Playdate: The Untold Story of What Really Happens When A Father's Hidden Past Collides with An Innocent Afternoon

By Jade West

A simple playdate. A hidden past. A choice that changes everything.

Brian Matthews was just another unemployed dad trying to give his son a normal childhood. When he befriended Jeff Mitchell at school pickup, it seemed like the answer to both their prayers-two isolated fathers, two lonely boys, finally finding connection in suburban anonymity.

Then came the invitation that shattered everything.

What began as an innocent Saturday afternoon at a children's entertainment center erupted into chaos when armed men stormed the building, bullets flying past families, children screaming. Brian discovered the horrifying truth: his friend Jeff was a former Delta Force operator. The boy he called his son was actually the product of a classified government cloning program. And powerful forces wanted that child back-no matter how many people had to die.

Thrust into a shadow world he never knew existed, Brian faced an impossible choice: trust the federal agents calling Jeff a dangerous fugitive, or believe the man who had just saved his son's life. With his own family now targeted, Brian held the only evidence that could expose decades of illegal experimentation-or guarantee their deaths.
This is what really happens when ordinary people stumble into classified operations.

Based on extensive interviews and documented evidence, this gripping account reveals:

→ The secret program that created and terminated 47 children before one operator said "no more"
→ The father who sacrificed everything to give his genetically-identical son a chance at life
→ The choice an unemployed accountant made that triggered Congressional investigations reaching the highest levels of military intelligence
→ The families who survived when their quiet suburban lives became battlegrounds
"The most dangerous secrets are the ones we convince ourselves we've escaped."

More than a thriller. More than true crime. This is the story of what friendship costs when one wrong choice can destroy everyone you love. It's about the fathers who become heroes not through violence, but through refusing to break when everything-and everyone-tries to break them.
For readers who devoured The Secrets We Kept, In Cold Blood, and Killers of the Flower Moon.
For anyone who's ever wondered how far they'd go to protect their child.
One playdate. Two families. Secrets too dangerous to speak.
The truth was always going to come out. The only question was who would survive to tell it.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: B0G6XJQWL2
• ISBN13: 9798278638568
• Release Date: December 2025
• Publisher: Independently Published
• Length: 130 Pages
• Weight: 0.40 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 6.0" x 9.0"