?<strong>Chapter 1007:</strong>


    Rnd had braced himself for this moment, yet standing at the threshold, he found it impossible to reconcile the sickly figure before him with the woman he had seen in the photo.


    d in a ck jacket, his refined features and six-foot frame gave him amanding presence as he stood silently at the door.


    Katie’s lips parted as if to speak, but her hands trembled uncontrobly.


    Feigningposure, Rnd masked his emotions behind an expressionless face. He stepped into the room and closed the door with deliberate calmness. Her hair was brittle and lifeless, as sparse as thest leaves clinging to a dying tree in autumn. Her pallor matched her emaciated form—she was a shadow, a whisper of the person she once was.


    Rnd had seen starvation before, bodies reduced to mere skeletons. Katie’s condition was no different, and the sight of her struck him like a physical blow. As he crossed the room, Katie stared nkly at him, her gaze both searching and lost.


    Stopping by the window, Rnd took a deep breath, steadying his resolve before meeting her eyes. “Do you know who I am?”


    Katie didn’t answer. Instead, her emotions unraveled, and she began murmuring apologies. “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry! It wasn’t intentional!”


    Rnd’s annoyance red, his voice sharp as a de. “Sorry? Do you think ‘sorry’ can fill the void left by eighteen years without a mother’s love? Can it erase the years my father and I spent teetering on the edge of survival?”


    Katie reached out timidly, her voice quivering. “I’m truly sorry. I had my reasons.”


    Rnd let out a bitterugh, his eyes glinting with unshed tears. “Reasons? Do you take me for a child, someone who’ll swallow your excuses without question?”


    Her head hung low, tears streaking her withered cheeks as she remained silent.


    “Do I need to remind you why you ended up in prison? Fraud. Murder. You’ve outdone yourself. No wonder I turned out like this—it’s all in the blood, isn’t it? Are you disappointed I survived? Do you regret not snuffing out my life when you had the chance?” Rnd questioned.


    Katie shook her head vehemently. “No! It’s not like that!”


    Rnd’s voice cracked under the weight of his suppressed emotions. “Sometimes, I wonder why you didn’t just end it for me back then. Why let me live at all?”


    Though his words were harsh, they masked the vulnerable truth beneath. He had survived—an unwanted child, discarded and forgotten.


    If life had taught him anything, it was that survival wasn’t enough. He would thrive, if only to make her watch and regret every choice she had made. Wiping his tears with a rough swipe of his palm, Rnd spoke in a cold voice. “I have questions, and I expect answers.”


    Katie nodded vigorously, her gaze filled with sorrow as she studied her son. “I’ll tell you everything you want to know. Can I touch your face?”


    Rnd remained still, his expression unreadable. Katie hesitated, lowering her hand without touching him, her eyes drinking in his features.


    “You look so much like him,” she murmured.


    Rnd’s brow furrowed. “Who?”


    “Your father.”


    .


    .


    .