The Officer's Runaway Wife and Secret Son novel Chapter 344

She knew now that Rhys had been forced, that he'd had no choice.

But that couldn't erase the five years of suffering she'd endured, nor could it undo Felix's absent father.

The most tragic part was that this truth made it impossible for her to even hate purely anymore.

Rhys was surrounded by ghosts.

He had struggled alone in that toxic environment for so many years, all while trying to keep her from getting splattered by any of the mud.

"Noah," she said his name.

"I'm here."

"If... if many years ago, someone threw a bucket of mud at you, and everyone thought you were dirty, even you yourself started to believe you were dirty... what would you do?"

Noah was quiet for a moment.

"I'd change my clothes," he said. "Throw the dirty ones away, take a shower, and walk out clean."

"But what if it's etched into your soul? What if it's a stain you can't ever wash away?"

"Clara." Noah's voice grew heavy, uncharacteristically serious. "There's nothing that can't be washed clean. Unless that person doesn't want to be clean, or... someone is holding their head down, not letting them."

That was a normal person's logic. Cut your losses and start over.

Clara lowered her head and recounted everything Margot had told her.

She spoke slowly, her tone calm. By the time she finished, a long, heavy silence had fallen over the rooftop.

After a long while, Noah looked out at the gray, overcast sky and let out a soft laugh.

"I knew it."

His gaze fell on Clara's face. "You came back to Brighton City, but not to see me."

Noah gently tucked a windswept strand of her hair behind her ear, his touch still as tender as ever.

"Clara, you don't have to force yourself like this. I've always said I have all the time in the world to wait, but I'd much rather you were happy."

It was hardly a charming first encounter.

"After that, I saw you many times—in the library, the cafeteria, on the athletic fields. Then, in your junior year, you were sitting right across from me, napping at a table, drooling on your book."

Clara's face flushed with embarrassment.

"I thought to myself then, when you wake up, I'll hand you a tissue and ask if I can get to know you." Noah's lips curved into a slight smile. "But I hesitated too long. I wanted to finish the chapter I was reading, I wanted to find the perfect opening line, I didn't want to be too forward, I wondered if I should go buy a bottle of water first..."

He was a man accustomed to careful deliberation, who needed to be certain of every move, to leave nothing to chance.

"But by the time I had it all figured out and went back to find you, you were already chasing after Rhys."

All it took was the time to look down and turn a page.

And just like that, the girl who was like a ray of sunshine plunged headfirst into someone else's storm.

She needed no opening line, no careful prelude. The traffic cop had just burst into her world and captured all of her attention.