My Love Until the Last Goodbye (Mary and Maximus) novel Chapter 374

Chapter 0374 

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While Alden comforted Grace and tried to figure out their next move, he kept glancing at the man driving the elegant car they were in. It was surprising how this stranger had stepped in to help him. Though Alden’s memories of their encounter were still muddled, he felt a deep sense of gratitude for meeting him. 

[Ushuaia, one week earlier] 

When the car window rolled down, Alden got his first look at the man behind the wheel. The resemblance was uncanny. He didn’t need the man to explain who he was; Alden just knew. But something didn’t add up. His father was supposed to be dead. Unless this man wasn’t who he thought, maybe Maximus, his uncle. That was the only logical explanation for what he was seeing. 

“Are you Maximus Palmer? Are you my uncle?” Alden asked hesitantly. 

The man behind the wheel smiled faintly and opened his door, stepping out of the car. 

“No. My name isn’t Maximus, and I’m not your uncle. I’m your father,” the man said calmly. 

His words hit Alden like a thunderclap. This had to be some kind of mistake. As far as Alden knew, his father had died in a car accident years ago.. 

“You can’t be my father! He’s dead!” Alden said, disbelief etched on his face. 

The man standing before him looked youthful in some ways, but certain features betrayed the passage of time. Leaning on a cane, he walked toward the railing of the pier. 

“If I were you, I wouldn’t believe it either. How could the man you thought was dead now be standing in front of you?” he said, gazing out at the horizon. 

“Peter, I’ll give you some space while I keep an eye on the area,” Theodore said, stepping away to give them privacy. 

“Thanks,” Peter replied. 

Alden, standing just a few steps away, moved closer. “Why? Where have you been all this time? Why the hell did you fake your death?” 

“I did die. Many times, in fact. I’m not even sure how many, but the doctors always brought me back,” Peter said, gripping the handle of his cane tightly. 

Fragments of his memories began to surface, He sighed and turned to Alden. 

“Do you really want to know what happened?” Peter asked. 

“Yes! I deserve to know why you never showed up, why my mother cried for you. And look at you–you’re alive!” Alden’s voice cracked with anger and confusion. 

Peter studied him for a moment. The mention of Alden’s mother caught his attention. He didn’t remember her clearly, only vague images and recent photos that Theodore had shown him. But hearing that she had cried for him stirred something within him. 

“According to Theodore, someone tipped me off that they were coming for me. I still don’t fully understand why, but I know this much: that day, it was either me or my partner at the time who had to die.” 

“You don’t remember your life?” Alden asked. 

“Not everything. Sometimes, when I see people who were part of my past, I get flashes of memory, but I can’t recall everything clearly.” 

1/2 

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Chapter 0374 

“What happened to you?” Alden pressed. 

“That day… Theodore says he warned me hours before, but guess I wasn’t careful enough. According to the investigation, it was a brake failure. Supposedly, I was heading home, but the car failed, and I went over the cliff. I have this recurring dream where I see myself at the accident site, falling, feeling my body crash against something. Then there’s this intense heat around my head, and after that–nothing. Just darkness.” 

“Did you get out of the car?” Alden asked, his voice barely above a whisper. 

“I guess I must have. Everything I know is from medical reports, what Theodore told me, and what the nurses said while they were caring for me. But one thing is clear: when first woke up, I couldn’t see. My eyes were bandaged, and I was in a room that reeked of disinfectant, my body covered in wires.” 

“What do the reports say?” 

“I had a severe traumatic brain injury. According to Theodore, as the car went over the edge, I jumped out. Sounds crazy, but it was the best thing I could’ve done. The car was obliterated, and the person Theodore had hired to watch over me was incinerated. If I hadn’t jumped, I’d have ended up the same way.” 

“Then why did it take you so many years to look for us? Does your family even know you’re alive? My mother told me you were going to be a father–you had a wife or a girlfriend. I don’t even know…” 

“Theodore told me the same thing. But even now, I don’t know who that woman was. From what little I’ve been able to gather, she had a daughter–my daughter. But I don’t remember her. I can’t just show up and turn her life upside down like that. She’s moved on. She married a friend of mine, and for her, I’m dead. Besides, my memories are too fragmented.” 

“And me? Why did you wait so long to find us?”