Chapter 229: Ruben's Background

Chapter 229 Ruben's Background

The vast office was empty, except for Clifford's voice echoing through the room. 

It had a calm finality, but it felt like a sledgehammer pounding Ruben's chest, making his vision blur and his legs weak.

"Dean was my grandfather. He was also from Phoenixia."

Clifford's gaze was locked onto Ruben's shocked face, serious and crystal clear. 

"Decades ago, the descendants of laborers who had smuggled themselves from Silverlight City to Vesperia for a better life gathered in that fishing village. They are your people, and they are my people. That massacre is a sin my grandfather could never atone for."

"In the basement, he found more than just cold numbers. He found a surviving child." Clifford's voice trembled slightly, carrying a near-cruel tenderness. 

"He found the only bloodline of his best friend, a baby hastily hidden in a cold corner, barely breathing in its swaddling clothes. That baby was you, Ruben."

Ruben's body shook violently, as if struck by an invisible force.

His lips moved, but no sound came out, only heavy, broken breaths tearing through the dead silence. 

His eyes, usually sharp as a hawk's, were now filled with confusion and deep, unfathomable pain. Something within his pupils was shattering piece by piece.

"My grandfather gave you the position of Vice Chairman at ZAKA not just to hide your identity."

Clifford took a deep breath, as if summoning all her courage. She left the large desk and walked steadily towards Ruben. 

Then, to everyone's astonishment, this young woman, who held immense power within the financial conglomerate, slowly and solemnly knelt down on one knee!

"His final wish," she looked up, her eyes burning with determination, piercing through Ruben's confusion, straight into his soul, "was for you, Ruben, his best friend's only grandson, to take over the Palmer family! To become the new head of the Palmer family!" 

Her voice rose, filled with desperate resolve, "And stay! Stay with me!"

"Ruben," Clifford's voice was as clear as ice hitting the ground, with an undeniable force, "I love you. Please marry me!"

Time froze at that moment.

The heavy oak door with frosted glass had silently opened a crack.

Alan, Benjamin, and I stood stiffly at the doorway. Clifford's shocking revelation and her earth-shattering proposal had poured into our ears, like thunder exploding in the confined space. 

I instinctively grabbed Alan's hand, his palm as cold and sweaty as mine.

Benjamin was as tense as a rock, the color draining from his face, leaving only a pale shock and an indescribable pain.

Ruben staggered back, as if all support had been pulled from under him, his back hitting the cold glass wall with a dull thud. 

The sound seemed to wake him. He slowly, very slowly, turned his head, his gaze moving past Clifford kneeling on one knee, past the expensive wool carpet, finally landing on our faces at the door.

His eyes were terrifyingly empty, as if his soul had been ripped out, leaving only two bottomless pits. 

The emotions swirling within were too complex, too heavy—the pain of the "orphan" label being suddenly torn away after decades; the absurdity and sorrow of finally knowing his bloodline roots connected to a sea of blood; the overwhelming confusion of being thrust to a crossroads of fate. 

All these emotions clashed and tore at his face, ultimately converging into a fragile state on the brink of collapse.

"Mr. Wright." Ruben's lips trembled violently, his throat producing a hoarse, unsteady sound. 

It was weak, like the whimper of a dying animal, yet it felt like a burning dull knife stabbing into Benjamin's heart.

The next second, Ruben, who wouldn't flinch in the face of gunfire, found the only support he could rely on and lunged towards Benjamin, who was also trembling in his casual clothes at the door!

"Mr. Wright!" A suppressed, explosive roar burst from his throat, filled with a crying tone, immense grievance, and over twenty years of unanchored wandering.

He threw himself into Benjamin's open, equally trembling but firm embrace, like a child who had finally found his way home after enduring countless hardships. 

He clung tightly to his mentor's waist, burying his face deep into the old, faded jacket. 

His shoulders shook violently, and muffled, broken sobs escaped through his clenched teeth, intermittent yet heart-wrenching.

"I... I had parents... Mr. Wright..." Ruben cried, his whole body shaking, accusing fate in broken sentences. 

"They... they laughed at me... called me a rootless weed... a bastard... I... I..."

Benjamin's weathered, chiseled face twitched violently. This iron-blooded man, who had trained countless excellent detectives and never backed down from vicious criminals, had his eyes turn red in an instant. 

He hugged his most prized and cherished Ruben tightly, his calloused hands, which had steadied countless guns, now trembling uncontrollably, patting Ruben's heaving back clumsily.

"Let it out! Crying is good!" Benjamin's voice was choked, each word scraping like sandpaper, carrying a rough pain. 

"Silly boy, you're amazing! You're the best cop I've ever trained! A man who stands tall!" 

He fought the lump in his throat, trying to make his voice sound steadier. "You have roots! Your roots are here! In Silverlight City! With me!"

Benjamin lifted his bloodshot eyes, looking past Ruben's trembling shoulders at Clifford, still kneeling, pale but stubbornly holding her position. 

He then slowly scanned Alan and me. His gaze held deep sorrow, struggle, and finally a heavy plea.

"Ruben." Benjamin's voice lowered, carrying the fatigue of shedding all armor and a father's worry. "I came here because I heard some things from Leonard." 

He referred to Jordan, the District Attorney of Silverlight City. "I can't bear to lose you! Being a detective is dangerous, I'm scared! Scared that one day..."

Benjamin choked up, unable to finish, only hugging Ruben tighter, as if trying to merge him into his own flesh and blood. 

He took a difficult breath, his gaze sweeping the office that symbolized wealth and power. "Ruben, I won't stop you. Living safely is more important than anything. Staying is good too. No matter how big or difficult the task, someone has to do it, to bear it." 

His voice grew softer, filled with nasal tones, finally turning into a heavy sigh, dissipating in Ruben's suppressed sobs.

Outside the massive glass wall, the neon lights of Emerald City flowed silently, their cold glow reflecting the suffocating mix of joy and sorrow inside.

Clifford remained kneeling, like a silent statue, her eyes fixed on Ruben's back, burning with an unyielding flame. 

Alan's hand silently tightened around mine, his palm conveying silent support and a heavy sigh.

I looked at Ruben, crying like a lost child in Benjamin's arms, at Benjamin, holding back his pain while paving the way for his apprentice's future, at Clifford's desperate affection, and my heart was a mix of emotions. 

The choice fate had thrown at him was suffocatingly heavy.

"Ruben," I heard my own voice, slightly hoarse, trying to stay calm, "Benjamin's words are what Alan and I want to say too. Staying might be the door fate is opening for you." 

I paused, my gaze sweeping over Clifford's pale face. "Here, you have everything you need to face, things you need to do. No matter what you choose, Silverlight City will always have a place for you."

Ruben's sobs gradually quieted, leaving only his shoulders trembling uncontrollably. 

He didn't turn around, didn't look at Clifford, or any of us. He just clung to his mentor, as if that was the only real thing he could grasp at the moment. 

The air was frozen, only his heavy breathing and Benjamin's suppressed sobs echoing in the silence.

Ruben remained silent, like a dormant volcano. He didn't reject Clifford's shocking proposal, nor did he accept it. 

The immense impact of his lineage and the emotional whirlpool had pinned him to the spot.