The Officer's Runaway Wife & Secret Son novel Chapter 282

November twentieth.

He knew that date far too well.

It was exactly seven months after Clara had left Brighton City, and it was the very day he had rescued hostages and nearly been blown to pieces.

That day, in the trauma room, his heart had stopped completely at one point.

Amidst a chaotic blur of hallucinations, he had seen Clara. He had begged her not to go, pleaded for her to turn around and just look at him.

So, on that exact same day, she had been fighting for her life in the delivery room.

While he had one foot in the grave, his child was fighting with everything he had to enter the world.

Rhys chuckled softly, the corners of his eyes reddening.

A life for a life?

He had walked through the valley of death, and in return, the child was born safe and sound.

For both of them to survive in this world on the exact same day—perhaps that was the only shred of mercy God had left for him.

"Four years old..." he muttered to himself. "Already four."

"Yeah, four," Daniel agreed.

Daniel took a sip of his tea, continuing to twist the knife in Rhys's heart. "Simon mentioned they ordered some ocean-themed cake and invited his whole preschool class. My wife bought him a mountain of Legos and clothes, and I've got a hefty check prepared for him."

As he spoke, his gaze dropped to Rhys's slightly trembling hands.

"What about you?" Daniel asked. "Did you even know about this day?"

Rhys lowered his head. "No."

He added, "No one told me."

No one had ever told him.

He couldn't even give the boy the protective thing he'd made. Now that he knew it was his birthday, he was completely empty-handed—he didn't even have a single piece of candy to offer.

He was the boy's father, yet he didn't know the day he was born, the time he entered the world, or how much he had weighed.

He didn't even have the right to wish him a happy birthday.

If Daniel hadn't mentioned it today, he probably would have gone his whole life without knowing that his connection to that child was forged in a moment of life and death.

Seeing him look so utterly devastated, Daniel sighed inwardly.

Daniel couldn't say he sympathized with Rhys, nor could he really call him a friend.

As a lawyer, he believed in contracts and rationality; the thing he despised most was hindsight regret.

But watching him over the past four years, even a hard-hearted man like Daniel couldn't bring himself to say anything too harsh.

"Alright," Daniel said, standing up and grabbing his coat. "It's getting late. I need to head back."

Rhys stood up as well.

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