The Officer's Runaway Wife and Secret Son novel Chapter 473

But the boy's joyful, beaming face from moments ago kept overlapping with the face of the teenager in the photograph.

Those eyes, so much like Rhys’s, had just been sparkling up at her.

He had called her “Aunt Margot.”

Margot’s fingers, suspended in mid-air, curled into a fist before she stiffly pulled her hand back.

She had nothing left.

She relied on handfuls of pills just to maintain a sliver of sanity, suffering through sleepless nights filled with nightmares of a massive truck and a sea of blood.

“Aunt Margot, why are you sad?” Felix suddenly stopped the game and turned to look at her. “Are you not feeling well? My daddy’s not happy when he’s sick either. You have to take your medicine on time.”

Margot shook her head. “It’s nothing. Let’s go play the claw machines.”

Behind a potted plant outside the arcade, Rhys’s young apprentice watched Margot’s every move, a cold sweat breaking out on his back.

“Boss, this woman seems… unstable,” he whispered into his phone. “I thought she was about to do something to the kid. Now they’re heading to the claw machines. There are too many people here. Should I just go in?”

Rhys’s calm voice came through the earpiece.

“Keep following. I’m in the parking garage now.”

The car screeched to a halt in a parking spot on the third basement level. Rhys pulled out the key and pushed his door open.

Clara was even faster, already running for the elevators in her high heels.

With a *ding*, the elevator doors opened.

A text from the apprentice arrived on Rhys’s phone right on time.

[South wing, claw machine aisle.]

Rhys grabbed Clara’s wrist and pulled her through the crowd, striding toward the south wing.

At the end of the aisle, in front of a pink claw machine, Felix was excitedly mashing the buttons on the console.

The mechanical claw slowly descended, grabbed a small stuffed rabbit, and swayed precariously toward the prize chute.

Clara rushed forward and caught Felix as he threw himself at her, pulling him into a tight embrace.

Feeling the warmth of her son in her arms, Clara’s heart, which had been lodged in her throat, finally dropped back into place. She buried her face in Felix’s neck and took a deep breath.

“Mommy!” Felix held up the stuffed animal. “Aunt Margot helped me get a bunny!”

He then looked up at Rhys, who was a step behind. “Daddy, did you buy me the gun?”

Rhys’s gaze was still fixed on Margot a few yards away. Hearing his son’s voice, he looked down and said, “Something came up. How about we go buy it together in a little bit?”

Felix nodded obediently. “Okay.”

Clara stood up and gently pushed Felix toward Rhys.

“You take him to the store and look around. I’ll be right there.”

Rhys hesitated.

He straightened up, his eyes darting between Clara and Margot. The events of four years ago tore through his mind. He couldn’t possibly leave Clara here alone to face this unpredictable madwoman.