Prologue

Chloe stood at the window in her father's office, watching the men in uniforms as they loaded the trucks parked in front of the university's auditorium. It was all happening too fast, and she wanted it to stop. Everything Chloe had ever wished for, hoped for, was so close but remained just out of her reach. She rested her head against the cold glass, praying, despite the inevitability of what was about to happen.

War.

Chloe had come to live with her father in this small county four years earlier. She had been fifteen and nervous about the changes her new life would bring, and she had to admit that the most frightening of those changes had been falling in love. From the moment she had seen Valentine, she had been smitten. There was no reasoning with her. Everyone had tried, her father, Valentine, and her father's friend, Silas. They had all told her she was too young, that there was no way she could be in love at such a young age, but Chloe wouldn't be reasoned with because she had always known her own mind.

Chloe sat up as she saw Valentine cross the open courtyard and walk into the auditorium, there was a good chance he was alone, and this might be her last chance to speak with him before he left. Without wasting another moment, she bolted out of her father's office, down the three flights of stairs, and across the cold and desolate campus.

If things were normal and the country wasn't about to be plunged into war, the campus would be busy with students rushing to and from their classes, but that wasn't the case now. Now, the students had either evacuated or chosen a side to fight with and joined their cause. It wasn't Chloe's country, but she had chosen a side, Valentine's side. It was him against his uncle. One of them would win control of the country, plunging it into either a dark dictatorship or bringing it into the light of democracy. Valentine had given up everything, his medical career, his life, and her to fight for his country, and he refused to let her fight with him.

She needed to talk to him, convince him that she could fight alongside him, and help him make his country free.

Chloe pushed through the door to the auditorium, and the squeaking noise the door made was easily heard in the silence that surrounded her. The only sound was her shoes clicking on the old linoleum floor as she searched the rooms that she passed.

She took a deep breath and pushed into the main auditorium and saw him. Valentine was sitting in the middle of the large space, his head bowed and his hands steepled as if in prayer. Chloe knew he was waiting for her, and she slowly walked down the aisle until she drew even with the row in which he was sitting.

"Valentine," she said softly.

He took a moment before he lowered his hands and looked over at her with a sad smile.

"Chloe," he greeted in a gruff voice as he motioned to the seat next to him, asking her to join him without saying a word.

She made her way down the aisle, her green eyes never leaving his dark penetrating gaze. When she reached him, she pulled out the seat next to him and sat down, relaxing in the seat as much as possible.

Chloe was overwhelmed by the silence that surrounded them as they sat together. He reached out and took her hand with his, linking their fingers and raising her hand to his lips, placing a gentle kiss on its back as he closed his eyes.

She swallowed hard at the loving action, knowing in her heart that it was goodbye.

"Valentine-"

"No, Chloe. Don't say a word. It would be a pointless endeavor to change my mind and only end in an argument, and since these are our final moments together, let's not do that." He squeezed her hand before he placed it back in her lap. It wasn't lost on her that he was speaking in English and that his accent was thicker than usual, which was the only tell that he was upset.

"Please, Valentine, I want to stay. I want to help!" Chloe begged, picking up his hand again, hoping to reach him through the connection.

"I'm sorry, Chloe, I cannot allow that. It's too dangerous. Silas is leaving this evening, and he will take you with him. He will make sure that you make it to Amsterdam safely and then put you on a plane back to the U.S." He pulled his hand out of hers and stood up in an attempt to end the conversation.

Chloe quickly stood and stepped into his personal space, brushing her entire body with his, hoping to make him remember what they had together and what they had felt. There was no way he was able to turn his feelings off so easily, no matter what he portrayed to the outside world, to her.

"You've always been honest with me, Valentine. Please don't stop now. You cannot tell me you don't feel this." She placed his hand on her chest above her heart and then put her hand on his chest, bunching the shirt in a fist when she didn't feel his heartbeat racing in response to her. She had always felt it before. Chloe looked at her hand holding the ugly army green shirt of his uniform.

"I won't allow myself to feel it, Chloe." He stepped away from her, turning to face forward, offering her his side, in effect closing himself off from her.

"You want me to be honest?" he asked, looking down at her while noting the silent tears that were falling at his rebuke.

"Y-yes," she nodded as she balled her hands into fists, ready to accept whatever he delivered.

"If you stay. If I continue to care. It will kill us both." His eyes bored into hers as he tried to get her to accept the reality of the situation.

"You can't know that! There is no way-"

"I know it!" His harsh voice cut her off. "I know it because I know my uncle. You are a weakness that if he discovers, he will use to destroy me, and when he is done with me, he will destroy you. There is no doubt in my mind." He turned and started to walk away from her, but Chloe stayed close, right on his heels.

"Stop!" she cried. Valentine must not have been as immune to her as he was pretending to be because when he heard the complete despair in her voice, he stopped.

"Did you ever love me?" she asked as her arms wrapped around her stomach, attempting to stop the pain and comfort herself. She had never known that love could physically hurt.

Valentine closed his eyes as if what was happening hurt him as much as it was hurting her. When he opened them, there was nothing reflected there. He had not a single emotion reflected in their cold depths. It was a side of him she had never seen before. He had always been so loving and open with her in the past. Chloe's Valentine had been a passionate man in all things, not this cold, empty shell that stood before her.

"It doesn't matter now. What I need for you to do is go home." He turned to leave, but Chloe jumped in front of him, blocking his exit.

He drew to a sudden stop, and she could tell he was doing his best not to touch her in any way. When he took a step back, she knew she still had a little power over him, but she didn't realize was that she was the only one that did.

"Tell me, Valentine. You were my first, my only. If you tell me you love me, I will wait for you forever!" she vowed.

"Those are the words of a foolish girl, not a woman!" His face showed raw pain as he said the words.

"Words of a girl or not, it is how I feel. Please don't break my heart!" Her pleading gaze must have hit its mark.

"I did love you. Chloe." Her heart soared at his words. "But now love is a luxury that I cannot afford."

As if to seal his words, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out a book. Chloe recognized it as a small book of poems that she had gifted him at the beginning of their relationship. She had given it to him just before they had made love for the first time. She had inscribed it with her love.

"This belongs to you." He placed it in her numb hand before pushing past her.

"Go home, Chloe." His words sounded final as they echoed through the empty room.

Chloe didn't turn around to watch him leave. She heard the door slam behind him before she sunk into the nearest seat, staring at the book in her hands with horror as if it was a dead body.

By handing her the book, he had made his words perfectly clear.

Chloe couldn't say how long she sat there, numb to everything around her, but when she felt a light touch on her shoulder, she jumped, her heart filling with hope and then despair as she realized it was her father and not Valentine.

"He's sending me away, Daddy." She looked up at her father with large heartbroken eyes.

Her father sat next to her and pulled her close. "He loves you, Chloe, but he is doing what he thinks is best for all of us. Tell me something, do you trust him?"

"Yes, I trust him with every fiber of my being." She nodded.

"It's against my better judgment as your father to say this, but if you love him as much as you claim to, then wait for him. He is a good man, and he deserves to find happiness when all of this is over. As your father, I should tell you to move on and find happiness with someone safe, but I know what he feels for you and what you feel for him."

"He gave this back to me. Why would he do that if he still loved me?" Chloe asked, holding up the book of poems.

"It is a link to you because you wrote your name in it. If the wrong people found it, they could use it against him," her father explained gently.

"He could rip out the first page, the one with the inscription," Chloe insisted without thinking.

"No, he couldn't. That would be like ripping out the heart of the gift. He wants to keep it whole for you."

They sat in silence for a few minutes listening to the silence that surrounded them while knowing that it wouldn't last much longer because the enemy was on its way.

"Come with me, Daddy," Chloe begged. She couldn't lose both her father and Valentine on the same day.

"I can't do that, sweetheart. My place is here. This is my home, and I will fight this battle with the tools I have by saving as many lives as I can." He stood, ending the conversation. "You need to pack and prepare to leave."

Chloe followed her father's directions over the next twelve hours without arguing. She and Silas, a friend and fellow doctor, were to leave by boat in the early morning hours. Her father told her only to take what was essential and leave the rest behind. Keeping in mind what he had said about the enemy being able to use her to hurt Valentine, she carefully went through everything she had, packing up every keepsake she could find.

When the knock at her door came, she didn't look back as she grabbed her suitcase and followed Silas down the silent corridors of the hospital. There was a truck driven by her father waiting out front, and not a word was said as they drove the few miles to the port.

They had almost made it when they heard a loud explosion at the hospital behind them.

The enemy had arrived.

Her father didn't stop the truck, even though every muscle in his body must have been telling him to turn around and save his friends. When the truck stopped, they remained silent as Silas grabbed Chloe's case and headed directly for the boat, giving her a moment to say goodbye to her father.

Another truck pulled up next to them, and Valentine jumped down with two other men, who immediately took off in different directions to patrol the area.

"You're needed back at the hospital, Dr. Lockwood. I'll make sure that Chloe is safe on board." Valentine and her father exchanged a look, and then with a nod, her father left them and headed back towards the hospital.

Chloe felt Valentine's hand as it gripped her arm and dragged her up the ramp towards the boat. He marched her past Silas, who only nodded, and down to the lower deck, which was empty. He spun her around and pulled her close, forcing Chloe to tilt her head back to meet his eyes.

"God help me. I do love you, Chloe Lockwood." Then his lips landed on hers in a fierce kiss as he pressed her against the wall behind her.

Chloe kissed him back for all she was worth, and before the kiss could escalate, he pulled back, turning his back towards her. Valentine stood silently, unable or unwilling to turn around and look at her.

"I love you too, Valentine. I promise I'll wait for you for as long as it takes." Chloe's voice was soft but strong. She didn't want him to doubt it. He did love her, and he had taken the time to tell her.

With a nod, he left her without looking back.

Chloe fell onto the small bunk next to her as she heard him exchange a few words with Silas, and when she heard the engine of the boat crank, she smothered a little cry with her hand, knowing she wouldn't see Valentine again for a very long time, if ever.

"Are you all right?" Silas asked as he joined her below deck, sitting on the bunk across from her.

Chloe nodded as she laid down on her side, facing away from Silas. She was thankful that he was a man of few words and would understand that she didn't want to talk about it. When the tears came, there was nothing she could do to stop them.

She didn't know how long they were on the boat, but she had a plan when they docked. She would train as a nurse. Wars needed good nurses. Then she would somehow manage to get back and find Valentine. It was a good idea in theory but full of holes. However, Chloe refused to see those holes because all she could see was Valentine's face as he told her he loved her.

She would do all that she could to find him again, no matter how long it took. She had promised that she would wait for him, and she would wait until her dying breath.

He had gotten away from her this time, but it wouldn't be so easy next time.