Chapter 1 It Has Been a Long Time
Bombs were going off non-stop in the warzone that even people at the field hospital could feel the earth
shuddering. Winona Winston was stitching a wound on an injured soldier. Her hair was clung to her
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scalp as she was drenched in a mixture of blood and sweat. Hardly anyone could recognize her to be
the eldest daughter of Christopher Winston, the city mayor, as her exquisite beauty was obscured by
her disheveled appearance.
The scruffy surroundings and the scorching hot weather did not bother her. As a doctor, she was
obligated to take care of her patients no matter how horrid the environment was. Moreover, she needed
to step up and show her dedication given that she was the leader of the clinical team of Country C.
nk! Someone kicked the door to the derelict room open all of the sudden. An injured soldier whose
blood was flowing profusely from his head was carried inside on a stretcher by five other soldiers. The
leader of the group was a good-looking, long-legged man who exuded an icy aura. “Who’s the boss
here?”
Winona answered him in a level voice, “It’s me.”
The man marched over at strides and aimed his gun at her head. “Rescue him now or I’ll shoot you and
the nurses to death immediately!” he threatened.
Unfazed by his threat, Winona looked straight into his eyes. “How am I going to perform a surgery
when you’re pointing a gun at my head?”
Matt Snider froze when he saw the familiar features on Winona’s face. In a crisp movement, he
withdrew the gun.
“Scram!” Winona snapped frostily.
The other soldiers looked deeply rattled when they heard her harsh tone. Considering that no one had
ever spoken to Matt that way, they were very sure Winona was doomed.
Surprisingly, Matt softened his attitude and responded with a faint smile, “Fine.”
Then, he left the hospital together with his subordinates.
After they were gone, Winona immediately instructed her assistant to move the injured soldier to the
operating table. “Get me the forceps and a few bags of blood right now!”
“Dr. Winona, the pulse of the patient is very weak! I can’t feel his breathing!”
Without hesitation, Winona performed cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the injured soldier.
Some distance away from the field hospital, Matt narrowed his eyes to observe the woman who just
yelled at him minutes ago. She was tirelessly doing chestpressions on the injured soldier at the
moment. To his amazement, she did not even flinch when her hands, her face, and her white coat were
stained by the soldier’s blood, and her movements were deft and quick. The surgery room was her
stage, and she owned it.
The surgery was finallypleted at midnight that day, and the injured soldier was sent back to
Country C. Seeing that, Winona heaved out a long sigh of relief. Wearily, she slouched out of the
surgery room and went to wash her hands.
Suddenly, someone handed her a clean towel. She stopped herself from blurting out “thanks” just in
time when she saw the man who offered her the kind gesture. Honestly speaking, the man did not
leave a favorable impression on her. Winona deemed him to be a rude, domineering, and imposing
man…
He lit up a cigar and released a mouthful of smoke at her. “My name is Matt Snider. I’d be d if you
could keep my name in mind,” he introduced himself.
He was Matt Snider, a man who was famous for his legendary military achievements.
Matt had made his luck ever since he joined the army at the age of twelve. His talents caught the eye
of his superiors when he was sixteen, and he was appointed as the captain of his toon when he hit
twenty. Now, he was twenty-seven and had made it as the general of the army. Winona heard from the
grapevine that he had never lost a single battle he was involved in. He was ruthless to everyone,
including himself and even his father. In Winona’s opinion, it was unwise to associate herself with a
man like him.
The smoke of the cigar irritated her airway and consequently, she started coughing. Matt found her
even more adorable when her face flushed. Feeling annoyed, Winona tossed the used towel back at
Matt and strode off. When he sped her wrist as she walked past him, she reached for the scalpel in
the pocket of her coat out of instinct. She was ready to fight him to the death if he decided to molest
her.
“Thanks for rescuing my man,” he said.
“Mr. Snider, you don’t have to thank me at all. Saving his life is part of my job.”
Matt singlehandedly pinned both of her hands to her back to keep her still. Then, he edged closer to
her and whispered to her, “It’s been a long while.”
Winona went stupefied when she heard that. For some reason, Matt’s face looked familiar to her, but
she could not remember anything about him.
Just then, the rest of the clinical team made their way over.
Matt quickly loosened his grip on her hands. When Winona, who was caught off guard, stumbled
backward, he twined an arm around her waist to help her stay on a stable footing. She tried to knee
him in between his legs to force him to move away, but her leg was trapped in between his. In the
stalemate, Matt reached for her lips and touched them flirtatiously. The soft and smooth texture of her
lips gave him a pressing urge to kiss her.
In response to her baleful nce, he shed her a roguish smile. “I’ll see you again soon,” he muttered
before letting her go.
By the time Winona came to her senses, he was long gone.
The smell of tobo still lingered on her lips. Disgusted by it, she returned to the washbasin where she
started sshing icy water on her face. She was so desperate to clean her mouth that she scrubbed
her lips hard until they were bleeding.
Soon, the nurses of the clinical team surrounded her. Coming from different regions of Country C, they
did not know Winona well. Therefore, they took the liberty of making wild guesses about the situation.
“Winona, is Mr. Snider the man you’ve been looking for?”
“No way. Do you think Mr. Snider looks like her fiancé?”
One of the nurses who was smitten by Mattmented, “Does it mean I still stand a chance of dating
that hottie? Thank god! Mr. Snider is a good catch. Not only is he a looker, but he is also a very
talented guy. Guess what? He started his career as a second lieutenant and worked his way up to
being an general. That’s quite impressive.”
The other nurse quickly dampened her enthusiasm by saying, “I hate to burst your bubble, but
everyone’s been telling me that guy doesn’t spend time on women. A man like him is way out of our
league.”
Winona stered a fake smile at them before leaving. She slumped on a bench in the corridor where
she opened her purse. A photo of a beautiful couple smiling brightly at the camera was kept inside.
The man in the photo was her fiancé, Benjamin Larson. He was her childhood sweetheart.
Ever since she was a teenager, she had always known that she would be Benjamin’s wife one
day. ording to the family rule, every one of the Winston family must marry someone from the Larson
family. As the eldest daughter of her parents, Winona was no exception to the rule.
To be frank, she did have feelings for Benjamin. After all, she had known him for a long time and she
deemed him good husband material.
Benjamin was a decent-looking man who was down-to-earth and gentle. He was not full of himself
because his father was a big fish in the government. Most importantly, he was very nice to her.
Because of her rtionship with Benjamin, her half-sister, Sharon, had always been jealous of her.
Winona did not have much of a say in her marriage. If she did not marry Benjamin, her father would
just marry her to a stranger. If that was the case, she would rather marry someone she knew.
Benjamin had gone missing when their wedding ceremony was scheduled to be held in two months.
The only information Winona had was that he was involved in the war between Country C and Country
D. No one, even his family, had heard from him for six months.
As Benjamin’s father was running for the presidency of Country C, he had no choice but to keep the
matter a secret to the public. Winona only applied to offer her service at the field hospital so that she
could look for Benjamin herself.
It was at Matt’s office.
Theyout and decoration of his office were simple. Everything, including the curtains, was ck.
There was a stack of photos scattered on his desk. They captured Winona at different stages of her life
—her childhood, her teenage years, and when she was an adult.
Matt’s eyes were tinged with amusement when he was caressing Winona’s beautiful eyes on the
photos. “You mustn’t me me for what I’m going to do to you. You’ve asked for it.”
With a crooked smile, he phoned Felix Carter, his subordinate guarding the dungeon in City X. Violent
criminals and people who had offended the government officials were imprisoned there.
“Release Benjamin Larson and bring him home as soon as possible,” Matt instructed.
“Mr. Snider, keeping Benjamin Larson in the dungeon is part of your deal with the Johnson family. What
will happen if Vice President Johnson holds us ountable for releasing him? Mr. Snider, are you sure
you want to do this?”
“Shut up! Just do as I said.”
After a pause, Matt added, “Also, tell Samuel and the rest of the gang to meet me tomorrow.”
Felix sounded excited from the other end. “Mr. Snider, are you giving us some new tasks? We’ve been
longing for a chance to test out skills!”
“I’m nning to do a marriage proposal.”
Felix gasped when he heard that.