The Secret Heir's Return to Wealth and Love novel Chapter 2238

Wayne's gaze pierced through the heavy air as guilt once again began to swell within him. He was on the edge of reaching out, of drawing the boy into a hug, swallowing back the avalanche of unsaid words. But out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the picture by the bedside.

His hands clenched into fists, the veins on the back standing out, his skin a map of tiny puncture scars.

"But what did I do wrong?" Wayne's voice was steady as he looked at the boy. "Your tragedy isn't of my making, and my guilt, it's misplaced."

"Don't..." The boy's eyes brimmed with tears as they pleaded with Wayne, his weak head shaking ever so slightly.

The cruel words from the diary pages flashed before Wayne's eyes.

"My wife used to tell me love is freedom, not chains. Love brings joy, not pain," Wayne said earnestly. "Ayden, it's time to say goodbye. My wife and kids are waiting for me at home."d2

"You're leaving me?" Ayden's voice was a choked whisper as he inched closer, his emaciated figure making his eyes look all the more oversized.

He resembled a stray pup, pitiful and helpless.

Wayne's grip tightened. "You were never supposed to exist," he articulated each word.

Ayden just stared, stunned.

Wayne continued, "This is farewell. I won't be there to protect you anymore, no matter how dire things seem."

He paused before adding, "Ayden had freed himself many, many years ago. He set himself free, he wasn’t the pitiful child waiting for someone's rescue."

Penn had told him that sometimes shattering illusions and hallucinations only took a single sentence. Like a secret passphrase.