Chapter 2Commanded To Kneel By My Ex Husband

Just as that fragile hope flickered to life, his voice returned.

“Fine.”

The word caused my heart to leap.

Then, his tone shifted, the sound of a man relishing his madness.

“You can withdraw your people. But before I give the official command, Captain Reed, you must go to all those you saved and kneel.”

“You will confess, to their faces, how you betrayed and cheated on your husband.”

“And then, you will perform one hundred kowtows. Every single one has to ring. I need to hear the impact.”

“Do that, and I will be merciful and allow your extraction. What do you say?”

“He’s murdering us! He’s using them to kill you!” Lexi screamed in rage beside me.

“Nova! He never planned on letting us live! He’s forcing you to…”

I raised a hand, stopping her.

I understood perfectly.

Elias knew me too well. He knew that honor and dignity were my last sacred boundaries. His goal was to utterly dismantle me, to reduce everything I fought for—in front of my team, the people I protected, and any possible recording—to dust.

Five years ago, in front of all our loved ones, I had shattered his dignity and his dreams. Now, he intended to collect that debt a hundredfold, at the precipice of death.

“Nova Reed, have you decided?” Elias’s voice cut in again.

“Let me guess… how much ammo do you have left? Three minutes? Or will it be over in the next second?”

The final wall of my sanity crumbled. I roared into the radio:

“Elias Barrett! Do you know what you are doing?! This is murder! A court-martial is waiting for you!”

The response was a brief, dismissive chuckle.

“Yes. But only if someone manages to survive to testify against me.”

A freezing clarity gripped my heart. I stood there, rooted, finally understanding his unspoken assurance. He was absolutely certain we wouldn’t walk out of this alive.

“Nova, don’t listen! We can contact the High Command directly, bypass him!” Lexi pleaded.

I shook my head slowly, an unbearable weariness settling over me.

“It won’t work. This mission is classified. He’s the direct Commander. Our plea won’t get through unless a top-level override is issued.”

“The only passable route for us to slow them down is here. If we retreat without air support, we become targets in the open desert.”

“He calculated every move.”

Lexi’s voice was a choked sob of despair. “So… there’s no other way? We just have to…”

I pulled the last crumpled cigarette from my pocket and lit it with a shaky hand, the faint glow flickering in the cold night, much like the memory of that airport five years ago.

I’d lit a similar cigarette then, too. With my gravely ill mother unconscious on a stretcher, I had turned from his tear-streaked face.

“Nova, if you walk away now, I’ll never forgive you!”

I thought the ashes of our three years together were the full price of that choice. I never imagined his five years of simmering hatred would be levied like this, staking the lives of a hundred strangers against me.

“Captain! A civilian was hit in the arm by shrapnel, bleeding badly! We need to evacuate them immediately!”

The medic’s tearful voice tore through the tense silence.

It was the final straw. All calculation ceased.

I took a deep drag on the cigarette, the last light in my eyes extinguished.

“Lexi.”

“Take over the command. Hold for three minutes. I’ll get us home.”

Lexi grabbed my arm, her fingers digging through my armor plate. “Captain, no…”

“That’s an order.”

I shook her off, not looking back. Under the stunned, anguished, disbelieving stares of my team, I turned and walked, step by slow step, toward the terrified civilians huddled in the shadow of the bunker.