One morning, I got a letter from my mentor at the base.
He said that ever since I left, Zachary had been drinking nonstop and slacking on drills.
So when the enemy launched a surprise attack, they got decimated.
My mentor finally had enough and cut ties with him, deciding to travel the world as a combat medic.
That left Sophie in charge of treating the wounded.
But she kept messing things up–wrong meds, unnecessary delays.
Soldiers who could’ve been saved either died or ended up maimed.
Eventually, the field medics and injured troops couldn’t stay silent.
They stormed into Zachary’s tent and demanded answers.
“Colonel, if your wife were here, none of this would’ve gotten so out of hand.”
“We get it–you like having her around to warm your bed, but the woman knows nothing about medicine.”
“And now she’s interfering with the real doctors?”
“That’s not just reckless–it’s suspicious.”
“She’s doing it on purpose! If it weren’t for her, your wife wouldn’t have left, and we wouldn’t have lost so many good men!”
Sophie hid behind Zachary, clutching his sleeve and crying like her heart was breaking.
“Colonel, I swear, I only ever wanted to help you.”
“How could they think so little of me?”
“If that’s how it is, maybe you should’ve just left me to die out there!”
Zachary was unraveling–insomnia, alcohol, guilt.
He knew deep down he’d made the wrong call kicking me out for her.
And now, more than losing the battle, what haunted him most was this:
If word got back to D.C., how the hell was he supposed to face me?
That night, Sophie panicked.
12.90
Chapter 9
So she doubled down.
Under cover of darkness, she snuck into Zachary’s tent.
1it incense laced with tranquilizers.
And slid into his bed.
Zachary, dazed and disoriented, thought I’d come back.
He pulled her close, and things got intimate real fast.
Outside, the soldiers heard everything.
Jaw clenched, fists tight, they walked away.
He was still their CO.
Even if his recklessness had cost them friends.
They had no choice but to bite their tongues.
The next morning, Zachary woke up with a pounding headache-
And discovered his classified border defense map was missing.
Panic set in.
Then he heard Sophie had taken his horse, Whirlwind, and ridden north at dawn.
His rage boiled over.
Only now did it occur to him–he didn’t know who the hell Sophie Hayes really was.
He asked around, grilled the locals.
No one had ever heard of her.
He’d been played.
Everyone knew the northern border was hostile territory.
No one went near it unless they had a death wish.
Zachary thought back to how they met-
He’d been leading a pursuit near the frontier when he found her injured and alone.
She told him her family had been wiped out in a raid.
He believed every word.
11.00
Chapter 9
He even let her ride Whirlwind-
The one horse not even I was allowed to touch.
That was the first real fight we’d ever had.
The first time I saw disappointment in his eyes.
But he’d been too caught up in his white knight fantasy to see the setup.
And when you run into too many “coincidences,”
It’s probably a trap.
Now, Zachary and his officers paced around the command tent, too anxious to sit still.
Losing the map was bad.
Losing lives because of it? Catastrophic.
If the enemy attacked now, all their years of hard work would go up in flames.
They’d handed the enemy their own destruction.
And all because of one woman.
One woman who had played them all like fools.
