Chapter 14
“Dad, why won’t you let me call off the engagement? Are you really going to force me to marry a woman I don‘ t love?” George asked.
General Palmer frowned deeply, his piercing gaze fixed on him.
“Captain Palmer, have you lost your mind?” he barked. “You are the one who bought Amanda home and said she was the woman you wanted to spend the rest of your life with. You were also the one who told Kelly, to her face, that you were marrying Amanda and that she should give up all her hopes for you.”
“Now, when everything is ready and the entire compound knows we‘ re set to unite with the Cain Family and you want to back out? Do you know what kind of humiliation that would bring me?” General Palmer asked.
35 09:45
1/5
9:45
Chapter 14
34
George felt devastated as if he had eaten a dead fly. He stood in the room like a statue for a long time before he finally spoke, “Dad, is there a way to find Kelly’s location?”
General Palmer, already irritated, lit a cigarette and took a drag before answering, “George, the national research bases are top secret. Even if I knew, I wouldn’t tell you.”
He paused, his tone softened slightly. “Let it go. Kelly had made her decision. Why disturb her life again?”
After he said that, General Palmer turned around and left the room.
George stood alone in the house Kelly had once lived in. His emotions churned wildly. His eyes brimmed with tears and as they blurred his vision, memories of her face became vivid.
“George, it’s thundering outside. I’m scared. Can you stay with me?”
35% 00:45
35%:00:45
2/5
334
9:45
Chapter 14
“George, my birthday wish is to be with you
forever, never apart.”
“George, I like you….”
A sudden clap of thunder jolted George back to reality. Only then did he truly grasp the empty silence of the room around him.
She has gone. She didn’t want him
anymore.
The bottle of medicated oil he had left for her still sat on the table, untouched.
He couldn’t begin to imagine how she
had felt when he had lashed out at her with those cruel words.
“Kelly… forgive me,”
Yet, no amount of apology could change anything.
General Palmer had set his and Amanda’s wedding date on the sixth of the month,
However, George had not had any intention of going through with it.
35% 04:15
3/5
9:45
34
Chapter 14
In secret, he withdrew the marriage application from the military. He was determined to delay the wedding by any means necessary. If his father wanted to prepare for the wedding, so be it.
Yet his priority was to find Kelly. Once he was, he would ask her to be his bride. He would do everything in his power to find
her.
George had an idea. He got up, walked over and used the landline phone to call a
number.
“Dobson, can you do me a favor?” he asked. “I need to find out the general location of a satellite research base.”
He paused. “Yes, I know it‘ s against regulations, but I don’t need a specific location, all I want is the city it’s in.”
In the end, his voice cracked as he added,
“Please… I’m begging you.”
30% 00:45
4/5
34
9:45
Chapter 14
Kelly sat in the car. Her body kept swaying all the way to the research base. It was only in the evening of the second day, they finally arrived.
The northwestern sky was so blue that Kelly couldn’t open her eyes and just as she got out of the car she heard an exclamation of surprise in her ears.
“Look! The snowcapped mountains!”
Kelly looked up and was instantly stunned into silence.
Her hometown had snowy winters, but they couldn’t compare to the breathtaking beauty of the northwest mountains. The snow–covered peaks were majestic and they were cloaked in a mist so ethereal they seemed to merge with the heavens.
She was so mesmerized that she didn‘ t notice the uneven ground beneath her feet. One misstep and she twisted her ankle.
