The Officer's Runaway Wife & Secret Son novel Chapter 216

He stiffened, stopped at the landing, and turned around.

Margot stood at the corner of the stairs leading down from the third floor.

With no elders present, she dropped the facade of the frail, delicate flower.

Rhys stared at her with a dark, heavy gaze. "Why were you looking for her?"

"Just checking something."

Margot laughed. "I knew she was lying to you. She doesn't love you at all. The moment she felt slighted, she ran away."

She took a step closer, looking up at him. "Oh, by the way, she changed her number. Did you know that?"

Rhys didn't know.

And he wasn't going to investigate.

By not checking, he could pretend Clara had just gone on a trip to clear her head, and that one morning, she would simply return.

Seeing his silent endurance, Margot sighed.

"It doesn't matter. She's gone, but I'm still here. This is your home now. We can be just like before. Isn't that better?"

"Like before?"

Rhys repeated the phrase, looking down into her eyes.

Those were the eyes that had made him feel guilty for over a decade.

Whenever those eyes reddened, he felt compelled to compromise unconditionally.

For the first time, Rhys got physical with Margot. He pressed his forearm against her throat, pinning her against the wall. He smiled.

"Do you find this funny?"

Margot had never seen this side of him.

He said, "Clara was right. I am a dog. I obey, and you stay healthy. If I want to live my own life, you tighten the leash."

Margot felt a hint of suffocation.

She had never imagined Rhys would use such harsh words to describe himself, or their relationship.

Margot choked out, "This is what you owe me."

"Yes, I owe you." Rhys nodded. "I shouldn't have yelled at you and made you run off. I shouldn't have failed to stop you. I shouldn't have failed to catch you."

"But for all these years, one phone call from you and I had to drop everything to rush to your side. For you, I hurt my wife time and time again. Margot, it's been over ten years. Whatever debt I owed you, I've paid it back ten times over. We're even."

"You can never pay it back..." she murmured. "As long as I'm in pain, you owe me for a lifetime."

"Even if it's not enough, I don't intend to pay anymore." Rhys interrupted her. "If you're in pain, if you feel wronged, that is your problem. It has nothing to do with me."

Veronica West came upstairs, gasped when she found her, and helped her up. But Margot pushed her hand away.

Enduring the pain, she forced a smile. "Mom, I'm fine..."

Why?

It was true that Rhys owed her. The weakness of the past decade was real. She just wanted to keep Rhys in this oppressive home. What was wrong with that?

In this house, Veronica West only cared about fame and profit. Eric only cared about power.

The only person who had ever given her a shred of genuine warmth was that boy who, out of guilt, had obeyed her every wish.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling windows downstairs, car lights swept past. Rhys's car was leaving.

Margot held Veronica's hand.

"Dr. Warren said before that my illness was almost fully cured. It seems he was right. Rhys just pushed me, and I didn't feel that bad..."

Veronica West's eyes lit up, a new idea seemingly forming in her mind.

Margot understood her just as she understood Rhys.

Wanting to escape her?

Impossible.