The Officer's Runaway Wife & Secret Son novel Chapter 293

Just before the party broke up, the sea breeze began to change its tune.

At first, it just sent the balloons in the yard scattering, but soon they were swept up into the sky.

The Heron Bay weather station issued a red alert for a typhoon.

Super Typhoon Kai had changed course off the coast and was heading straight for Heron Bay. Combined with an astronomical high tide, it threatened to cause coastal flooding. The airport and The Bay Bridge announced a full closure.

Guests hastily gathered their children and departed. Daniel and Emily returned to their hotel.

Noah and Clara drove Grace home. They were halfway up Harbor Loop on their way back when the sky opened up and a torrential downpour began.

The trees along the road bent violently in the wind. As the car rounded a sharp curve, Noah suddenly slammed on the brakes.

Clara lurched forward, caught by her seatbelt.

"What's wrong?"

"There's someone up ahead."

Directly in the car's headlights, a large poinciana tree had fallen, its broken branches crushing half of the guardrail.

A dark figure was kneeling beside the trunk, seemingly snagged on something. His back was arched as he shielded something in his arms.

At the sound of the screeching brakes, the person turned his head.

Rainwater streamed down his jaw. In that instant, a flash of lightning split the night sky, illuminating his deathly pale face and the old scar above his eyebrow.

Clara felt her chest tighten, the air suddenly knocked out of her.

Noah recognized him too. He paused for a second, then quickly unbuckled his seatbelt and plunged into the storm.

"Rhys!"

The roar of the rain swallowed most of his voice.

Rhys tried to stand, but his left leg wouldn't support him. He swayed and fell back to his knees.

A few faint meows came from his arms. He had been hit by the tree trying to save a cat.

"Car broke down," Rhys said, his voice hoarse. "The tree... clipped it when it fell."

Noah glanced behind him.

The front of the car had been completely crushed. If anyone had been inside, they wouldn't have survived.

"Get in my car."

Noah wasted no more words, reaching out to support him by the arm.

Rhys didn't move. His gaze pierced through the curtain of rain, fixed on Clara, who stood a few meters away.

Clara was soaked to the bone, staring blankly at them.

Seeing that it was Rhys made her and Clara's father even more alarmed. They quickly told Eloise to keep Felix upstairs.

"Quick, get him on the sofa."

Noah directed them as he took the dry towel Clara's mother handed him.

Rainwater mixed with blood dripped onto the floor, quickly forming a crimson pool.

Simon took the small cat by the scruff of its neck, and without that support, Rhys collapsed onto the sofa like a puppet with its strings cut.

"Clara, get me the first-aid kit. Simon, boil some water, turn the living room lights up all the way, and hold a flashlight for me."

Noah looked at the man on the sofa. "I need to examine the wound. I'm going to have to move you a bit, and it's going to hurt."

He held a pair of scissors and, without waiting for Rhys's response, cut open his shirt.

The soaked fabric clung tightly to his skin. Rhys let out a muffled groan as it was pulled away, his brow furrowed in pain.

As the fabric fell away, Clara, standing nearby, felt the first-aid kit tremble in her hands.

His left shoulder and arm were bloody from the tree branches, but thankfully, the gashes weren't as deep as she'd feared.

What made Clara freeze was the sight of his exposed back.

It was no longer the broad, smooth, well-defined back she remembered.