Between Goodbye and Rescue

When war broke out in Irestan, my fiancé, Everett Jones, caused a scene at the airport and refused to let the evacuation flight take off.

He was determined to wait for his precious first love, Annie Scott, who had taken advantage of the chaos to loot a cosmetics counter for luxury goods.

By then, the insurgent forces were already closing in.

The shriek of explosions grew louder, drawing nearer by the second.

With an entire plane full of people in mortal danger, I had no choice.

I knocked Everett unconscious and dragged him aboard.

After we returned home, far from the battlefield, we lived a period of quiet, comfortable happiness. I truly believed he had finally put that woman behind him.

I was wrong.

On our wedding day, he tied me up, drove me away, and deliberately crashed the car, killing me.

As my life slipped away, I heard his twisted laughter.

"Daniela, you're the one who killed my Annie. Because of you, she was killed by an insurgent missile.

"She was just a young girl who liked to look pretty. What was so wrong with that?

"This is what you owe her. I'm going to make you suffer far more than she ever did."

When I opened my eyes again, I was back at the boarding gate, at the exact moment he blocked the plane.

This time, I chose to grant his wish and let him stay behind with his beloved first love, together, forever.

"We've got to take off now, or we'll never get out of here. The insurgent forces are practically on top of us!"

The cabin was filled with the growing roar of explosions and the chilling sound of gunfire. Outside, the air was thick with the desperate screams of people.

Inside, some passengers were praying, others begging for mercy, while a few guys in full panic mode tried to get the fiancé to see reason.

However, he was having none of it, lashing out with a kick that sent them sprawling.

His eyes were like lasers, burning into anyone who dared approach. "Annie is coming. Just hold tight for a sec, okay?"

The guy with glasses who had been kicked down clutched his chest and spat out, "What, so we're just gonna sit here and wait to get blown up with her?!

"The clock's ticking on this evacuation, and the insurgent forces are closing in. How long are we supposed to wait for her? We've got Mr. Lynch on board, for crying out loud!"

He gestured to an elderly man with a shock of white hair and a ghostly pale face.

Zayden Lynch was a legend in the medical world, the VIP of that whole operation.

He would come to Irestan to help the victims of the disaster, and if anything happened to him, it would be a death sentence for countless patients back home.

"So what–our lives matter, but Annie's doesn't?" challenged Everett Jones, his face an icy mask.

"We're all in this together, we're family, we stick together."

His words sent a wave of anger through the crowd, but nobody could find the words to argue.

Just as pissed off, a colleague turned to me and said, "Ms. Larson, talk some sense into your fiancé, will you? This isn't just about us; this is about every single person from Irestan!

"Any minute now, this place is gonna be on total lockdown. This is our one shot!

"And Mr. Lynch can't afford to take any more risks!"

Suddenly, all eyes in the cabin were on me.

As the flight's captain and co-leader of our emergency evacuation, I knew everyone was counting on me to make the right call.

Everett whipped his head around to stare at me, his eyes flickering with a dark edge I knew all too well.

He was scared, terrified that I would suggest we leave Annie Scott behind.

For a split second, I even spotted a flash of something deadly in his gaze.

I inhaled deeply, making a choice that was nothing like the one I had made in my past life. "Everett's got a point. We can't just ditch any of our own."

A chorus of boos and hisses broke out in the cabin, but Everett's tense shoulders dropped, and a smug smile crept onto his face.

"Insane. All of you are freaking insane!" exploded the guy with the glasses, fighting to get on his feet.