Chapter 5
The room turned cold.
Jack didn’t say a word; seconds dragged into minutes until Olivia’s consciousness began to fade again.
At last, his voice cut through the silence. “Save Emily first.”
The nurse froze.
“Captain Rivers, with all due respect–this is life and death. Miss Ross’s condition is still manageable, but Miss Hart-”
“I said save Emily first,” Jack repeated, voice low and unyielding.
Olivia let out a faint laugh, tears slipped from the corners of her eyes–then everything went dark.
She wasn’t afraid of dying.
She was afraid this was how her life would end.
As the edges of her awareness dissolved, fragments of her past her mother’s death, her father’s obsession with another woman’s child
before her.
All those sleepless nights alone in a foreign country, wondering if disappearing might be easier than enduring one more day.
–
flashed
But she hadn’t. Because deep down, some part of her still wanted to live. Still hoped for more.All those people who had hurt her were still walking around, untouched, unbothered. So why should she be the one to vanish?
Then she thought of Jack Rivers.
All she had ever wanted was to crack the shell of his cold, disciplined exterior, tear off that uniform, and see those detached eyes reflect only her.
It didn’t matter that he never loved her.
She had loved him freely–and she could let go just the same.
There were still things she hadn’t done, dreams she hadn’t chased, a version of herself she hadn’t yet become.
Even if she’d been forced to marry into some rural outpost, she believed she could still carve out a life of her own.
She didn’t want to die. But maybe, this time, it wasn’t up to her.
When she came to, she was in a hospital bed.
A nurse was changing her bandages, and her eyes lit up with relief the moment Olivia stirred.
“You’re finally awake!”
“Am I… still alive?” Olivia’s voice was hoarse.
“Just barely,” the nurse replied with a nervous chuckle. “You were lucky. Another batch of antivenom arrived just in time–any later and things might’ve gone very differently.”
Olivia gave a faint smile. “And Emily?”
The nurse, assuming concern, smiled back.
“Oh, she’s fine. Her bite wasn’t serious. Captain Rivers stayed with her the whole time, you know–fed her water himself, sat by her bedside all night. Didn’t even answer his phone when the base called.”
Back at the dorm, she began packing–clothes, her journal, the antique pocket watch her mother had left her–folding and tucking each item into her suitcase one by one.
She was halfway through when the door burst open.
from a storm.
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