The CEO’s Regret: Begging Her Firefighter Ex-husband

Chapter 7

Before dawn, the emergency phone rang in the base dormitory.

Director Vance called Lucas into the command office, pointing toward the live radar display on the wall.

A violent storm had shifted back toward the coast, kicking up massive waves across the outer reef.

A large passenger ship carrying over two hundred people had suffered complete power failure and was drifting toward the rocks.

"It's a bad one, Lucas," Vance said, his face lined with heavy concern.

"Your leg still hasn't fully healed from the survey wreck, and you have a family waiting at home. You don't have to lead this rescue boat."

"I can assign Team Leader Miller's relief team to take point while you coordinate from the dock," Vance offered quietly.

Lucas looked at the radar tracking the drifting passenger vessel in the storm.

"The water out there is dangerous, Director. Nobody on our team knows those shallow rocks better than I do."

"Those passengers don't have time for a crew that has to second-guess the approach," Lucas said. "I'm taking the boat out."

Vance watched him for a long moment, then let out a heavy sigh and nodded. "Get geared up. And make sure your pre-mission records are confirmed."

In the base locker room, protocol required every squad leader to verify their personal affairs before entering a severe storm zone.

Lucas had already submitted papers listing his teammate Mark as his primary contact, but legally, their marriage was still recognized by the state.

If the worst happened on the water, maritime command was still bound by law to notify Claire.

Lucas sat down on the wooden bench, pulled out his phone, and dialed her number.

The phone rang until the voicemail tone clicked in.

He waited twenty seconds, then dialed again. Once more, the call went completely unanswered.

The engine rumblings of the rescue boats outside vibrated through the floorboards as Lucas dialed her for the third time.

On the sixth ring, the line finally clicked open.

"Lucas?" Claire's voice came through, sounding hurried and distracted. "What is it? I'm right in the middle of something."

In the background, the quiet hum of an office and rustling legal files were clearly audible.

Julian's low voice spoke nearby, asking where the parent signature should go.

"Claire, listen carefully," Lucas said, keeping his voice steady against the howling wind outside.

"A passenger ship lost power near the outer reef. Our team is heading into the storm zone for an emergency evacuation."

Claire let out a short, tired breath. "Okay? That's your job. Why are you calling me about it?"

"This mission carries an extremely high risk," Lucas said plainly.

"If something happens and I don't come back, everything is already arranged."

"My personal things, my insurance policies, and the signed divorce papers are with Thomas. He will handle the final steps with you."

The moment the word ‘divorce’ left his mouth, Claire's tone sharpened with annoyance.

"Are you really pulling this again?" Claire asked, her voice tight with irritation.

"You're heading out to work, and you use a routine rescue mission just to threaten me with divorce papers?"

"I am not threatening you," Lucas replied calmly. "I am telling you the procedure so you aren't blindsided."

"You do this every time you want to prove a point," Claire said, convinced he was only exaggerating the danger.

"You are a maritime rescue team leader, Lucas. Every single mission has risks. You've been doing this for years, and you always come back without a scratch."

"Claire, this storm is different from the others."

"Julian's custody hearing is in two days, and we are sitting with the family attorney right now," Claire cut in impatiently.

"If we don't finish these guardian forms today, his ex-wife's family will take Leo away. I have urgent problems to solve, Lucas."

"Claire?" Julian's soft voice carried through the receiver. "The attorney needs your signature on the guarantee. Could you come take a look?"

"I'm coming," Claire answered Julian before speaking back into the phone.

"Stop filling your head with all these dark thoughts, Lucas. Do your job, be careful, and we will talk about the divorce when you get home."

Lucas listened to the familiar urgency in her tone—an urgency that was always reserved for someone else.

For five years, he had believed that if he stood by her side long enough, handled every difficulty quietly, and waited patiently, she would eventually see him.

Now, sitting alone on the locker bench with the storm rattling the glass, he finally understood that his life was simply a background convenience to her.

There was no anger left in his chest, only a strange, hollow quiet.

"Okay," Lucas said softly.

He hung up the phone before she could say another word.

Lucas powered the phone down, placed it inside his metal locker, and shut the door.

He pulled on his helmet, zipped his heavy jacket, and walked out onto the rain-lashed pier.

Two hours later, the rescue boat reached the outer rocks through towering black waves.

The passenger ship listed heavily against the rocks, its lower compartments taking on freezing sea water.

In the driving rain and darkness, Lucas directed the transfer lines with seasoned precision.

For nearly four grueling hours, his squad pulled terrified passengers through the wild water into life rafts.

By noon, the final group of survivors had been brought safely aboard the main escort vessel.

"That's all of them, Team Leader!" Mark shouted over the radio, gasping for breath. "The passenger vessel is completely empty!"

"We need to break away right now—these waves are breaking over twenty feet!"

"Understood," Lucas answered through his headset, turning the rescue boat toward the open channel. "Heading back to the mother ship."

Just as the boat crested the next swell, a massive rogue wave rose out of the storm without warning.

A dark wall of water slammed down directly onto the small rescue boat with crushing force.

The metal frame buckled under the weight of the sea, and the wheelhouse glass shattered into a thousand pieces.

In a split second, the rescue boat flipped upside down into the freezing foam.

"Mayday! Mayday!" Mark's voice shrieked across the open emergency channel. "Rescue Boat Four has capsized!"

"I repeat, Boat Four is rolled over! Team Leader Cole and two divers are in the water! We've lost visual!"

Then the frequency dissolved into a deafening roar of static.

Back in the city, the afternoon rain had finally slowed to a light drizzle.

Claire walked out of the downtown law office holding a thick leather folder, a visible look of satisfaction on her face.

Julian walked beside her, carrying a sleeping Leo in his arms, his eyes filled with quiet gratitude.

"I don't know how to repay you, Claire," Julian said softly. "Without you signing as the co-sponsor, the judge would have handed Leo over to her parents."

"You don't have to say that," Claire replied with a gentle smile. "Your sister trusted me to watch over you two. I wasn't going to let anyone take Leo away."

As they reached the steps leading down to the parking lot, her phone began to buzz insistently inside her coat pocket.

Claire pulled it out, expecting a call from her firm's project manager.

Instead, the screen displayed the direct landline of the maritime search and rescue headquarters.

Claire swiped the screen and brought the phone to her ear. "Hello? This is Claire Hayes."

"Ms. Hayes," a strained, somber voice spoke from the other end. "This is Base Duty Command. We are calling regarding Team Leader Lucas Cole."

A sudden chill struck Claire's ribs. "What happened? Did the rescue finish?"

"The evacuation was a success, ma'am," the officer said, hesitating for a heavy, agonizing second.

"However, during the final withdrawal, Team Leader Cole's boat was struck by a rogue wave and flipped over near the outer rocks. The boat went down."

Claire froze on the stone steps, the air instantly knocked out of her lungs.

"What do you mean it went down?" Her voice wavered, cold sweat prickling across her skin. "Where is Lucas?"

"Our escort vessels reached the coordinates and recovered the hull fragments," the officer said quietly.

"Team Leader Cole and two squad members were swept away. Search teams are deployed across the area, but the water temperature is freezing, and given the conditions... command advised that family members prepare for the worst."

The leather folder slipped from Claire's fingers.

Legal papers and guardian forms scattered across the wet concrete, but she didn't look down.

The busy street around her seemed to lose all light and sound.

Her mind snapped back to the early morning call—his calm, tired voice, the warnings she had brushed off as petty drama, and his final, quiet word before he hung up.

‘If something happens and I don't come back, everything is already arranged…’

Claire stood paralyzed on the rain-soaked sidewalk, her hands trembling violently as her heart dropped into a bottomless void.