The Officer's Runaway Wife & Secret Son novel Chapter 497

Rhys was still holding the piece of paper, his gaze fixed on the earnest, hopeful eyes before him until they blurred.

He wrapped his arms around Felix, pulling him into a tight embrace as his shoulders began to tremble uncontrollably.

*The cemetery, when he was thirteen.*

After the service, the mourners filed out one by one. The sound of Veronica West’s high heels clicking on the stone path faded into the distance. She never once looked back.

*The Huntington estate, when he was sixteen.*

Mia was still abroad, and there was no one in the Huntington family who was kind to him. On New Year's Eve, he sat alone in his bedroom. The holiday special played on the television, and the festive dinner grew cold, untouched by his fork.

*Oakridge Avenue, when he was thirty-three.*

It was the third New Year's Eve since Clara had left. He had two glasses beside him—one for his drink, and one poured for her. No one came to drink it.

He had been alone for so long. Every New Year’s Eve, he told himself he didn't want this, didn't need it.

He had compartmentalized his heart, weighing everything on the cold scales of logic.

In this world, no one was indispensable. Not blood relatives, not spouses, not any form of emotional connection.

He had reaffirmed this conclusion during countless lonely nights, hammering it into his mind like a nail, over and over.

But Felix’s piece of paper had just pulled out every single nail.

His suppressed breathing finally gave way to ragged sobs, which then erupted into unrestrained weeping.

Hot tears streamed down the man’s face, landing on Felix’s festive red jacket and leaving small, dark patches in their wake.

He couldn’t hold it in any longer.

The little, shattered Rhys who had been abandoned in the cemetery was finally being pieced back together, bit by bit, by his son’s hand-drawn piece of paper.

He no longer had to pretend. He could finally release the grief and fear he had bottled up for over twenty years in a place where he felt completely safe.

For a few seconds, the living room was silent.

Everyone heard the muffled, suppressed, and broken sounds of Rhys’s grief against Felix’s shoulder.

“This damn New Year's special is so loud it’s making my eyes water.”

Simon abruptly stood up and threw out the line gruffly. He grabbed a still-dazed Alex, saying, “Come on, let’s go to the balcony and watch the fireworks.”

VERIFYCAPTCHA_LABELVerify