Chapter 1

I was working with the search and rescue team to find survivors after the earthquake when the second cave-in happened.

Without a second thought, I shoved the hospital intern, Brielle, out of the way.

The momentum sent me crashing to the ground, and a jagged steel rod pierced through my back, pinning me to the floor.

When the dust settled, my husband, Caleb, led his team down into the wreckage.

Instead of looking for me, he rushed to Brielle, who had nothing more than a tiny scratch on her arm.

He pulled her into his arms, his face twisted with worry, before glaring at me.

"What are you still sitting there for? Are you a statue? Brielle is hurt, and you won't even help her up!"

The pain was so blinding I could barely breathe, let alone speak.

"Caleb... there's a rod... in my back. Please... help me," I managed to wheeze from my parched throat.

Brielle suddenly burst into hysterical tears.

"Dr. Vance, I'm so scared! Dr. Thorne pushed me toward the falling debris. If I hadn't dodged at the last second, that boulder would have crushed me!"

Caleb's face turned red with fury as he screamed at me.

"Elena! You're a doctor, and you're trying to commit murder? Where are your ethics? Where is your humanity?"

I shook my head, tears streaming down my face.

"I didn't... please, just help me. I really can't move..."

A medic who came down with Caleb rushed over to check on my condition.

His face went pale with urgency. "Dr. Vance, the steel rod seems to have hit her spine. If we don't move her now, she's at risk of permanent paralysis!"

Caleb reached out and shoved the medic aside.

"Save her? Let her walk out on her own! Elena, we are here to save lives, not deal with your drama. If you want to play the victim, wait until we're home!"

"Brielle is actually injured, and we only have one stretcher. We're taking her up. You can find your own way out!"

He turned his back on me and walked away, leaving me in total despair.

1

He had only taken two steps when the colleague who had checked my injury grabbed him.

"Dr. Vance, Elena is really pinned by a steel rod! If you don't believe me, go look for yourself!"

To my horror, Caleb just shoved him away.

"I know you guys in the ER are close, but this isn't the time for your little games! If you keep enabling her acting, I'll have you disciplined when we get back!"

The colleague was frantic. "I'm not lying! Look at her white coat! It's already soaked in blood!"

Brielle spoke up in a weak, trembling voice. "That blood is probably from the survivor we were helping earlier."

Even the young guy from the rescue team carrying the stretcher could see my face was turning gray.

"Dr. Vance, Brielle only has a scrape. She doesn't need the stretcher. We should help Dr. Thorne first."

Caleb's eyes filled with pure disgust as he sneered at me.

"You really are something, aren't you? You can seduce men into lying for you anywhere you go!"

He turned and barked at the rescue worker. "I'm ordering you to carry Brielle out now, or I'll file a formal complaint with your captain!"

Then he pointed at my colleague. "And you! You're fired the moment we get back to the city!"

I could feel my life slipping away.

The blood was draining out of me, leaving me cold and empty.

I used the last of my strength to look at the man I had loved for ten years, and a bitter sense of irony washed over me.

Back in med school, I was the top of my class and the school's star. I turned down offers from prestigious hospitals in Europe just to be with him.

After we started working, I gave up my promotion opportunities to him, happy to work as his subordinate.

The man I had sacrificed everything for was now watching my life fade away without even a second glance.

I smiled weakly. I reached up and grabbed the bullet casing pendant around my neck.

With a sharp tug, the chain snapped. I let the casing fall into the cracks of the rubble, where it vanished forever.

Caleb froze for a second, then hissed through his teeth. "Don't you dare regret this later!"

That bullet was one he had taken for me when we volunteered in a war zone years ago.

At the time, I was so moved. I thought this man must love me more than life itself to take a bullet for me.

Now, I finally understood it was just another calculated move for his career.

My colleague and the rescue worker tried to argue again, but I shook my head at them.

"Forget it. Do what he says."

I looked at Caleb with a calm, dead expression. "If I make it out of here alive, I want a divorce."

Caleb let out a cold snort. "This place could collapse again any minute. If you want to keep playing dead, be my guest. When a real rod actually pierces you, maybe I'll come back!"

With that, he led the group away, leaving me in the dark.

My colleague's eyes were red as he rushed to my side. "Your injury is too deep. Only Dr. Vance has the surgical precision to minimize the damage. I'm going to go beg him. Wait for me!"

After he left, I was all alone in the broken, silent ruins.

I never imagined my final resting place would be a pile of trash and concrete.

As my vision began to blur, a white figure suddenly burst into the space, followed by the two rescue workers Caleb had yelled at.

It was my intern, Silas. "Elena! Wake up! Don't you dare close your eyes! I'm here to get you out!"

But Caleb walked back in right behind them.

He leaned against a broken pillar and mocked us. "What's the matter? Realized your lie wasn't working, so you called in the kid to play hero? What's next? You stay in a hospital bed for a few days to 'recover'? Is that the script?"

Silas was so angry he stood up and landed a punch right on Caleb's jaw.

Before Caleb could swing back, the two rescue workers pinned his arms to his sides.

"Dr. Vance, you aren't fit to be a husband or a doctor! We are saving this woman, and you are going to leave. Now!"

Caleb stumbled back, his face contorted. "Fine! I'm going to report all of you for wasting time when there are real victims out there!"

After he left, Silas started crying.

"Elena, how am I supposed to get you out of here alive?"