Chapter 3 In the end, they took her by force. The so-called hearing wrapped quickly. The "evidence" was airtight, and with Captain Holt's righteous identification on top of it, the decision came down hard: guilty, twenty blows with batons, then a day's punishment detail cleaning the stables on the edge of the base. The twenty strikes landed across her back one by one until the world narrowed to a white roar. By the time they dumped her in the reeking stable, she could barely stand. The pain in her body was nothing compared to the ruin inside her chest. She lay over a cold bale of hay, tears carving silent paths down her face. No matter how she turned it over, she could not understand how the man she had loved for a decade could do this to her without flinching. She forced herself upright and groped for a broom when a figure appeared in the doorway-neat as a picture in a boxy olive field jacket and pressed slacks. Elaine Ward. Concern and apology were arranged on her face, but triumph and malice flickered in her eyes. "Angela, are you all right? Gideon shouldn't have... how could he let you take this," Elaine murmured. "I told him not to. I said I'd answer for what... Auto-added to the Library He worries for me, you know. He's afraid I'm too delicate to handle it. Poor Angela bowed her head. Her fingers locked so tight around the broom handle the knuckles went white. She said nothing. Elaine was not about to let her off the hook. She circled twice, each sentence a little parade of Gideon's tenderness toward her, every word sprinkled like salt into Angela's open heart. "This place stinks," Elaine said, wrinkling her nose. "Gideon hates smells like this. If he knew you were stuck in here, he'd only think less of you." When Angela still wouldn't bite, Elaine's smile cooled. She drifted over to a nervous, high-strung horse and jabbed it hard with something sharp. The horse screamed. The others spooked in a chain reaction, hooves crashing and flying. There was nowhere for Angela to go. They surged toward her. A hoof slammed into her leg, then her arm, then her back. Pain welded the air shut. She screamed as blood spread warm through the torn fabric of her clothes. Just before the dark swallowed her, a tall, familiar figure burst into the stable. Gideon. Chapter 3 Had he come to save her? A thin, pathetic thread of hope lifted its head. He didn't so much as glance at her. He went straight to Elaine, who was curled in a corner pretending to be shaken, and scooped her up with careful arms. "Elaine. Don't be scared," he said, his voice frantic and tender in a way Angela had never heard. "I've got you. I'm taking you out." He carried Elaine away without once looking at the woman bleeding on the floor. The last of Angela's hope disintegrated. Her heart hurt worse than anything her body had felt. Blood surged up her throat and spilled from her lips; the world snapped to black. She woke to the sour bite of disinfectant and the soft, endless beep of a monitor, and realized she was in a hospital room. No one sat at her bedside. Only a nurse came in to change her dressings. "You're awake," the nurse said, hands moving briskly. "With injuries like these, where's your family?" The word "family" echoed in her head. Angela saw Gideon's cold face in her mind, saw him carrying Elaine out with all the care in the world, and closed her eyes as tears leaked past her lashes. "I don't have family," she answered, voice sandpapered and tired to the bone. The nurse paused, took in the look on Angela's face, and seemed to understand. She sighed and left without another question. The door opened again almost at once. Elaine returned, a smirk curling her mouth. "No family? At least you're self-aware. Even if you stole Gideon, you know he only has room for me. He's never going to love you." Angela opened her eyes and, for the first time, found the whole thing absurd. "Stole?" She let out a thin, humorless breath. "Elaine, don't forget this. When the word came down that Gideon had died on a mission, you were the one who chose to marry someone else." Color climbed Elaine's cheeks. She drew breath to argue. Angela spoke over her, calm and cutting. "What is it this time-your parents forced you? You're an adult. It's a different era now. If you'd refused, they couldn't have dragged you to the altar. That excuse might fool Gideon. It doesn't fool me." Hit where it hurt, Elaine flushed hot. "Fine. I thought Gideon was gone, I was getting older, and I wasn't going to live as a widow for a man in the ground. So I married. And you? You waited. He still doesn't love you. You got the marriage, but you never got his heart." The words stabbed deep. Angela couldn't deny them. Chapter 3 1504 She pulled the corner of her mouth in a weary, bitter line. "You're right. He doesn't love me, so I don't love him anymore. I'll step aside and let you two have each other. Now get out." Chapter 3 Florence Florence is a passionate reader who finds joy in long drives on rainy days. She's also a fan of Italian makeup tutorials, blending beauty and elegance into her everyday life.