Chapter 2

Madeline lowered her eyes, putting on a perfectly innocent expression.

"Please do not misunderstand, Nina. Captain Hayes suddenly felt unwell, so I came over to give him a checkup," she explained.

"Does a checkup require taking your clothes off?" I shot back.

Her face shifted slightly.

Ryan's expression had already darkened.

He yelled, "Enough. Maddie is a doctor who has saved countless lives on this team. You need to show her some respect.

"You stalk me in the middle of the night, deliberately saying these ugly things. Is it all because I couldn't satisfy you this morning?"

The security guards in the duty room instinctively looked my way.

Their gazes held a mixture of pity and humiliating speculation.

The tragic tale of Ryan losing his manhood to save his wife had circulated around the base for five years. Everyone knew I was the woman who married a hero but would experience a sexless marriage.

I dug my nails into my palms, forcing myself to remain composed.

Ryan reached out to grab my arm.

As he drew near, the scent of Madeline's perfume, mixed with the distinct smell of sex, invaded my senses.

My stomach churned violently, and I jerked away from him.

His hand froze in midair, his eyes turning absolutely glacial.

"Fine. If making a scene isn't enough for you, stay here all night. You can leave whenever you finally snap back to your senses," he warned.

He turned around and left with Madeline, never once looking back.

The base was freezing in late October. I spent the night curled on the bench in the duty room, waking up at dawn with a fever.

Dragging my fever-weakened body into the apartment, I shoved open the bedroom door, only to find Madeline standing in front of the mirror to fix her hair. She was wearing my other silk nightgown, the one I had not managed to destroy yet.

She turned her head, feigning sheer surprise. "Nina, you are back?

"It was too late last night, and Ryan was worried about my safety walking back to the dorms alone, so he let me stay here. You do not mind, do you?"

Her neck and collarbones were plastered with fresh hickeys.

Catching my gaze, she deliberately pulled the neckline tighter.

"The mosquitoes on base were terribly vicious last night, and they only seemed to bite me. Your skin is completely flawless, Nina. I'm so envious," she said.

My eyes landed on the rumpled bedsheets, my fingertips trembling uncontrollably.

Madeline approached slowly, lowering her voice to a whisper. "I heard that women trapped in sexless marriages have terrible tempers. I never believed it before.

"With Ryan's condition, you've probably never experienced what a real marriage is like behind closed doors, have you?

"But we're different. For the past five years, every single time he finishes a flight mission, I'm always the very first person he looks for."

I grabbed the vase by the door and hurled it at her, shouting, "Get out."

Weakened by the creeping fever, I couldn't drive the blow home. The vase shattered at her feet, showering the floor with jagged fragments.

A flash of triumph crossed her eyes. Suddenly, she messed up her own hair, scratched her neck hard, and burst out the door, wailing at the top of her lungs.

"Nina, I am so sorry. Please do not hit me. I promise I will stay far away from Ryan from now on," she screamed.

"Nina, are you out of your mind?" Ryan snapped.

He happened to be returning from the hallway.

Madeline threw herself straight into his arms, exposing the bloody scratches on her neck. "I merely borrowed a nightgown, and Nina threw a vase at me. Thank goodness you came back, or I really would not know what to do."

Ryan stared at the shattered pieces on the floor, his eyes radiating a dark chill. "Apologize to her."

"On what grounds?" I argued. "Because she wore my clothes, slept with my husband, and decided to humiliate me in my own bedroom?"

Ryan raised his hand, halting it abruptly right before the slap could land. "You are completely unreasonable."

He raised his foot and kicked me in the shin.

My strength completely failed me, sending my knees crashing heavily into the shards. Blood soaked through my pajama pants in a matter of seconds.

Ryan took off his jacket to wrap around Madeline and lifted her into his arms.

"Her fever is making her delusional. I'm taking you to the AeroMed Center first," he said.

I used to be held in his arms exactly like that.

I had always believed that the hands that carried me out of that basement six years ago belonged to him.

Now, watching their figures fade into the distance, the very last trace of affection in my heart extinguished entirely.

Fighting through the blinding pain, I used tweezers to extract the broken porcelain from my flesh, piece by piece.

The murmurs of several team members' spouses drifted over from the adjacent stairwell.

"Captain Hayes carried Dr. Carter out earlier. He looked far more anxious than he ever does with his own wife."

"Dr. Carter is hardly a clinic doctor for the base. After every mission, the first person she examines is always Captain Hayes."

Another woman lowered her voice. "Does his wife even dare to complain? I heard she was locked up by kidnappers for three days, and she was nearly violated. She should be grateful Captain Hayes was willing to marry her at all."

My mind exploded.

I had only ever shared that trauma with Ryan.

When we got married, he held my hands, promising that what happened when I was taken would stay a secret.

It turned out that every strange look I endured over the past five years wasn't accidental. He was the one giving them every reason to despise me.

Shoving everything Madeline had touched into a garbage bag, I dragged out my suitcase and left the apartment without a single backward glance.