Chapter 26
"You know, you don't actually have to do this."
Mia's voice was uncharacteristically quiet as she meticulously folded my favorite yellow sweater and placed it into the cardboard moving box.
She didn't have her usual chaotic, hyper-energetic bounce today.
Instead, my best friend of was fiercely focused, acting as my absolute anchor just as she had been since the day we met.
I sat on the edge of the massive, king-sized bed in the guest wing of the fortress-the room I had strictly confined myself to since my dad passed away two months ago.
"I have to, Mia," I whispered, staring down at my hands. "Today is exactly one year since the wedding. The contract is officially over."
Mia stopped folding and walked over, sitting beside me.
She wrapped her arm around my shoulders, pulling me into a tight, grounding hug.
We had practically grown up together in the grueling pediatric nursing program.
We had graduated together the exact same week I married Alexander.
And now, thanks to Mia aggressively terrorizing the hiring manager, I had just been accepted for a full-time RN position at the same pediatric clinic where she worked.
I finally had my career. I had my best friend. But I was about to lose the love of my life.
"G, listen to me," Mia said gently, turning her head to look at me.
"I know your dad and the General's father set this whole thing up. I know it was supposed to be fake. But I saw the way General Reeves looked at you at the funeral. The man is absolutely terrifying, yes, but when his eyes land on you...
he looks like he wants to obliterate anyone who even breathes in your direction. He doesn't look at you like a contract."
Tears prickled the corners of my eyes. "He looks at me like a duty, Mia. He made a vow to my father. He is a soldier. Honor is quite literally coded into his DNA. But he doesn't *love* me. He told me not to wait for him at the study. He told me I was a target. If I stay here,
I am just a liability trapping him in a loveless agreement because he is too honorable to kick a grieving woman out."
I stood up, wiping my eyes before the tears could fall, forcing myself to be brave. "I love him too much to be his burden. I have to set him free."
Mia sighed, a heartbroken sound, but she didn't argue anymore. That was the beauty of Mia. When I made a choice, no matter how much it hurt, she stood by my side with metaphorical a baseball bat ready to defend it.
"Okay," Mia said fiercely, standing up and aggressively taping the box shut. "Then we are packing you up. We celebrate your new clinic job tonight with ice cream and a terrible rom-com at my apartment, and we never look back. Deal?"
"Deal," I choked out, offering her a watery smile.
While Mia carried the first box down to her beat-up Honda Civic, I took a deep breath and walked down the long, silent corridor toward Alexander's mahogany-paneled library.
He wasn't here. Three weeks ago, he and Ethan had been deployed on a highly classified, off-grid mission. I didn't know where he was. He had just packed his tactical gear, kissed the crown of my head in the dead of night, and vanished into the darkness.
At least the miller and the soldiers at the gate wouldn't be able to inform him about what i am doing although i know they would inform Alexander's grandmother
I hoped i would be able to leave before she comes here
It made leaving today easier, but infinitely more painful. I couldn't even look into those storm-gray eyes one last time.
I walked into his massive library, the scent of cedar and old books instantly wrapping around me, smelling so intensely of *him* it made my chest physically ache. On the center of his immaculate mahogany desk sat a crisp manila envelope.
I opened it, pulling out the divorce papers his legal team had drawn up upon my request last week. My hands shook as I picked up his heavy gold fountain pen.
I signed my name on the dotted line. *Grace Zane.* Not Reeves. Not anymore.
Slowly, agonizingly, I reached for my left hand. I slid the massive diamond engagement ring and the platinum wedding band off my finger. My hand felt entirely too light. It felt wrong. I placed the rings directly on top of the signed divorce papers, leaving them perfectly centered on his desk.
"Goodbye, General," I whispered to the empty room.
**[Third Person POV]**
*Somewhere off the grid, Northern Africa.*
The heavy, rhythmic thud of the extraction chopper blades chopped through the thick, smoke-filled air.
General Alexander Reeves stood in the center of the demolished compound, his black combat uniform caked in mud, ash, and someone else's blood.
The classified extraction mission had been a brutal, relentless bloodbath that lasted three excruciating weeks.
But it was over. The high-value target was secured, and the enemy forces had been completely eradicated.
"Sir," Colonel Ethan Brooks approached, his rifle slung over his chest, panting heavily. "Exfil chopper is on the ground. Perimeter is clear. We are wheels up in two mikes."
Alexander didn't immediately respond. He was staring at the encrypted military watch on his wrist.
His jaw was clenched so tightly it looked carved from granite, and a terrifying, volatile aura rolled off his massive frame, making the nearby special operatives unconsciously step back to give him a wide berth.
He didn't care about the mud. He didn't care about the shallow shrapnel graze on his left bicep.
He only cared about the date on his watch.
*Today.* Today was exactly one year.
"General?" Ethan asked tentatively, noticing the sheer, unadulterated tension radiating from his commander. "Are you injured?"
Alexander finally looked up, his storm-gray eyes flashing with a predatory, desperate intensity that made Ethan swallow hard.
"Tell Central Command that the moment this chopper lands on US soil, I am officially off the grid," Alexander commanded, his deep voice slicing through the noise of the rotors, absolute and uncompromising.
"Sir, debriefing usually takes-"
"I don't give a damn about debriefing, Brooks," Alexander snarled, a terrifyingly feral edge to his usually disciplined voice.
He strode past Ethan toward the chopper, his massive boots crushing the debris beneath him.
"It has been one year. The contract expires today. I am going home to my wife, and I am going to make absolutely sure she never takes my ring off her finger again. Am I understood?"
Ethan instantly snapped a rigid salute. "Crystal clear, Sir!"
Alexander climbed into the chopper, his heart pounding a violent rhythm against his ribs.
He had given her space to grieve her father.
He had kept his distance, played the honorable protector, terrified of overwhelming her.
But the time for honor was over. He was going to walk into his fortress, drop to his knees if he had to, and finally tell his shy, beautiful girl exactly how entirely she owned his soul.
**[Grace's POV]**
The massive oak front doors of the estate felt ten times heavier as I pulled my suitcase behind me.
Mia was already in her car with the engine running, waiting at the bottom of the long stone steps. The sky above was overcast, threatening rain, perfectly matching the hollow, cavernous feeling in my chest.
I opened the front door, ready to step out, but I froze in my tracks.
Standing on the sweeping front porch, holding an elegant black umbrella, was Grandmother Eleanor. She wore a pristine emerald green coat, her silver hair perfectly coiffed, her sharp, intelligent eyes immediately dropping to the suitcase in my hand.
My breath hitched. "Eleanor"
She closed her umbrella, leaning on it like a cane as she stepped into the foyer, forcing me to back up. She looked past me, noting the emptiness of the hall.
"So," Eleanor said, her voice smooth, calm, and devastatingly sharp. "The year is up."
My stomach dropped to the floor. I stared at her, completely wide-eyed. "You... you knew?"
"Oh, darling, please," Eleanor scoffed delicately, waving a manicured hand in the air.
"I am a Reeves. Richard and your father thought they were being incredibly sly with their little legal arrangement to save Dan and me from stress. But I have known it was a one-year contract since the day Alexander signed it."
"If you knew... why didn't you say anything?" I asked, my voice trembling. "Why did you treat me like a real granddaughter?"
Eleanor's sharp eyes softened. She stepped forward, reaching out to gently cup my cheek.
"Because, my sweet Grace, you *are* my real granddaughter. You have brought sunlight into a house that has been drowning in darkness for a decade."
She glanced at my suitcase again, her expression tightening.
"And you are making a terrible mistake."
"I have to go, Eleanor," I pleaded, a tear finally escaping and tracking down my cheek. "My dad is gone. The contract's purpose is fulfilled. Alexander is a man of honor; he will never ask me to leave because he made a vow to my dad. I have to be the one to end it, so he can have his life back."
Eleanor let out a deep, frustrated sigh. "Grace. You are a brilliant nurse, but you are entirely blind when it comes to my grandson."
"He told me not to wait for him," I argued, my voice breaking. " He only cares for me out of duty!"
"Duty?" Eleanor laughed, a dry, incredulous sound.
She dropped her hand from my cheek and looked at me with the absolute, terrifying authority of a Reeves matriarch.
"Did you really think a piece of paper could force the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces to marry someone he didn't want? Do you honestly believe a man like Alexander-a man who commands armies, who takes what he wants and annihilates anything in his way-would let you live in his home,
sleep under his roof, and tear apart his entire world just for *duty*?"
I stared at her, my heart skipping a frantic beat.
"He is a terrifying man, Grace. He doesn't know how to use words. He only knows how to act," Eleanor said fiercely, stepping closer.
"He didn't pay your father's medical bills out of obligation. He did it because you were crying. He didn't block that college boy at the gates because of security; he did it because he is insanely, violently jealous. And if you walk out those doors today...
you are going to break the heart of a man who has finally learned how to beat."
My breath came in short, rapid gasps. *Was she right?* My mind flashed to the gun range, when he genuinely laughed. It flashed to the pitch-black hallway, when he held me so tightly I couldn't breathe.
*Honk! Honk!*
Mia's car horn blared from the driveway, shattering the moment.
Doubt, fear, and grief warred viciously in my chest. If Eleanor was right, Alexander loved me. But if she was wrong... I would just be clinging to a fantasy, trapping a man who had already sacrificed so much for my family.
I looked at Eleanor, tears blurring my vision. "Tell him... tell him thank you. For everything."
Eleanor's face fell. "Grace-"
I didn't wait. I grabbed my suitcase, practically running down the stone steps. I threw my bag into Mia's trunk, climbed into the passenger seat, and slammed the door.
"Drive, Mia. Please, just drive," I sobbed, burying my face in my hands.
I was surprised the soldiers let me pass through the gate,I guess eleanor told them to
As Mia's car sped away from the massive military gates of the fortress, I didn't look back. I had left my ring. I had signed the papers.
The General's contract bride was gone.
**AUTHOR'S NOTE ????**
GRACE NOOOOO! ????????? Can we all just scream into our pillows right now?! Grandmother Eleanor really tried to warn her! "Did you really think a piece of paper could force the Supreme Commander to marry someone he didn't want?!" THAT LINE GAVE ME CHILLS! ??
But Grace's grief and insecurity won out. She thinks she's doing the right thing for him, setting him free. ?? And wait until you see what Mia and Grace get up to at their new pediatric clinic! Women in STEM! ???
**TEASER FOR CHAPTER 27 (The Empty Fortress):**
Alexander and Ethan land on US soil. Alexander rushes straight to the estate.
He expects his shy, sweet wife to be waiting for him.
Instead... he walks into an empty house, finds the signed divorce papers, and his grandmother waiting for him with a cup of tea.
Y'all... General Reeves is about to completely lose his mind. The angst is going to be UNREAL. ????
**Let's chat in the comments!**
?? *Do you blame Grace for leaving, or do you understand her fears?*
?? *What are your predictions for Alexander's reaction in the next chapter?!*
**Don't forget to VOTE ?? and COMMENT your thoughts! See you in Chapter 27! ????**