Secrets Hidden Within: The Unexpected Betrayal

Chapter 23: The Chase for Truth

The hospital lights buzzed overhead, cold and sterile. Chris had been rushed into surgery, and the doctors had given no promises. Luke sat on a plastic chair in the waiting room, his hands pressed together in a tense knot.

"You okay?" Zack’s voice was gentle, though it held the same unease they all felt.
Luke looked up, his eyes hollow. "I don’t know… He’s my father, but… I can’t tell if I want him to live or die."

Zack sat beside him, the weight of their shared past heavy between them. "Maybe it’s not about what you want, Luke. Maybe it’s about getting answers. We need to find Tyler."
Luke nodded slowly. "Yeah. We do." Just then Bridget and Roxanne came to join them in the waiting room,Bridget steaming towards Luke.

“This is all your fault. We are here because of you. You did this to him, you tried to kill him. We all saw you. I told you to speak with him calmly but you did the exact opposite like youalways do. And to think all he wanted was to make amends with you. All he does is reach out to you as a father but you reject him every chance you get. You are such a spoilt ungreteful brat who doesn-”

“Oh just shut up would you,I am not in the mood for this right now. I did not touch that man, he fell ill on his own. You would not be saying these things if you knew what he had said about you”. Luke interrupted her as she was yelling at him,blaming him for Chris’s current condition.Roxanne tried to intervine, telling her children to stop, that it was not the time nor place for this conversation to be held but Bridget continued regardless.

“Here you go again Luke trying to come up with the perfect excuse to help you get away from being in trrouble like you always do. He apologized and said he was sorry about hiding Tyler,He even told us he woke him up and was going to bring him home but he fell ill so he is being nursed to health. Why are you making a big deal about this then huh?He has ben so good to us all these years, especially during the time we were grieving.Forgive the man was all you had to do.” Bridget defended her father.

“ You feel special don’t you? Oh daddy’s perfect little princess. How dare you speak highly of the good for nothing excuse of a father? Where were you when he used to beat me to a pulp just for breathing in his direction? Where were you when he ordered  people to kill my best friend then make me forget all about it? Did you spent countless nights crying yourself to sleep because you blamed yourself and were blamed for Tyler being shot and dying? Did you have panic attacks every time you saw him because you knew he was about to physically put you through hell and call you worthless every time? Chris Ross may be your father but not mine, mine died when I was eight years old after he took me for ice cream and spent the day with me at the park.

You may easily forgive him but I refuse to be forced into something like that.You never went through the same shit as me and I am glad because I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.So do not go comparing yourself to me because we are not the same big sis.” At this point tears were practically pouring out of his eye sockets uncontrollably, breaking down with every word he spoke,voice beyond trembling at this point.

As Luke raised his face looking around the waiting room, he saw that practically everyone had stopped what they were doing and were listening to him, tears in their eyes, including the nurses and janitor who was cleaning at the time. Luke quickly gathered himself and went outside for some air. When his family and friends tried to consolehim he told them to focus on finding Tyler and if it did not involve him they should not bother talking to him about anything else regarding what he said in the waiting room.

A couple of hours had passed with them waiting at the hospital for Chris to come out of the ICU.They didn’t have much time. With Chris out of commission, the one person who could tie all the pieces together, they needed to act fast. Melanie had been gathering information from the old family contacts, and finally, she had a lead. An old Ross family property on the outskirts of the city—a place no one had spoken of for years. A place where secrets could easily be buried.

“We leave now,” Luke said, his voice firmer this time, filled with determination. “I need to see Tyler.”
The drive to the property was filled with quiet tension. Every mile closer to the truth felt like a step further into a dangerous unknown. Melanie had managed to dig out details about the secluded clinic, but they still didn’t know what they would find there. Luke’s heart thudded with the thought of seeing his brother again—alive, yet hidden from him for all these years.
When they reached the gates of the property, Luke’s breath hitched. The building was surrounded by thick trees, isolated from the world.

As they approached, Zack hacked into the security system, disabling the alarms and unlocking the gate.
“Are you ready for this?” Melanie asked, her voice shaky.
Luke nodded. “I have to be.”
As they stepped inside, the sterile smell of a clinic hit them.The place had been converted to a clinic on the inside. Maybe this is where Chris  and his guards got their medical checkups done . The halls were eerily quiet, save for the occasional beep of machines.

Chris had summoned every guard of his to be part of the search party for Luke, leaving two behind just in case. And then, at the far end of a dim corridor, they found him.
Tyler. He lay on a hospital bed, tubes attached to him, his face pale but unmistakably alive.
Luke felt his knees buckle as he stood over his brother’s body, a flood of emotions crashing into him all at once.
“We found him,” Zack whispered, his voice filled with awe. "We really found him."His eyes watered.

But the moment of relief was short-lived. They couldn’t take Tyler out of the clinic easily. Chris’s loyal guards were still patrolling outside, unaware of their intrusion. And time was running out—Chris’s condition was worsening at the hospital. If Luke wanted to face his father one last time, he would need to decide soon.