Chapter 3

The week that followed, Calder didn't reach out.

Neither did I.

The rumors started quietly, then didn't.

Some said Calder had fallen for the fragile girl he'd been protecting and was looking for a way out of our engagement.

Some said I had a temper that drove away a good man.

I heard all of it.

I let it pass through me.

Until Mara pulled me into her office and closed the door.

She'd known my mother for years and had always looked out for me.

"Neva, what is actually going on between you and Calder?"

I shook my head. "Nothing."

"Don't do that." She exhaled. "I've heard things."

"That Lila Voss is not what she seems."

"The surgical team told me — her appendicitis never required a transfer."

"She refused treatment here. Made a scene. Said she was afraid of scarring and demanded a specialist at the regional hospital for a minimally invasive procedure."

"Calder called in every favor he had to get her that bed."

"Do you know how long one of our warriors, a real emergency case, spent lying on a cot in the hallway that night because that bed was gone?"

Mara's words hit me like a blow to the chest.

I had told myself Calder was simply blinded by loyalty.

I had told myself his sense of responsibility had gotten the better of him.

I had not let myself think he had crossed this far.

That was a warrior's life.

And in his mind, it had mattered less than Lila's fear of a scar.

"Neva," Mara said, her voice softening. "Calder is a good man. But good men make terrible mistakes."

"They get blinded. It happens."

"Don't let this destroy you."

I nodded. "I hear you, Mara."

I left her office and walked to the inpatient ward.

Lila's room.

The door was slightly open, just a crack.

I stopped in the doorway and heard Lila's voice from inside — she was on the phone with someone.

Her voice carried no weakness. If anything, she sounded excited.

"He treats me so well, you have no idea."

"That Neva? Total control freak. Suffocating to be around."

"He's been done with her for ages. Just didn't know how to end it."

*"The ceremony? I faked the whole thing. Cried twice on the phone and he dropped everything and ran. Didn't even look back."

"So who do you think he really cares about?"

"Money? Obviously. I told him my mom was sick and needed help. He transferred the funds without blinking. Five figures."

"He said I'm like his real sister now. Monthly allowance and everything."

"The designer bag? I told him all my friends had one and I was the only one left out. It arrived the next day."

"He'll believe anything that comes out of my mouth. Anything."

"Once I've got him completely, Neva won't even be a memory."

The sunlight in the corridor was very bright.

I couldn't feel any warmth in it.

Every drop of blood in my body seemed to freeze in that moment.

So I was the fool all along.

Calder Rhys, the man I had loved for three years, the man I thought I could build a life with.

In his heart, I was nothing but a burden he didn't know how to put down.

My faith. My love. Everything I had quietly carried.

It shattered completely in that moment.

I didn't go in.

I simply turned and walked away.

I went back to my office, sat down, and opened my laptop.

I began writing my discharge petition.