Abandoned Bride of the Warzone Chapter 1

The overseas evacuation in the Sahel region years ago left an indelible scar on my soul.

When the local government collapsed, everyone assumed Jeffrey would give the final seat on the extraction chopper to me.

Instead, he fled into the night with another woman, leaving behind nothing but a few hollow excuses.

He claimed she was fragile. He said the sight of mutilated bodies in the combat zone would break her mind, that she needed safety more than I did.

He told me I was tough. He said I could definitely hold out until the next rescue convoy arrived.

He even promised that once he got her to a safe house, he would come back to bring me home so we could get married.

But the rebel militia overran the compound hours later. The slaughter was absolute.

I hid in a trench filled with the dead, the soil turning to muddy crimson beneath me. My wounds burned with a blinding agony. I waited until all hope bled out of me, but his shadow never appeared.

Years later, our paths finally crossed again. When Jeffrey saw the diamond resting on my ring finger, his eyes instantly flushed red.

He demanded to know why. He asked how I dared to marry another man when I had promised to wait for him.

* * *

Six years after I crawled out of hell.

The first time I heard Jeffrey's name again was in the arrivals terminal at JFK Airport.

Standing by the baggage carousel, the girl waiting next to me stole her fifth glance in my direction before finally leaning in.

"Harper?" she whispered, her voice hesitant.

I turned my head, raising an eyebrow.

Seeing my face, she grabbed my arm with pure excitement.

"Oh my god, it really is you! Harper!"

"The story of you and Jeffrey is practically a legend among the Coalition Forces. I can't believe I am meeting you in person. You are gorgeous."

She started rambling about the past.

Six years ago, the Sahel region descended into total anarchy. The airports and seaports were locked down. All comms were jammed. We were completely cut off from the world.

The rumor going around the ranks was that Jeffrey wasn't even the diplomat assigned to the evacuation.

People believed he defied his superiors and risked his life in a warzone specifically to save his girlfriend, Harper.

Her eyes welled up with tears as she spoke.

"Back then, every single one of us was so jealous that you got on that first chopper out."

The atrocities in that warzone defied human comprehension.

The local warlords had set up fake humanitarian aid stations, luring refugees out of the safe zones only to gun them down in the dirt.

Her voice trembled.

"There were bodies everywhere. The riverbanks were literally dyed red. You have no idea how terrified I was."

A phantom pain flared in the old bullet scar on my lower abdomen.

Of course I knew. I knew exactly what it felt like to stare down the barrel of a loaded rifle.

Suddenly, her face lit up again.

"You and Jeffrey must be married by now, right? I bet you guys even have kids."

Looking at her envious, starry-eyed expression, a cold wave of irony washed over me.

Even now, people still believed I was the woman Jeffrey carried onto that helicopter.

Before I could figure out how to shut the conversation down, my phone buzzed.

Feeling a wave of relief, I muttered an apology and walked away. I tapped the screen, and a deep, velvety voice filled my ear.

"Did you land safely?"

"Yeah."

"What is wrong? You sound upset."

Even after being together for so long, his intuition never failed to amaze me.

A single syllable was all it took for him to read my mood.

"I bought you a welcome home present. I will come find you as soon as I finish my meetings."

A location pin popped up on my screen.

The Rosewood Estate?

I had casually mentioned once that I loved the historic architecture and the private botanical gardens there. The dark clouds in my mind instantly cleared.

I smiled and pulled my car out of the airport lot.

I never could have predicted that the estate would be crawling with the exact people I never wanted to see again.