Chapter 4
In the end, Olivia had no choice but to come along.
Sitting in the backseat, she watched as Emily–clearly familiar with the routine–slipped into the passenger seat without hesitation. And in that moment, Olivia understood why Emily had insisted on dragging her here.
She wanted her to see it. To see everything Jack did just for her.
When the engine started, Emily “accidentally” brushed her fingers against Jack’s hand as he shifted gears.
He didn’t pull away.
The light contact sent a sharp sting through Olivia’s chest. She remembered last month, during a training session, when she’d accidentally grazed the back of his hand–he’d pulled out a disinfecting wipe and scrubbed himself three times.
“Jack, try this,” Emily said sweetly, breaking apart a piece of honey lavender scones and holding it up to his lips. Her sugar–dusted fingers accidentally smeared a bit on the brass button of his
uniform.
With Jack’s usual clean–freak nature, anyone else would’ve gotten a thirty–minute lecture.
But this time, when Emily gasped and reached out to wipe it off, Jack merely looked down–and let
her.
It was a level of indulgence Olivia had never seen from him.
When they laid out the picnic blanket by the lake, Emily suddenly gasped, “Oh no! I forgot my canteen!”
Without a word, Jack handed her his.
Olivia stared at him. She remembered the last time she’d accidentally picked up that exact canteen -he had snatched it back and snapped, “I’m particular about hygiene.”
Now? Emily took a sip and deliberately left half a mouthful behind. “Here,” she said, smiling. “I
some.”
saved you
Jack took it and drank.
کر
For the rest of the day, his eyes never left Emily. Not once.
Olivia trailed behind them like a ghost, silent and invisible, watching every intimate little
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exchange.
Until Emily suddenly lifted her camera. “Jack, let’s take a picture together!”
Jack didn’t do photos.
Ever.
But this time, he didn’t say no.
With no one else around, he turned to Olivia and handed her the camera.
“You take it.”
Olivia took it slowly, raised the lens–and there they were. Jack standing behind Emily, one hand hovering protectively near her waist, as if ready to shield her from the world.
She clicked the shutter.
When she handed the camera back, Jack gave her a quick glance. There was a flicker of something in his eyes–confusion, maybe even surprise.
It wasn’t like her to stay quiet. If it had been before, she would’ve made a fuss. Insisted on being in the shot, or deliberately blurred the focus just to get under his skin.
But today, she’d done nothing,nor even stepped within arm’s reach of him.
He stared at her, like he wanted to say something.
But Emily jumped in with a bright smile. “Let me get one of you two, huh? Olivia’s had a crush on you forever. She deserves a little keepsake.”
Jack’s expression went cold. Instantly.
“No need,” he said curtly.
Then he turned to Olivia. “I’ll never feel that way about you.”
Olivia gave a bitter little smile. What a coincidence. She didn’t like him anymore either.
Just then, dark clouds rolled in, and fat drops of rain began to fall.
Jack immediately shrugged off his jacket and tossed it over Emily’s head. “Stay here,” he said briskly. “I’ll get the car.”
As soon as he disappeared into the trees, Emily dropped the act and sneered, “You see that? No matter how hard you try to worm your way in, he only has eyes for me.”
Chapter 4
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Olivia didn’t bother responding. She turned to leave.
Then a piercing scream–Emily.
A snake shot out from the underbrush and sank its fangs into Emily’s ankle.
Panicking, she flailed–and in the chaos, flung the snake straight toward Olivia.
Pain shot through Olivia’s calf like fire. Her vision swam, and then everything went black..
When she came to, she was on a stretcher. Voices buzzed around her, sharp and urgent.
“Both ladies were bitten,” a nurse was saying. “But the bites are in different locations. Hart’s is worse the venom’s already spreading!”
“We’re out of antivenom!” someone shouted.
Then Jack’s voice, calm and clipped. “I have some. It’s on route.”
Moments later, one of his men came running, drenched in sweat, clutching a small case. He
cracked it open.
“There’s only one dose left, sir. Who gets it first?”
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 obsession with another woman’s child
—
– her mother’s death, her father’s
-flashed before her.
All those sleepless nights alone in a foreign country, wondering if disappearing might be easier than enduring one more day.
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.
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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.”
The nurse went on about Jack’s attentiveness, her tone warm and gossipy, but Olivia listened in
silence.
Strangely, she felt nothing. Not pain. Not jealousy. Not even sadness.
It surprised her too.
“Your vitals look good, and the toxins are gone. Another day or two and you should be cleared for discharge,” the nurse added cheerfully.
But that same night, Olivia quietly signed herself out.
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.
She turned sharply, startled–only to see Jack standing there, rain–soaked and breathless, his uniform unbuttoned and disheveled like he’d run straight from a storm.
She had never seen him like this.
Jack was the picture of restraint, always neat, always composed. Even his collar was usually buttoned to the top.
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Now, he looked shaken, windswept, and for the first time, visibly unguarded.
“Why didn’t you tell me you were checking out?” he asked, voice low.
Olivia didn’t flinch.
“Why would I? You didn’t seem to care if I lived or died.”
His throat bobbed. For a second, he said nothing.
Then he murmured, almost like a confession, “You found out.”
But the next moment, his tone hardened again.
“Emily saved my life once. I couldn’t let anything happen to her.”
Olivia returned to folding her clothes, calm and unbothered.
“You don’t have to explain. That serum was yours. You’re free to give it to whoever you want.”
That shut him up.
Silence settled between them, tense and thick.
Then his eyes fell on her suitcase, and his expression changed.
In two quick strides, he reached out and grabbed her wrist.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
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