The Officer's Runaway Wife and Secret Son novel Chapter 529

Inside the Police Department command center.

Rhys finished the handover procedures and took a seat in his new office.

He retained his high-level executive clearance and his rank as a Class III Police Commissioner. His position hadn't changed, and his rank hadn't been demoted.

It was identical to the brief stint he had served here before.

But sitting in this chair felt entirely different now.

The desk was spotless, the document trays were empty. There was no more rigorous training, no more field missions, and no more bracing for an alarm bell that could ring at any second.

All he had to face were the command terminals, the split-screen systems, and a stack of unopened file boxes.

A fixed desk, a set schedule.

During his lunch break, he could text his wife to ask what she wanted for dinner.

To say he had no regrets would be a lie.

When he used to sit in this seat, he knew he'd return to the SWAT team as soon as his injuries healed. That wasn't the case anymore.

But regrets aside, his ring finger was no longer empty.

His surgery was scheduled, the search for a lung donor was underway, and the lights in his home would be on for him every night.

That was more than enough.

Taking advantage of his lunch break, he gave his former rookie a call.

Ten minutes later, the rookie hurried into the command center's reception room, closing the door behind him.

"Boss... oh, wait, Director Huntington." The rookie grinned, correcting himself.

Back on the team, they called him Boss, entrusting each other with their lives.

Now, calling him Director felt different—there was a desk, a security badge, and two separate buildings between them.

It felt a little distant.

Rhys hummed in acknowledgment and jutted his chin toward a chair, gesturing for him to sit.

"Get in touch with a contact at the Fallowridge precinct."

"Huh? Why do we need them?"

Rhys didn't answer immediately.

That day in the VIP room, when Owen had spilled the truth under the influence of the drugs, Rhys had realized something: Owen felt absolutely zero remorse for his actions.

"She threw herself at me while she was drunk."

"She offered herself up on a silver platter. I had no reason not to take her."

Margot had undoubtedly held Rhys hostage with her lies for years, but no matter how complicated her post-incident manipulations were, they didn't alter the core nature of what had happened.

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