LOGIN“What the—” The young nurse yelped as she spun around violently, her back slamming against her car door as she raised her car key in front of her in defense. Jared halted two steps away and quickly pulled down his face mask. “Sorry to startle you, ma’am.” "Oh my God. I almost attacked you!" she gasped, clutching her chest as her eyes swept over his broad frame, recognition clicking in her features. Jared’s eyes twinkled with silent amusement at her words. He placed his hands loosely in his jacket pockets, his dark eyes studying her face carefully. "Wait, you are... you are Mr Jared, right?” She asked, her posture relaxing, her tense shoulders dropping. “You were in the hospital room the other day with Mr. and Mrs. Oakley. You have been all over the news recently."He eyed the blank, bubbly, innocent curiosity in her eyes. There was no tenseness in her frame to show she was on guard towards his presence. If anything, she was too trusting around someone who had just snuck up behind
“Everyone is going bonkers over your video, Mr Lotto.” Clara, the journalist who had famously interviewed Myla and Hayden months ago, said with a soft laugh. “It’s been less than 48 hours since it dropped, and I have become the nation’s touch point for the truth.” “Thank you for airing that video on such short notice,” Jared said, his deep voice carrying in the quiet room. “I know you have a very busy schedule, Clara, and I appreciate you actually reaching out when you saw my email.”She leaned back in her high-backed chair, shaking her head. “Thank me?” she countered, her eyes wide on the video call. “No, sir. Thank you for trusting me to be the one to break this to the world.”She pointed toward the camera with the pen in her hand. “Do you have any idea how many journalists dream about getting something like this? A military cover-up? A high-level government conspiracy? A survivor willing to go on record?” She waved her hand excitedly. “Oh my.” Jared stared at the laptop screen, h
“He is not here,” Beck replied firmly. “If you cannot drop a direct message for him right now, then you are completely wasting your breath.”Voss let out a heavy sigh over the line. “I know you know about the so-called operation by now. So listen to me carefully, and relay this message to him.” The commander paused, his tone turning incredibly sharp and threatening. “He is being ordered to keep his mouth completely shut. Whatever games he is playing with the press with this whole leaking of the files shenanigans, he needs to stop immediately. I am only reaching out with this warning as a favour because I respect him.”Shock radiated through the room, three of them exchanging surprised and horrified looks. The military really did think Jared was the one behind the whole thing, as they had feared. Hayden’s grip tightened around the phone. “You’ve got the wrong idea,” he said evenly. “Jared isn’t the one who leaked those files.”Voss let out a dry, borderline bitter chuckle. “You expect
“Phantom wolf?” a deep voice boomed loudly through the phone speaker as soon as Hayden accepted the call. Beck jolted with surprise at the sudden use of Jared’s old army nickname. He looked up, meeting Hayden’s eyes, which were narrowed with shock and suspicion. “I know you can hear me loud and clear,” the man said, his voice incredibly arrogant and authoritative. “Answer me, Lotto.”Hayden’s mouth tightened with irritation at the arrogant man, frowning at the phone with his expression completely guarded. “Mr Lotto is not anywhere around here right now.” For a second, there was nothing but static on the line. “I need to speak with Sergeant Jared Lotto.” The man demanded, his voice authoritatively demanding. “Get the phone to him now.”Hayden exchanged a quick glance with Beck before answering. “Who’s asking?”“My name is Richard Voss.”The name meant nothing to Hayden. Beck’s body, on the other hand, went rigid, and his jaw slowly clenched.“Well, you are currently talking to his
“To the pieces of my heart,” Hayden started, his voice steady, but there was a roughness beneath. He paused and cleared his throat before continuing. “If you are reading this, then I have already left.First, I am sorry.I know apologizing does not change anything, but I still owe each of you one. I promised I wouldn’t disappear, and I broke that promise. I know that hurts, especially after everything that has happened these past few days.Please believe me when I say this was not an easy decision.”Hayden paused for a second, swallowing against the tightness in his throat.“My, Before I met you, surviving was enough for me. I woke up, I trained, I worked, and I slept. I called it living because I didn’t know there was anything else.Then you walked into our lives.Somehow, without even trying, you reminded me that peace wasn’t something reserved for other people.You loved without conditions. You looked at me and never once saw a too reserved, pensive man. Instead of taking it the
The television continued humming softly in the background, filling the small living room with the steady drone of reporters desperately trying to make sense of the chaos unfolding across the country.They had moved to their favourite living room almost forty minutes ago in an unconscious bid to find comfort to soothe the rift in their hearts. But all they did was sit in silence and watch the events unfold on the television while ignoring the facts that their phones were probably ringing off the hook upstairs. Myla sat still beside Hayden on the couch, the folded letter still clutched tightly in trembling fingers. Beck stayed stiff beside her, her second hand in his, his gaze fixed on the envelope as though looking away might somehow change what it represented. Hayden stood a few feet away, both hands planted on his hips, his chest rising and falling with uneven breaths as he watched the protests on the TV.The silence felt unbearable.“Guys,” he suddenly said, pulling their attention







