Chapter 1

Everyone in the military district envied Avery Lancaster. She came from a prominent family, and her husband, Captain Charles Sutton, was young, accomplished, and devastatingly handsome.

But only Avery knew the truth. This picture-perfect marriage, the one everyone admired, had been hollow from the very start.

Three years of marriage, and Charles had kept her at a polite, careful distance the entire time.

During their first year together, she tried to gather his dirty clothes for washing, but Charles stopped her.

"Don't bother. I'll handle my own laundry from now on."

In their second year, Avery gathered her courage. She slipped into a new silk nightgown and waited for him in the soft glow of the bedside lamp.

Charles walked into the bedroom, let his gaze pass over her without a word, grabbed a blanket, and headed for the guest room. His voice was cold as ice.

"I've got a heavy workload lately. I'll sleep in the guest room tonight. You should get some rest too."

By their third year, Charles sustained a groin injury during a training exercise. Avery immediately volunteered to take care of him.

But Charles turned her away. "Avery, it's not appropriate. I have personal boundaries about this kind of thing. This is not convenient."

Avery pushed back. "I'm your wife. What's not convenient about it?"

A flash of resistance crossed his eyes. "I've never been comfortable with women around me. Just go home. My orderly will take care of things here."

*****

Avery went home reluctantly, but the worry gnawed at her. Late that night, she crept back to the hospital room and walked straight into a scene that made her blood run cold.

A young nurse was pulling down Charles' pants. As the woman's hands moved with increasing pressure, a strained, breathless sound escaped from deep in his throat.

It didn't sound like pain. It sounded like arousal.

"Charles, is that better now?" the woman asked in a delicate, breathy voice, pausing her hands.

Charles grabbed her wrist, his lips trembling. "Nina, don't stop. I'm still... I still need you."

Nina Summers flushed scarlet from her cheeks to the tips of her ears. "Charles, this injury is so serious. Why didn't you let your wife take care of you?"

Anguish twisted across Charles' face. "Nina, are you still holding it against me? Choosing Avery over you? You know how it was. My parents arranged the whole thing. I had no choice. I married her out of duty, nothing more."

His lips quivered as he gestured downward. "I've never... I've never touched her."

Avery clamped both hands over her mouth, her heart shattering like glass struck with a hammer.

The Lancaster and Sutton families went back generations. Their parents had fought side by side on the battlefield, brothers in arms who had faced death together. The two families had arranged the engagement long ago.

When the betrothal was first discussed, Avery's father, Richard Lancaster, had asked Avery for her opinion.

The moment Avery learned that the match was the handsome older boy she had admired since childhood, she agreed without a second thought.

She had married into Charles' military district carrying a young girl's full-hearted devotion, dreaming of growing old together.

But on their wedding night, Charles sat her down and spoke with solemn gravity.

"Avery, I think we should build an emotional connection first before we... do that. Otherwise, how are we any different from animals?"

Avery had always heard that Charles was a man of impeccable character, strict self-discipline, and old-fashioned propriety.

She took his words as a sign of respect and agreed.

From that day forward, she tried everything she could think of to build a connection with him, but Charles kept her at a deliberate arm's length.

Every item in the house, from cups and bowls to blankets and sheets, Charles refused to share with Avery.

Once, Avery accidentally used Charles' cup. He threw it straight into the trash.

She asked him through tears if he found her repulsive.

Charles explained with practiced patience. "Avery, don't overthink this. It's just a personal quirk. I don't like sharing my things with anyone. Been that way for years. Can't change it now."

Avery believed him again. She molded herself into the perfect wife—considerate, thoughtful, never making waves.

Charles preferred bland food, so she cooked every meal to his taste.

Charles disliked social gatherings, so she stopped celebrating her own birthdays.

Charles lived simply, so she stopped buying fashionable clothes and tucked away the jewelry she once loved.

She convinced herself that if she just tried hard enough to get close to him, their bond would eventually grow.

For three years, she swallowed every ounce of hurt in silence.

Not even her parents knew that after three years of marriage, she still wasn't Charles' wife in any real sense of the word.

She had wavered, struggled, agonized. She had invented a thousand excuses for him.

Maybe he was too reserved. Maybe he was too traditional. Maybe he was just exhausted...

The one possibility she never considered was that Charles' heart had already belonged to someone else all along.

Mutual respect? Building a connection? Every word of it was a lie.

Three years of patience and sacrifice suddenly looked like nothing more than a pathetic joke.

She was Avery Lancaster, the pride of the Lancaster family. Why should she endure this kind of humiliation?

Avery tilted her head back, forcing the tears to retreat, and turned to leave.

Her life was not meant to wither away in a barren marriage. She was done with this man and all his filth.

*****

The next morning, Avery picked up the phone and called home.

"Dad, I want a divorce from Charles."

Richard was stunned at first. After hearing the full story, his disbelief gave way to fury.

He had never imagined that the marriage he had so carefully chosen for his daughter would nearly ruin her life.

"That Charles has some nerve, treating you like this! I'm telling his dad right now. He won't get away with it!"

Avery felt nothing but bone-deep exhaustion.

"Dad, even if you tell Mr. Sutton, what good will it do? He doesn't love me, and that's a fact. I don't want both families tearing each other apart over this."

Richard let out a heavy sigh. "Fine. Charles doesn't deserve my daughter anyway. Don't worry. I'll file for an expedited divorce on your behalf. Two weeks from now, I'm coming to the base to bring you home myself."

Richard outranked Charles by several levels. With her father's promise, Avery finally let herself breathe.

This marriage was over. There was no going back.