Chapter 1

I was in love with Silas Dawson, the man who adopted me and became my world.

To be near him, I pushed through my deepest fears and joined the military.

But on the day of my discharge, he gave the only permanent civilian position to Seraphina Vance.

She wasn't just Silas's fiancée; she was the daughter of the man my father had supposedly wronged years ago.

"Avery, you owe this to her," he told me.

That single sentence stripped me of the will to fight back.

Without a second thought, I accepted my professor's offer to erase my identity and join a top-secret missile research project.

Deep in the heart of the desert, I would make sure he was forgotten forever. 1

1963, Washington D.C.

"Avery, this job is vital for Seraphina's future," Silas said.

"You're still young. Give her this chance to stay with the department."

Inside the mahogany-paneled office, Silas gripped my discharge papers.

He wasn't asking me; he had already made the decision.

I bit my lip so hard it bled, but I couldn't stay silent.

"Silas, this opportunity is just as important to me. I've worked for this for three years..."

Suddenly, the telephone on his desk shrilled.

Silas picked it up, and the moment he heard Seraphina's voice, his harsh expression softened instantly.

"I'll be home late. I'm handling the discharge paperwork now," he said into the receiver.

"Don't worry, I'm saving the spot for you."

"Avery? She's a sensible girl. She knows what's right."

His words were few, but they carved deep scars into my heart.

When he hung up and saw me still standing there, his tenderness vanished, replaced by sharp impatience.

"Why are you still here?"

"Avery, this isn't just my call. It's the decision of the entire district!"

"Your father's crimes ruined Seraphina's family. The fact that she doesn't sue you is a mercy."

"You grew up in a house of honor. Do you really not understand the difference between right and wrong?"

"If you keep acting like this, I'll have no choice but to send you to the frontier for some real discipline!"

Silas's tone was brutal, snapping me back to reality.

Years ago, I was just a child not even five years old when the tragedy happened.

But I knew that if it involved Seraphina, no amount of logic would change his mind.

I lowered my head and apologized out of habit.

"I understand, Silas. I'll follow your orders."

I didn't let my tears fall until I stepped out of his office.

I was an orphan Silas had taken in.

When I was five, my father was executed for a high-profile crime, leaving me completely alone.

I remember walking barefoot through the freezing snow, starving and hopeless.

Just as I was about to give up, a black Jeep pulled up beside me.

The door opened, and a teenage Silas, only ten years older than me, reached out his hand.

"Get in, little girl," he said.

Survival instinct made me reach for him, but I pulled back at the last second.

"My dad was a killer. If I go with you, I'll bring you trouble."

His grip was incredibly strong as he pulled me into the car and held me tight.

"You are your own person. Your father's sins aren't yours."

Silas had kept me against everyone's wishes.

His grandfather was so angry he made Silas kneel in the family chapel all night as punishment.

But Silas just wiped my tears and spoke softly.

"Avery, you have a home now."

"As long as I'm here, you'll never suffer again."

For twenty years, Silas had kept that promise.

Whether it was school bullies or neighborhood punks, he never let anyone lay a finger on me.

I became the protected jewel of the Dawson family.

People even whispered that given how much he doted on me, I might one day become Mrs. Dawson.

Those rumors touched a chord in my young heart, and for years, my eyes followed only him.

I even gave up a prestigious teaching job at the Defense Academy just to stay by his side in the service.

But Silas's feelings for me always remained tepid, almost clinical.

When I finally gathered the courage to confess, the usually gentle Silas blew up at me for the first time.

"Avery Dawson, I am your brother!"

Shortly after, he brought home a fiancée with lightning speed.

Seraphina Vance.

I would never forget the day she arrived at the Dawson estate.

She had a perfect smile as she reached out to greet me.

"Hello. I'm Silas's fiancée," she said.

Those five words shattered me completely.

They turned a decade of my secret longing into a pathetic joke.

"Avery, there you are. Have you thought about the job? Are you staying with the unit?"