Chapter 1

When a massive hurricane headed toward our city, officials declared the entire area a high-risk zone and ordered everyone to evacuate.

But my fiancée, Mabel Payne, refused to leave. Her adopted younger brother, Jason Payne, suffered from severe trauma, and he wouldn't budge.

On the first day, Jason took a high-powered slingshot and shattered the expensive hurricane-resistant windows I had installed.

On the second day, he flushed our entire supply of emergency medications down the toilet.

On the third day, he opened the front door and let a pack of stray cats and dogs tear through all the emergency food I had spent so long stocking up on.

With nearly everything we needed to survive the hurricane destroyed, I suggested hiring a professional evacuation team to get Jason and the rest of us to safety before the storm hit.

Instead, Mabel flew into a rage.

"Jason has PTSD! Taking him somewhere unfamiliar could trigger another episode! Are you trying to get him killed?"

But when the hurricane finally hit, Mabel shoved me right out of the rescue helicopter, breaking my leg.

"This is all your fault! You're taking up the space Jason needs for his things! You know he can't function without them! What if his condition gets worse? Just wait for the next rescue helicopter!"

What she didn't know was that there wasn't going to be another helicopter.

And without me, this one wasn't going anywhere.

Chapter 1

"Mabel, stop! The hurricane's less than an hour away! If you leave me here, I'm going to die!"

I struggled to get the words out through the pain of my broken leg.

Before Mabel Payne could answer, her adopted brother, Jason Payne, suddenly burst into tears inside the helicopter. He clutched his action figures to his chest, refusing to let them go.

"They're my family! If they can't come with us, I'm not going either!"

With that, he made a show of getting ready to jump out of the helicopter.

Just moments ago, Mabel hadn't hesitated to kick me out. Now, she immediately threw her arms around Jason, holding him back.

"No, Jason! We're too high up! You'll get hurt if you jump! And the hurricane's almost here! It's not safe for you to stay!"

She turned on me, her eyes blazing with anger.

"Felix! Haven't you done enough damage already? Are you seriously going to keep this up until Jason gets himself killed?

"Why can't you just wait for the next rescue helicopter? Jason's my family! And the only reason he's like this is because he got hurt trying to save you!

"If you can't accept that, then the wedding's off!"

I opened my mouth to tell her there wouldn't be another helicopter, but Mabel had already turned her attention back to Jason.

"Jason, I promise. Nobody's going to take your little friends away from you."

Jason still looked anxious, his eyes fixed on his action figures.

Mabel immediately placed them in the seat that should've been mine, even taking the time to buckle them in.

Only then did Jason stop crying. His face lit up, and he threw himself into Mabel's arms, snuggling up to her.

"Mabel, you're the best! You'll always stay with me, right? Just me and nobody else?"

Mabel nodded, and my heart sank.

I had known Mabel had an adopted brother ever since we started dating.

Plenty of friends had warned me that something was off about Mabel's relationship with Jason, but I was too blinded by love to listen. I had my heart set on marrying her.

The day before our wedding, Jason and I were kidnapped.

When the kidnappers told Mabel she could only save one of us, she chose me without a second thought.

She immediately went back for Jason, but the kidnappers had already taken him away and put him through horrific torture.

By the time he was found, Jason had suffered severe psychological trauma.

His mental state had regressed to that of a three-year-old, and he depended entirely on Mabel to feed him, dress him, and take care of his every need.

Mabel quit her job, which paid hundreds of thousands a year, to take care of Jason full-time.

I hated watching her run herself ragged, so I suggested hiring a professional caregiver.

Mabel flew into a rage.

"Felix! Don't you dare forget why Jason ended up like this! If you can't accept it, then we might as well call off the wedding right now!"

I loved her too much to argue, so I backed down.

Even when the authorities ordered everyone to evacuate ahead of the hurricane, Mabel refused to leave because of Jason.

Despite being a senior government official, I chose to stay behind with them.

I spent hundreds of thousands reinforcing our villa, turning it into what should have been a completely secure storm shelter. But Jason complained that the house felt stuffy and smashed every hurricane-resistant window.

He also destroyed all the emergency food and medicine I had stocked up on, claiming that the sight of those supplies brought back memories of his trauma.

Even after everything he had done, I still refused to abandon Mabel or her brother.

Instead, I immediately contacted my superiors and requested an emergency evacuation helicopter to get us all out safely.

But when the helicopter arrived with only three passenger seats available, Mabel personally shoved me out so Jason could bring his precious action figure collection instead.

My chest hurt so badly that I could barely breathe.

Still, after all the years we had spent together, I decided to give Mabel one last chance.

"I'll arrange for someone to come back and get the action figures. Just let me on the helicopter!"

Chapter 2

For a moment, Mabel seemed to hesitate.

Jason immediately jerked upright in his seat and started frantically pulling at his seat belt, screaming and crying.

"Mabel, you lied! You promised my friends could come with us! If they can't come, I'm not going either! I'm staying with my friends!"

Mabel tried to calm him down, but Jason was a grown man. He quickly unbuckled himself and tried to climb out of the helicopter.

Mabel grabbed him so tightly that one of her fingernails tore off, but she barely seemed to notice the pain as she turned on me.

"Felix! Would it really kill you to evacuate a little later? Can't you see how upset Jason is? Why do you have to keep pushing him?"

The wind howled across the rooftop. I looked up at the thick black clouds racing toward us, my heart sinking.

A Category 5 hurricane was bearing down on us, powerful enough to destroy almost anything in its path. Everyone else had evacuated three days ago, and Mabel seriously thought I could just hang around and wait?

I shot right back at her. "Would it kill you to put those action figures on the floor or hold them in your lap? Mabel, I'm your fiancé! Are you seriously telling me my life matters less to you than a bunch of plastic toys?"

Before Mabel could answer, Jason grabbed a nearby box and hurled it straight at me.

With my broken leg, I couldn't get out of the way in time. The box struck me square in the face, breaking my nose.

Blood streamed down my face, but Jason jumped out of the helicopter and started punching and kicking me.

"They're not toys! They're my best friends! You're trying to take my friends away! You're so mean! I hate you!"

Jason was strong, and nearly every punch connected.

I desperately raised my arms to shield myself, but he kept swinging until my face and head were covered in blood.

When I saw his fist coming straight for my temple, I instinctively fought back and shoved him away.

I barely put any strength into it, but Jason fell onto his butt and immediately burst into tears.

Mabel rushed out of the helicopter. The moment she saw Jason sitting on the ground, she stormed over and slapped me across the face.

"Felix, have you completely lost your mind? How could you hurt Jason? Jason, let me see. Where does it hurt?"

Mabel fussed over Jason, checking him over and over even though he had only landed on his butt. She even bent down to brush the dust off his pants.

Meanwhile, she completely ignored the blood streaming down my face.

Even after making sure Jason was fine, Mabel was still furious with me. She actually demanded that I apologize to him.

I had always known Mabel favored Jason, but this was so ridiculous that I couldn't help letting out a bitter laugh.

I pointed at my bloodied face. "He beat me bloody, and you expect me to apologize to him?"

Mabel glanced at my injuries, and for a moment, she seemed to hesitate. But her expression quickly hardened again.

"Well, none of this would've happened if you hadn't insisted on taking the seat Jason needed for his action figures!

"You know about his condition, but you keep pushing his buttons on purpose. If anything happens to Jason today, you can forget about marrying me!

"Now stop causing trouble and stay here until the next rescue helicopter comes. The hurricane's almost here, and I need to get Jason somewhere safe first!"

With that, Mabel took Jason by the hand and started leading him back toward the helicopter.

A cold emptiness settled in my chest.

So she knew the hurricane was almost here. She knew exactly how dangerous it was to stay behind. Yet she still chose to save Jason's action figures instead of me.

If that was her choice, then I had no reason to keep protecting her.

I struggled to my feet and limped into their path.

"Neither of you is leaving on this helicopter. You can stay here and wait for the next one."

Chapter 3

Mabel frowned.

"Felix, are you out of your mind? This is a Category 5 hurricane! People are going to die! How can you even think about leaving me and Jason behind?"

I already knew Jason meant far more to Mabel than I ever would, but I couldn't help asking.

"And what about me? You think I won't die if you leave me here? Tell me something, Mabel. I'm your fiancé. When you gave my seat to Jason's action figures, did you even stop to think that I might not make it out alive?"

Mabel hesitated, opening and closing her mouth as she struggled to come up with an answer.

Finally, she muttered, "There are other rescue helicopters, aren't there? Why can't you just take the next one? You're a grown man. Stop being so dramatic."

She pushed past me and continued toward the helicopter with Jason.

But I got there first. I climbed aboard and threw every last one of Jason's stupid action figures and personal belongings out onto the rooftop.

Jason's face crumpled, and he started bawling even louder than before. "Mabel! He's throwing my friends away! Are you going to leave me behind, too?"

"Of course not! You're the most important person in the world to me!"

Mabel gently wiped away his tears before turning on me.

"Felix! What the hell do you think you're doing? Jason's not like you! He has a serious condition. Why can't you show him a little compassion? I must've been out of my mind to agree to marry someone like you!"

Mabel had said those exact words to me three months earlier, shortly after Jason was rescued.

Back then, she kept putting off our wedding because of Jason. She even tore up the application I had prepared to help her get a position in my department and moved Jason into the house we had bought to live in after getting married.

She claimed the quiet neighborhood would be good for his recovery.

Yet I wasn't even allowed inside the home that was supposed to be ours because Jason supposedly couldn't handle being around strangers.

I still remembered our third anniversary. I had finished my classified assignment ahead of schedule and spent 15 hours on a train just to get home and surprise her.

When I opened the bedroom door, I found Mabel lying naked in our bed with Jason.

She didn't even bother explaining herself. Instead, she accused me of having a dirty mind. Then she casually handed Jason the anniversary gift I had traveled all that way to give her, and he smashed it to pieces.

Maybe that was when our relationship started falling apart. I just hadn't realized it at the time.

I pushed the memory aside and looked Mabel straight in the eye, speaking slowly and clearly.

"You want to call off the wedding? Fine by me. But this helicopter was sent here to evacuate me.

"If you and Jason want to come, get on board. Otherwise, you can stay here and wait for the next one.

"You've got three seconds to decide."

Mabel stared at me in disbelief before snapping, "What the hell are you talking about? Since when is this your helicopter?"

I had no interest in arguing with her anymore. Instead, I started counting down.

"Three!"

Panic flashed across Mabel's face, and she reached out to grab my arm. "I asked you a question!"

I shook off her hand and kept counting.

"Two!"

Jason panicked and scrambled toward the helicopter, but just as I reached "One," I slammed the cabin door shut and signaled the pilot to take off.

The engines roared to life. Mabel finally realized I was serious and started pounding frantically on the cabin window.

"Felix! Open the door! The hurricane's almost here. Are you seriously going to leave me and Jason here to die?"

Chapter 4

The wind outside was growing stronger by the second. Thick black clouds hung so low they looked ready to swallow everything beneath them.

Mabel and Jason could barely keep their footing.

I watched Mabel's terrified expression through the window and spoke calmly.

"Your brother has PTSD, doesn't he? We wouldn't want him having some kind of episode in the middle of the flight. I'll open the door once he agrees to leave all that junk behind."

Mabel was still hesitating when Jason tugged on her sleeve and leaned over to whisper something in her ear.

When she looked up again, she immediately shouted, "Felix! Jason said okay! Now hurry up and open the door!"

Another powerful gust swept across the rooftop, knocking Mabel to the ground.

We had been together for three years, and despite everything, I still couldn't bring myself to leave her behind. I immediately told the pilot to open the cabin door and let them in.

Mabel had scraped her arm in the fall, but she still used all her strength to help Jason into the helicopter first.

But when it was her turn, she gathered up the action figures I had thrown out, stuffed them into a small box, and turned to me pleadingly.

"Felix, I know things have been hard on you lately with Jason's condition and everything.

"But I'm his sister, and he's only like this because he got hurt saving you. What else am I supposed to do?

"I'll leave everything else behind, but these are his favorite action figures. Please, just let me bring this one box. I promise I'll keep it by my feet. It won't take up your seat!"

In the end, I gave in.

But with her injured arm, Mabel couldn't lift the box into the helicopter, no matter how hard she tried.

She was having enough trouble just getting herself on board.

The wind was getting strong enough to uproot trees, so I didn't waste another second. I climbed back down and helped Mabel into the helicopter.

"Honey, the box!" Mabel pointed to the box still sitting on the rooftop. I limped over, picked it up, and struggled to push it into the cabin.

But just as I was climbing into the cabin, Jason rushed forward and shoved me back onto the rooftop.

I hit the ground hard, and a length of exposed rebar pierced my already broken leg. The pain was so excruciating that I couldn't even get back up.

I instinctively looked to Mabel for help, but she simply shut the cabin door without showing the slightest concern.

"Don't tell me this is the only rescue helicopter! If you're so determined to fight with Jason over everything, then stay out there and enjoy the breeze a little longer!"

The helicopter began to lift off. Through the window, I watched Mabel carefully buckle Jason into his seat before taking out his action figures and arranging them one by one on the empty passenger seat.

Jason pressed his face against the window and made a mocking face at me. I couldn't hear him over the engines, but I could read his lips perfectly.

"Idiot. I hope you die!"

Just then, my phone screen lit up. It was a psychiatric evaluation report from a prestigious mental health institution overseas.

The report confirmed that Jason didn't have PTSD at all.

Suddenly, everything fell into place.

I immediately called the emergency command center.

"Command, this is Felix Moore! The rescue helicopter assigned to me has been hijacked. Intercept it immediately!"