Chapter 1

Chapter 1

On my wedding day, my fiancé walked down the aisle with another girl and held up a fresh marriage license.

"She is the true love of my life," he announced coldly to the crowd. "Don't even think about taking her place."

My brother, who had spoiled me for over two decades, shielded the girl behind him. "Bridget, you've enjoyed wealth and luxury your whole life. Just give Travis to her."

I walked away in total silence.

Both my brother and my fiancé breathed a sigh of relief. They paraded her through high society, and my brother even legally adopted her as his sister to boost her status.

It wasn't until someone mentioned my name years later that they realized I had deployed to the most dangerous border zone.

I didn't want them anymore.

Yet they drowned in regret.

...

The day the Holloway family threw a lavish gala for their new adoptive daughter, I was busy filling out a top-secret application form.

It was a classified national defense mission requiring a deployment of twenty elite operatives to the hostile border.

Originally, I wasn't even considered for the team. Everyone in the city knew I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth, protected by a doting older brother and engaged to my childhood sweetheart.

A high-society heiress like me was never meant for lethal missions.

Yet the day before the registration closed, I walked into the commander's office and slammed my completed form onto the desk.

"I swear I will complete this assignment without taking a single step back," I promised firmly. "Please approve it, Commander. This is not an impulse. I've thought this through."

Ever since I was humiliated and abandoned at my own wedding two days ago, rumors had spread like wildfire across the city.

My commander had heard the gossip, too. She worried I was just acting out of spite, but a classified military operation left no room for childish tantrums, regardless of my family's wealth.

"Bridget, are you completely sure?" she warned, her tone sharp. "That border outpost is hell on earth. Out there, nobody will cater to your heiress tantrums or pamper you."

"Don't come crying back to me," she added sternly. "Because out there, no one will pity your tears."

I capped my pen with a crisp click. "I understand the gravity of this mission, Commander. Don't worry, you know my track record."

Ever since I joined the academy, I had graduated at the top of my class and excelled in extreme tactical exercises. By merit alone, I earned this deployment.

The commander sighed and rubbed her temples, finally stamping the approval.

"Fine. If you know what you're getting into, pack your gear. The transport leaves tomorrow afternoon."

I stepped outside and let out a long breath, shielding my eyes from the harsh afternoon sun.

For the past few days, my world had been spinning out of control. It all started when Travis Hayes brought an orphan girl named Daisy to our wedding.

Daisy grew up in an orphanage, surviving hardship with what everyone called an unyielding spirit.

Having a resilient spirit was admirable. But what wasn't admirable was that she legally married my fiancé behind my back and stepped on my dignity at my own wedding to become Mrs. Hayes.

Overnight, I became the biggest laughingstock in the city.

Under the watchful eyes of high society, everyone expected my brother, Brandon, to defend me.

Instead, Brandon stepped forward, stood beside Daisy, and looked at her with pure tenderness.

"Bridget, you've had twenty-two years of a charmed life," Brandon said coldly. "Daisy has nothing. Give Travis to her. Consider it an act of charity from an older sister."

"Sister?"

I took a stunned step back. The hem of my white designer gown caught under my heel, sending me crashing hard onto the marble floor.

"Yes, your sister," Brandon declared. "I've decided to adopt Daisy. From now on, she is the second daughter of the Holloway family, Daisy Holloway."

"Is that so?"

I looked up, bleeding from the scrape on my elbow.

My own brother didn't even glance at my injury. Instead, he gave the Holloway family name to the very woman who destroyed my life.

What a sick, twisted joke.