Page 2 of No Turning Back
“You don’t act like you care,” he says. “You act like you already made peace with no longer serving.”
That hits harder than I expect. The words scrape raw across old wounds.
“Because instead of being a damn coward about it, I got help.” My voice trembles with fury. “I didn’t run back into a battlefield just to die in a war neither of us had any say in starting.”
His face goes cold. “It’s different for you.”
My mouth falls open. “Because I’m agirl?”
“That’s not what I-” He stops. Rubs his hand over his face like he can scrub the thought out of his head. Then, quieter:
“You can’t go back, I can.”
Silence.
The words hit like a car crash in slow motion.
I blink, trying to process. He knows how much that broke me, being told I couldn’t go back. And now here he is, throwing it in my face.
I stand suddenly. That ache in my chest? It's not just grief. It's rage. Confusion. Fear.
I take a step, and he grabs my wrist, gentle but firm.
“Hey. I’m sorry. I’m just lashing out.”
He pulls me back, and I let him. His eyes are softer now, like whatever fight he had left burned out in those last few words.
“I love you,” he says, voice rough, sincere.
I swallow, my throat tight with all the things I can't fix. “I love you too. But I can’t be alone in this marriage anymore, Markus.”
His eyes darken as they search mine. "What does that mean?"
"It means I need you here. Present. Not halfway across the world trying to die for something that's already over."
Markus leans forward, pressing his forehead against mine. His breath is warm on my face, and I can smell his cologne, that familiar scent that still makes my stomach flip even after all this time.
"I'm scared," he whispers, so quietly I almost miss it.
"Of what?" I ask, my hand finding his.
"Of staying. Of what happens if I let it all go."
I cup his face, my thumb tracing the stubble along his jaw. "Then we figure it out together."
Something flickers in his eyes, desperation, maybe, or surrender. He pulls me closer, his hands sliding up my back, and kisses me hard. It isn’t gentle, it isn’t careful. It’s the kind of kiss that says everything words can’t.
I kiss him back just as fiercely, both of us clinging to a life that feels like it’s slipping through our fingers. We fall asleep tangled together, holding on like it might keep the world from changing.
The shift in the mattress doesn’t wake me. Neither does the soft kiss on my temple, or the whispered words I’ll never remember. But sometime before dawn, awareness creeps in. The bed beside me is empty, the sheets cool to the touch. My hand slides across the space where his body should be, finding nothing but the faint scent of him left behind on the pillow.
I don’t need to open my eyes to confirm what my heart already knows.
He’s gone.
Chapter One
Quinn
