Chapter 1

Lexi Shaw, a bomb expert who recently returned from overseas, was thrust into a living nightmare. At an abandoned port on Galoria, her five-year-old son and her husband's foster sister had been kidnapped by armed assailants. After the hostages were rescued, a horrifying discovery revealed that three timed bombs had been strapped to their bodies with only fifteen minutes left on the countdown. Lexi felt the blood drain from her face. Her mind went blank. Without thinking, she rushed forward, ready to dismantle the bomb strapped to her son. Her husband, Commander Joshua Lowe, stepped in front of her, his face cold and hard. "Save Mel first." Lexi stared at him in disbelief, her voice shaking. "Joshua, the one tied up over there is your biological son!" Joshua looked at her without emotion. "Lexi, save Mel first. Otherwise, you won't be able to bear the consequences." After saying that, he raised his hand slightly toward a fishing boat docked nearby. Immediately, two burly men hauled Lexi's mother, Sapphire Kane, off the boat. One snapped photos while the other shoved Sapphire to the ground, ripping at her clothes. Sapphire's desperate screams echoed across the dock, each cry like an invisible hand crushing Lexi's heart. Lexi looked at Joshua with bloodshot eyes. "Joshua, that's our child! Why are you forcing me like this?" His face remained calm. His voice was as cold as winter ice. "Lexi, you know your mother is a retired military performer. She values her reputation above all else. If she's humiliated like this, the shame and public scrutiny alone would destroy her." Every word cut through Lexi like a knife to the chest. "Joshua, I'm begging you. Let my mother go. I will do everything I can to save both Sebastian and Mel. Please." She hit her knees with a dull thud, humiliated and powerless despite her former renown as a bomb expert. Joshua looked down at her without the slightest hint of hesitation. "Lexi, I will never risk Mel's life." Lexi clenched her fists until her mouth filled with the metallic taste of blood. "So you're willing to gamble with our child and my mother's lives? What am I to you, then?" Joshua acted as if he hadn't heard her hoarse voice at all. He lifted his hand sharply toward the men. In the next moment, the last piece of clothing on Sapphire was ripped apart. Her trembling body was exposed in full view. Lexi went mad, struggling to rush forward. But Sapphire's weak, desperate voice stopped her. "Lexi, don't worry about me. Save Sebastian first." Sapphire's body shook as she forced a smile at her. "I'll be fine." Those tear-filled eyes pierced straight through Lexi's heart. She was in unbearable pain, yet she had no choice. "Fine. I'll save Melissa first." Only then did Joshua nod in satisfaction. He ordered his men to release Sapphire and pulled Lexi up from the ground. "That's more like it. Go on." Grinding her teeth, Lexi walked step by step toward Melissa Lowe. The bombs strapped to them used foreign timers and could go off at any second. She suppressed the fear and hatred boiling inside her and carefully dismantled the device on Melissa. It took five full minutes. By the time she finished, the bomb on Sebastian Lowe had entered its final five minutes. \\With her expertise, she knew she still had a chance. But just as she reached for Sebastian, she noticed the timer spinning unnaturally fast. A chill of dread ran through her. The next second, the timer clicked and beeped violently. Before she could react, Sebastian suddenly shoved her aside with all his strength. Then came the deafening explosion. Lexi collapsed as she watched Sebastian torn apart in the blast, his body reduced to blood and shattered flesh. "Mommy… Sebastian hurts…" She froze, staring at his broken body as blood spilled from her mouth. Weakness overwhelmed her, her consciousness slipping away. Before being rushed into the operating room, she vaguely heard a familiar voice. "Commander Lowe, I don't understand. You've always loved your adopted sister. Why did you marry your wife at all?" Joshua glanced at the woman lying unconscious on the hospital bed. His expression was dark and unreadable. "Since economic reforms began, I've made too many enemies in Galoria. If they knew my weakness was Mel, she'd be in danger. I had to marry someone I didn't love just to protect Mel from them." The secretary looked at Lexi's battered body with sympathy. "But isn't that unfair to her? The little boy was your child, too." Joshua turned away coldly and refused to look at Lexi on the bed again. "Children can always come again, and Lexi will always be my wife in name. But my heart will always belong to Mel." A single tear slid silently down Lexi's cheek. It was only then that she finally understood that the woman Joshua had loved all along was his adopted sister. How absurd. He had tried to protect the woman he loved, and in doing so, he had used their child as a shield for that forbidden love. When Lexi opened her eyes again, the sharp stench of disinfectant filled her nose. Numb and hollow, she sat up, walked to the nurse's station, and dialed a number she hadn't called in five years. "I accept your terms. But I have two conditions. First, find out why the bomb on my son accelerated and exploded early. Second, I want Joshua to pay for my son's death." There was a long pause on the other end before a low voice answered. "No problem. One month from now, I'll personally come to Galoria to take you away." After hanging up, Lexi made another call, this time to her lawyer. "Draft the divorce papers, and make sure it reflects his military status."