Chapter 5
The housekeeper, still groggy with sleep, jolted awake at the sound of his voice. “Mrs. Wexler
said she had too many clothes and wouldn’t wear them all, so she asked me to bring them
home for my granddaughter. Is something wrong, sir?”
“What about everything else?” Callum asked.
“That I’m not sure about. Maybe you should ask her directly?”
The vague response only deepened his frustration. Without another word, he ended the call
and immediately dialed my number.
But all he got was an automated message: The number you have dialed is no longer in
service.
He stared at the screen in a daze, the automated voice echoing in his mind. The creeping
unease that had been stirring since last night now swelled into something heavy and suffocating, coiling in his chest until his stomach ached.
Callum clutched at the dull pain in his abdomen, teeth clenched against the rising
discomfort.
The sound of his voice roused Eliza from her sleep. She turned and saw the sheen of sweat
gathering on his forehead, her face going pale in alarm. She scrambled upright and rushed to
help him to the hospital.
By then, I had already arrived at the remote base where my senior was currently stationed.
“Savannah, this place is full of hidden dangers,” he said with a teasing smile. “Don’t go
wandering around, okay?” As he spoke, he grabbed a man nearby. “This is my best friend,
Gabe Thatcher, the head of the peacekeeping unit here. If you need anything, just go to him.”
The man standing before me was tall, dressed in a work uniform, and carried the quiet
intensity of someone who had lived too long in chaos. I instinctively straightened and
nodded earnestly. “Got it. I won’t hold back.”
After all, in a place where bullets could fly at any moment, being pragmatic was a matter of
survival.
Chapter 5
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Gabe didn’t say much. He simply gave a brief nod in greeting, and that was that.
In the days that followed, I busied myself learning the layout of the area and picking up more
field expertise.
Life here was intense and exhausting-but for the first time in a long while, I felt grounded.
Compared to the past-when I was shackled by marriage and emotions-this version of life,
even in hardship, felt far more like freedom.
There was barely any signal here. Phones were practically useless.
Sometimes, an entire week or even a month could go by before you had the chance to call
your loved ones to say you were still safe.
My roommate Maggie was worried sick. She kept asking around for news about me, hoping someone had heard something. When I finally got a chance to make a call, I dialed her first.
The moment she picked up, her voice came sharp with suspicion. “Savannah, be honest with me. What’s going on between you and Callum? Why the hell is he asking me about you?”
Hearing that familiar name again stirred nothing in me. My voice was calm. “There’s nothing between us. Maybe he’s just curious.”
“Bullshit!” she snapped. “If there’s nothing going on, why would he keep bugging me for updates? Why would he insist I tell him if I ever got in touch with you? Listen to me, Savannah-we are not those kinds of people. He has a wife and a kid now. Don’t be the
reason a family falls apart.”
Apparently, when Callum reached out to her, he hadn’t mentioned our history.
Funny, really. Back when we were still together, I was the one who insisted on keeping our
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