Chapter 1

Prologue

I spent eight years stuck at a remote outpost clinic in the Pacific Northwest, doing nothing but waiting for Caleb Miller to marry me.

Then I heard it with my own ears. He had already married my best friend, and they had a daughter together. All those times he rejected my transfer requests, he was just doing it to protect her promotion.

To make matters worse, when my mother was on her deathbed, he refused to let me return to New York to see her one last time.

My heart finally turned to ash. I did everything in my power to get back to New York.

Yet the second I arrived at the hospital, Caleb caught me. Instead of asking how I was doing, he assumed I had deserted my post and tried to force me onto the first train back.

I ripped my hand out of his grip and stared at him with cold, dead eyes.

"Don't worry, Caleb. Starting today, I'll never bother you again."

Chloe's POV

I stayed alone at that godforsaken outpost clinic in the Pacific Northwest for eight long years.

In my eighth year, just when I thought our thousand-mile separation was finally coming to an end, my transfer request was denied once again.

The reason was the exact same cookie-cutter excuse: "Crucial personnel for remote healthcare. Transfer indefinitely suspended."

With red, burning eyes, I dialed Caleb's number. But the person who answered was a little girl.

"Hello? Are you looking for my daddy?" Her sweet, tiny voice came through the receiver. "Daddy's blow-drying Mommy's hair. They're taking me out to dinner in a minute!"

Daddy?

The word hit me like a bucket of freezing water, chilling me to the core.

I told myself I must have dialed the wrong number.

After all, everyone knew how deeply Caleb loved me.

He never complained about the grueling trip from New York all the way out to the Northwest. He came to see me almost every single month.

Even if he could only stay for a single weekend, he always said it was worth it.

He used to tell me, "Chloe, the second your rotation out Northwest is over, we're getting married."

During the brutal dust storms and on freezing, lonely nights, those words were the only thing that kept me going.

So how could the man who was supposed to be waiting to marry me have a family and a child with someone else?

I was just about to hang up when a deep, gentle voice sounded from the speaker.

"Haley, put the phone down, sweetie. It's time to go eat."

That voice—so familiar it was etched into my very bones—slipped through the receiver without warning.

It was Caleb!

My entire body locked up. My mind went completely blank.

Caleb was married? And he had a child?

Before I could even process the shock to confront him, another woman's voice came through. "Caleb, I heard you turned down Chloe's transfer request again?"

My breath caught in my throat. My eyes went wide in pure disbelief.

That voice belonged to none other than my best friend, Nicole Evans!

Over the line, Caleb gave a careless, dismissive hum. "Yeah."

That quiet confirmation felt like a jagged blade ripping straight into my chest.

"Just rejecting her paperwork isn't going to fix things forever," Nicole sighed softly. "She's already twenty-eight. If she stays out in the Northwest much longer, she'll get too old. What decent guy is going to want her then?"

"We'll talk about it next year," Caleb said, his tone entirely detached and calm. "If she comes back right now, her resume will blow yours out of the water. You might lose the attending surgeon promotion this year."

Nicole hesitated for a second. "Still... holding back her transfer just so I can make attending surgeon... don't you think that's a little unfair to her?"

"It doesn't matter. She has a soft personality; she won't hold a grudge." Caleb paused, then added, "Besides, clinics out in the middle of nowhere need good doctors too. She's still practicing medicine out there. It's really no different."

The call abruptly cut off.

I stood frozen in the payphone booth. The receiver shook violently in my hand. I couldn't wrap my head around what I had just heard.

*No different...*

All these years, the biggest roadblock keeping me from going home was the very man who swore he loved me and promised to marry me!

And this year, when I had the best chance of finally returning, he blocked my transfer again just so Nicole's promotion wouldn't be threatened!

The blood in my veins turned to ice. My heart felt like it had been shredded into a million pieces. My entire body trembled uncontrollably.

A memory flashed violently in my mind. Eight years ago, when the hospital was putting together a medical mission for the remote outpost, the person originally assigned to go was Nicole.

Nicole was an only child. At the time, her mother had fallen seriously ill. Nicole broke down completely when she found out she was slated for the remote outpost.

Back then, I saw my best friend's pale, tear-streaked face. Then I looked at Caleb, who was my boyfriend, and saw the flicker of deep heartache in his eyes.

I was so naive. I thought the pain in Caleb's eyes was just sympathy for Nicole's rough situation.

So, out of the kindness of my heart, I stepped forward and said, "I'll go instead. My health is great, and I adapt quickly."

Caleb didn't stop me. He didn't try to talk me out of it. He supported my decision.

He held my hand tightly, his eyes filled with mixed emotions, and said, "Chloe, don't worry. As soon as your one-year rotation is up, I'll pull strings to bring you right back. Just bear with it for one year. I'll be waiting for you."

Nicole hugged me, sobbing hysterically. "Chloe, thank you so much! You're my best friend in the whole world! When you get back, I promise I'll be your maid of honor!"

And now? The man who promised to wait for me and the woman who swore she'd be my maid of honor were together!

My best friend had married the man I gave my entire youth to love. They even had a child together!

They had lied to me for eight whole years!

How absurd. How utterly disgusting!

I walked back to my quarters like a zombie and dragged a battered metal trunk out from under my bed.

Neatly stacked inside were all the things Caleb had sent me over the last eight years.

A thick stack of letters, every single one written in his neat handwriting, always ending with the same phrase: "Waiting for you."

Looking at those words now, reading his tender expressions of care, it all felt like a sick, twisted joke.

There were also scarves, books, and little trinkets he had mailed...

I used to treat every single item like a sacred treasure. They were the warmth and motivation that kept me surviving in this harsh wasteland.

Now, their presence felt like a loud, mocking slap in the face, laughing at how stupid and pathetic I had been all these years.

If not for that accidental phone call, I might have gone on forever without knowing that my best friend and the love of my life had betrayed me behind my back.

My vision blurred with hot, angry tears. A dull, sickening ache tore through my chest, making every breath a struggle.

I couldn't stand the sight of these things for another second. I threw them into the burn barrel, piece by piece.

I watched silently as every treasured memory from my past was devoured by the flames, reduced to nothing but ash.

Just then, my commanding officer knocked hard on the door, his face pale and grim.

"Dr. Taylor, I just got an emergency message from New York. Your mother is in critical condition. She's in the ER right now. They need you to get back immediately!"