picking on your brother!

"Bastian, you may be our biological son, but Leo has lived with us for over a decade. He'll always matter more than you do!"

I could remember how harsh their chidings were, but even now, I believed they still loved me. Surely they'd recognize the ring as my gift!

But Mom expressionlessly handed it to her assistant, who dropped it into the evidence bag.

I shouldn't have expected anything else, knowing I never really existed for them, though I was their son by blood.

My older sister, Maeve Hawkin, once told me they'd adopted Leo only because they couldn't find me after I was kidnapped, and that I was the only son they loved.

But when I came home, I seemed to have lost my place within the family and felt out of place like an impostor.

After looking around the crime scene, Dad sighed and turned to Mom. "What do we know about the body?"

She pulled off her gloves and rubbed her temples as she replied, "Looks about 20. Preliminary investigation results show a deep cut to the throat, and they were tortured for quite a while before death."

"Such brutal cases are field days for the press. We have to solve it fast before it blows up," Dad murmured, looking deeply troubled. Then, he lit a cigarette and took a deep drag before exhaling a cloud of smoke.

Even dead, I was still a problem for them to fix.

The criminalistics expert piped up a reminder. "The culprit's still on the run, so tell your family to be careful, especially your two sons. Keep them home at night."

Mom irritatedly replied, "Leo's always well-behaved, and it's Bastian I can't control."

The criminalistics expert, an old classmate of theirs, just nodded. He knew how things were in our house.

Dad rubbed his right shoulder and winced a little.

Noticing his actions, the criminalistics expert asked, "Does your shoulder hurt again, Garrett?"

Dad shook his head and waved dismissively. "It's fine. Bastian got me medicine the other day…" he trailed off, stunned.

The son they claimed they couldn't control was exceptionally worried about their health.

The criminalistics expert gave Dad a pat on the back and said, "You should treat him better. He's your flesh and blood, after all."

Dad just shook his head. "Leo had a tennis match the other day and kept begging Bastian to come watch it. But Bastian played dead and said nothing after answering the call.

"Leo was so disappointed that he only managed to score third place."

"Bastian hasn't come home for days, and for all we know, he could've died on the streets. That's what happens when you don't raise them yourself," Mom added.

Their harsh words and blame froze me to the bone.

I wanted to scream so badly and tell them that I didn't mean to stay away, and that I just couldn't return home anymore.

The brat they called ungrateful… died the day they both went to cheer for Leo's tennis match.

Now, my body was right here.

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.

After gently telling Leo to get some rest, Mom picked up another call from Maeve.

She anxiously asked before Maeve could say a word, "When are you done with that work trip, Maeve? Your brother's waiting for you to watch his game."

When I first came home, Mom and Dad had been too busy comforting the sobbing Leo. It was Maeve who'd taken my hand and led me into the house, telling me not to be scared.

She was the only warmth I'd ever known in that house.

On the other end of the line, Maeve paused before asking in surprise, "Is it Bas's math competition? I thought it's next month…"

Mom angrily cut her off. "Not Bastian! It's Leo, the brother you grew up with!

"How many times do I have to tell you that Bastian came back from who knows where and is full of bad habits? He's not worthy of being a Hawkin!"

Maeve sighed softly as if she couldn't understand Mom's hostility. "You shouldn't always believe what Leo says, Mom. Bas is a good kid, and you'd see that if you'd just look closer.

"I called him earlier, but he didn't pick up. He didn't reply to my messages for several days either. Is he not home?"

Mom gave a dismissive snort. "He's got legs, and I can't chain him up, can I? He's probably off doing who knows what.

"Anyway, Leo's tennis match is tomorrow, and if you can't come, so be it."

She paused before delivering her ruthless final words. "Tell Bastian that if he dares skip Leo's tennis match tomorrow with another one of his disappearing acts, he shouldn't bother coming back at all. The family's better off without him anyway."

Ignoring Maeve's attempts to speak up for me, she hung up.

Just then, Dad returned with his team. Noticing her grim expression, he curiously asked, "Is that body giving you a hard time?"

Mom shook her head and grumbled, "It's Bastian. He probably called Maeve to complain again, and now she's helping him play this stupid missing act."

Dad sighed heavily. "What an insensible kid! He knows we're busy and still pulls this crap! I'll call and give him an earful right now!"

Yet despite his attempts to dial my number, he never received a reply.

"Ungrateful brat! Might as well have stayed lost when all he does is bring us trouble!"

The criminalistics expert, who'd been listening in, sighed. "I remember when you both took a whole year off to look for him when he was kidnapped, so why'd you treat him like a mortal enemy now that he's back?"

A bitter smile tugged at my lips, knowing the reason was that they wanted a polished, well-spoken son, not a scrawny kid lacking decent manners.

When I was brought home at 15, I found Mom and Dad in the grand living room, holding the sobbing Leo close and comforting him.

Dressed in patched clothes, I stared down awkwardly at the hole in my shoes, where my toe poked through the rubber.

When Leo spotted me, his cries halted abruptly. Then, he asked with feigned innocence, "Who's this little beggar?"

Mom and Dad's expressions darkened instantly, not at Leo's words, but at the sight of me. I did not match the picture of the son they'd had for years.

That was when an officer approached with a report in hand. "Garrett, Dr. Brandt, we checked the missing persons files. Nobody reported a young man missing these days."

"Didn't his family notice he was gone? Could it be that they weren't close?"

"I can't believe any parents could be this cold and not care about their kid!"

The hushed whispers around me cut deep, and a heavy, crushing sorrow wrapped so tightly around me I could barely breathe.

Mom and Dad grieved for strangers whose families didn't lodge a report soon enough, but they never once wondered if I was safe while I was gone for the past few days.

Back then, they dropped everything to search for me when I was kidnapped. But now, they suspected that my disappearance was a stunt for attention.

Perhaps they were right; I should never have returned to the Hawkins. That had always been Leo's home and not mine.

Leo had claimed those years when I might have mattered most to Mom and Dad. And now, all the love that should have been mine would never find its way to me again.