"What?" Sherry Walsh froze, a strange anger flaring up inside. "In what world do I look like I’ve had a kid?!"
Noah Sterling hadn’t seen Sherry Walsh in years either.
His impression of Sherry was that she was impulsive and a bit neurotic.
Back when he was handling Gary Sinclair’s case, Sherry had been desperate to shadow him and learn every day. But before the first trial even began, she suddenly cut off all contact.
Then, a few years ago, she’d suddenly tracked him down, asking him to help Rory Linden pay back so money.
Now, seeing her temper, she definitely didn’t seem like the motherly type.
"My apologies. It was just a casual question."
Noah Sterling apologized graciously.
Sean Harrison’s gaze fell on Leo Linden’s face. He instantly recognized him as the little boy he’d seen playing with a Rubik’s Cube at Sanctum Hospital a few months ago.
He’d run into him once in the plaza, too.
He never expected to run into him again at the airport two months later.
And the boy was with Sherry Walsh.
Noticing Sean Harrison’s gaze fixed on Leo Linden, Sherry’s attempt to hide him only made her more conspicuous. She covered the boy’s face with her hand and said as she headed for the exit,
"My friend’s waiting for , so I’ve got to go!"
Rory Linden watched the scene unfold from a distance and took a few more steps back.
She had only returned this ti for work; she didn’t want to get entangled with Sean Harrison again.
Even if they were bound to et soday, she hoped it would be much, much later.
Before Rory Linden could move, her phone rang. It was Sherry Walsh.
Sherry told her that Sean Harrison was there and warned her not to rush over.
Rory Linden waited where she was for about three minutes. Only after confirming that Sean Harrison and Noah Sterling had left did she push her luggage cart forward.
Then, she headed for the parking spot number Sherry Walsh had given her.
"Rory! Over here, over here!"
Sherry Walsh was already waiting outside the car, waving at her.
Rory Linden pushed the luggage cart over.
Her eyes were fixed on Sherry, so she paid no attention to her surroundings.
Least of all did she notice Sean Harrison and Noah Sterling sitting in a passing Maybach.
"Rory Linden."
Noah Sterling recognized Rory Linden instantly.
Sean Harrison, who had just gotten into the car, had noticed Sherry Walsh getting out of a car diagonally across from them. The na she’d shouted had sounded a bit like "Rory."
He hadn’t been sure at first. But when he saw Rory Linden pushing a luggage cart toward her, he knew he hadn’t misheard.
"This is the international terminal. With that much luggage, it doesn’t look like she’s here on vacation."
Noah Sterling offered a simple analysis.
Sean Harrison was silent. A sudden thought struck him, and he asked, "Is there anyone else in that car?"
By now, Rory Linden had pushed the cart over, and the two won were loading the bags into the car’s trunk, one by one.
"I don’t think so," Noah Sterling said, looking across the way. "If there were anyone else, they would’ve gotten out to help by now."
Before he could even finish, another passenger got out of the car.
It was the little boy Sherry Walsh had been holding earlier.
The little boy naturally stood right next to Rory Linden, only moving a little farther away after she prompted him.
Sean Harrison sat in the front passenger seat. His car was only a few ters from Sherry’s.
He had a clear view of everything happening beside her car.
He watched until Sherry Walsh put the last bag in the trunk. As Sherry closed it, Rory Linden naturally took the little boy’s hand and led him into the car.
A breeze rustled the leaves of a nearby tree, sending silent patterns of light and shadow dancing across the car.
Just as a certain suspicion began to form in Sean Harrison’s mind...
Noah Sterling spoke up. "That little boy is Rory Linden’s son."
Sean Harrison’s mind suddenly flashed back to sothing Henry Lancaster had said two months ago, the second ti he’d encountered the boy...
He’d said, "Bro, you don’t have a secret kid sowhere, do you?"
Across the way, Sherry Walsh’s car had already driven off.
Sean Harrison’s eyes followed the car. He suddenly asked, "That kid... does he look like ?"
Noah Sterling looked at him, incredulous. "Yes! I was just thinking he looked strangely familiar, like he resembled soone I knew."
"He looks like ."
Sean Harrison’s tone was firm and certain.
’Right. He’s my son. How could he not look like ?’
’So, when Rory Linden suddenly told she was pregnant five years ago, it wasn’t a lie after all...’
’But back then, I was so convinced I had schizophrenia. I was terrified of passing it on to our child, so I was adamant about breaking up with her.’
’These past five years...’
’How did she manage?’
’All alone in a foreign country, working, raising a child... and still saving up to pay back that 540,000.’
’When I got that money, I didn’t even think to ask how she was doing...’
’No wonder Rory only ever said she had a child, without ever admitting that I was the father.’
’My actions certainly didn’t earn the right to be called a father.’
’Even so...’
And yet, Sean Harrison felt an emotion bubbling up inside him, like fizz in a soda bottle, impossible to contain or press down.
He couldn’t stop the corners of his mouth from turning up in a smile.
Noah Sterling quickly noticed Sean’s expression and promptly threw cold water on his mood. "The kid’s five years old, and you’re only just finding out you have a son? Looks like her plan was to never let you know, ever."
"But I know now."
Sean Harrison said, his voice firm.
’That’s right. I know now.’
’I know that Rory didn’t marry soone else and have their child. Her child is mine.’
’I have the right to pursue her again. There’s no moral pressure, and I don’t have to worry about breaking up her family.’
Noah Sterling could see the man’s mood improving before his very eyes. He sighed and started the car.
Sitting in the passenger seat, Sean Harrison took out his phone and started making calls.
His first call was to Ethan Dixon. He told him that he’d seen Rory Linden back in the country and asked him to find out where she would be working.
His second call was to Henry Lancaster.
"You rember that little boy we ran into outside The Azure Peak Hotel? The one on the skateboard."
Sean Harrison got straight to the point.
"What’s up? You confird he’s really your secret kid?"
Henry Lancaster rembered the boy without a mont’s hesitation.
It wasn’t because he had a great mory, but because he already knew who the boy was.
He felt a pang of guilt.
He wasn’t afraid of what Sean had found out, so much as he was terrified that Sean would find out *he* had been hiding it.
"So you think we look alike, too?" Sean asked.
"It’s not a matter of ’thinking’—that kid is your spitting image. That’s why I asked if you had a secret kid back then."
Henry Lancaster could already tell Sean knew sothing, so he had no choice but to play along.
Sean asked another question. "Based on your experience, how old would you say he is?"
"Huh? Uh... I can’t really tell. Three, maybe?"
Henry Lancaster was never around children; he had no idea how tall a kid was supposed to be at any given age.
Sean said, "I think he’s probably four or five."
The other end of the line went silent for a few seconds.
Henry finally couldn’t take it anymore. "Dude, you’re acting a little weird today. You never used to talk like this."
’In his experience, Sean Harrison had always been a man of few words.’
’And now he was talking in circles?’
’Sothing was off.’
’Sothing was very off!’
This was so unlike Sean that Henry would have suspected a phone scam or even a kidnapping if he didn’t already have an inkling of what was going on.
Now, he was just worried that Sean was trying to trick him into spilling the beans!
Sean didn’t bother hiding it anymore and went straight to the heart of the matter. "That little boy, he’s Rory Linden’s son."
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