For five years of marriage, Sophie Lane had always believed her husband, Daniel Hart, was just an ordinary call center operator.

He was busy with work, so she learned to handle everything at home on her own.

His salary was low, so she stretched every dollar as far as it could go.

It wasn’t until she was hospitalized during a difficult labor and ran into Daniel accompanying his fallen comrade’s widow, Clara Bailey, that she finally learned the truth.

Daniel had never been a call center operator at all; he was a commanding officer in an elite unit.

To give all the privileges of a commander’s wife to his childhood sweetheart, Clara, he had hidden his identity from Sophie for five years.

When Clara lost her child, and to spare her the pain, he had even made Sophie give her own baby to her.

Sophie’s heart went completely cold.

After recovering in the hospital, she went alone to audition for an out-of-town performing arts company.

With the offer letter in hand, she petitioned the court for divorce.

She was going to end this marriage built on lies.

And leave Daniel forever.

After losing her baby during a traumatic delivery, the neighbors all started saying Sophie Lane wasn’t the same anymore.

On the first day, she cooked herself three eggs.

She no longer set aside the best cuts of meat and fresh eggs for Daniel Hart, no longer living off scraps and cheap starches herself.

On the second day, she went to a boutique and bought herself a quilted floral coat.

She no longer kept stitching up her worn-out jacket, no longer scraping and saving for months just to buy Daniel extra gear.

On the third day, she accompanied her neighbor, Joanne, to the hospital and bought a course of postpartum medicine, only to be stopped in the lobby by his aide.

“Mrs. Hart! Captain Hart was injured during a mission. He’s been calling your name. You should go see him!”

Sophie looked at her quietly, not a trace of worry in her expression.

“Are you sure he was calling for Sophie, and not Clara?”

She smiled faintly. “You should go find Clara Bailey. The one your captain wants to see will only be her. She lives at the far west end of the military housing compound, a single-unit house. You’ll find her easily.”

With that, she took Joanne’s hand and moved to leave.

A weak yet steady voice called out from behind her. “Sophie.”

The aide sucked in a sharp breath. “Captain Hart, why did you come out yourself?!”

Daniel Hart ignored her and walked straight to Sophie.

His face was pale, but he forced a gentle smile, reaching out to touch her cheek.

“The one I want to see is you, Sophie. What kind of husband, after getting hurt, goes to see another woman instead of his wife? Are you still upset about what happened the day you gave birth?”

Sophie stepped back, avoiding his hand. “I’m not upset.”

“Clara is your fallen comrade’s widow. As the team captain, it’s your duty to take care of her. Besides, she’s pregnant. As your wife, I should be understanding and accommodating. I know that.”

Looking at his empty hand and her indifferent expression, a flicker of unease rose in Daniel’s chest.

The Sophie he once knew would ache over every wound on his body, would treasure every second they spent together…

She would never be this distant, like a stranger.

He opened his mouth to say more, but Sophie had already taken Joanne and walked straight out of the hospital.

Joanne, who had witnessed everything, lowered her voice in surprise.

“Sophie, am I seeing things right? Wasn’t Daniel just a switchboard operator? Since when did he become captain? Congratulations! You finally made it!”

A bitter taste rose in Sophie’s chest, and she let out a faint, helpless laugh.

Daniel had never been a switchboard operator.

From beginning to end, he had always been the powerful Captain Hart.

Half a month ago, Sophie’s water had broken suddenly, and she was admitted to the hospital. Due to complications, she needed a C-section.

She had only eight dollars on her.

How was she supposed to afford the surgery?

Just as despair set in, the captain’s aide pulled her into a ward.

“Ma’am, our captain is willing to cover your surgery and pay for recovery. But he has one condition. You must hand the baby over to Clara Bailey to raise.”

Sophie felt the blood in her body turn cold.

The captain they were talking about… wasn’t he her switchboard-operator husband?

Their eyes met, and Daniel frowned. “Sophie? Why is it you?”

There was no panic on his face, only relief.

“Since it’s you, then there’s nothing to discuss. Go for the C-section immediately. Clara and I grew up together. She’s carrying the child of my friend, Zack—his only legacy. If she wakes up and finds out the baby didn’t survive, she won’t be able to take it.”

Sophie stared at him in disbelief.

“For that woman, you lied to me for five years, pretending to be a switchboard operator? Because her child might die, you’re going to take mine? How can you be so heartless?”

Daniel’s face hardened with impatience.

“Enough. It’s just a child. We can have more in the future. Can you stop being so narrow-minded? As my wife, it’s your duty to understand and support me.”

She was forcibly pressed onto the operating table.

And when Clara suddenly woke and insisted on seeing the baby, before the anesthesia even took effect, Daniel ordered the doctors to cut her open.

Sophie passed out from the pain. The moment she woke, her first thought was to take her child back.

Daniel locked her inside the hospital room.

On the first day, with a single phone call, Sophie’s closest friend was fired from her job at a restaurant.

On the second day, he had her elderly father reassigned from a light warehouse job to the hardest manual labor.

On the third day, with just a word from him, her uncle, who suffered from a chronic illness, could no longer get his medication.

One by one, relatives and friends sent messages through others, begging Sophie to spare them.

Daniel walked into the hospital room. “As long as you stop trying to take the child back, I’ll let them go.”

Something inside Sophie went completely still.

She didn’t ask why he had lied to her all these years. She didn’t cry or demand any kind of compensation.

After recovering in the hospital, she went alone to audition for an out-of-town performing arts company.

With the offer letter in hand, she petitioned the court for divorce.

Once the approval came through, she would board a southbound train and put an end to this marriage built on lies.

She would leave Daniel forever.

Not long after Sophie returned home, Daniel came back as well.

He set a tin of expensive baby formula and a box of high-end supplements on the table, then pulled three hundred dollars from his coat pocket and pressed it into her hand.

Sophie lifted her eyes, calm and distant. “What is this? Compensation?”

Daniel was silent for a moment. “Yes.”

“What happened to the child… I wronged you. I hid my identity because I was afraid you’d be upset knowing Clara shared the privileges of a captain’s wife.

“But I had to take care of her. From now on, I’ll hand over all my pay. I’ll make sure you live as the most respected captain’s wife.”

Sophie let out a faint, humorless smile, her chest hollow with grief.

No amount of money could bring back her child, or the part of her that had died with it.

Besides, in five years of marriage, what she had wanted was never his rank or pay.

She still remembered the blizzard five years ago, when she had collapsed on the town road from the cold.

Daniel took off his coat, wrapped it around her, and carried her out of the storm, like a beam of light cutting through her life.

During that month of disaster relief, she brought him warm water every day, along with a scarf and gloves she had knitted by hand.

Back then, she was young—just seeing him a little more was enough.

She never expected that, when they were parting, an older man would notice her feelings and joke, asking if she wanted to marry Daniel and move to the city with him.

Sophie blinked, then nodded. “I do.”

The tent erupted in laughter.

Daniel laughed too. “You don’t even know my name or what I do. What if I’m just a low-ranking operator?”

Her face flushed as she lowered her head. “Then I’d still say yes.”

For five years after their marriage, she believed he was just an operator.

He was busy with work, so she learned to take care of everything at home.

His pay was low, so she stretched every dollar as far as it could go.

Daniel had shown his care in clumsy ways—taking care of her when she had a stomachache, giving her gifts on their anniversary, and taking the initiative to share household chores during his time off.

She had foolishly believed that as long as there was love, life would get better, only to realize, in the end, that it had all been one-sided.

From beginning to end, Daniel’s heart belonged to Clara alone.

He was only good to her because Clara had a husband back then.

Now that Clara’s husband was gone, he no longer bothered to pretend.

Sophie said nothing.

She slipped the money into a drawer and said quietly, “Let’s get some sleep.”

“Sophie!”

Daniel’s brows drew tight with irritation.

He gave her everything—the title of a captain’s wife, money, compensation, even care. Why was she still making a fuss?

Just then, there was a knock at the door, followed by the aide’s urgent voice. “Captain, Ms. Bailey says she wants that chicken soup your wife used to make!”

Sophie’s heart jolted.

In the past, every time Daniel returned to his unit, she would cook him a bowl of chicken soup to take with him.

The ingredients were expensive.

She had pinched and saved, never once keeping any for herself.

She never imagined that something she treasured so dearly would be handed over to Clara so casually.

Daniel turned to her, urgency in his voice. “We’ll talk later. Go make the soup.

“I’ll buy you more of the ingredients. Just hurry, Clara just gave birth, she’s weak. Don’t keep her waiting.”

He had completely forgotten that Sophie and Clara gave birth on the same day.

That her body was just as weak.

Sophie swallowed the bitterness rising in her chest and turned toward the kitchen.

The coal stove took too long to catch.

Daniel’s restless pacing behind her beat against her nerves, so she poured a little kerosene into the stove to speed things up.

The moment she struck the match and brought it close…

Boom! The flames exploded outward.

The blast knocked her off her feet, her head slamming hard against the wall.

Just as the fire was about to swallow her whole, a figure rushed forward and threw himself in front of her.

“Sophie! Are you okay? Say something…”

His eyes were red with panic, his voice breaking into a shout.

He didn’t even notice the burns spreading across his back.

Blood ran down the side of his neck, and through her fading vision, Sophie looked at him, but she no longer had the strength to respond.

The world around her slowly dissolved into darkness.

After a rough, jarring ride, Sophie was rushed into the ER.

The doctors took her stretcher at once and turned to send Daniel off for treatment for his burns.

He shoved the nurse aside, panic breaking through his composure.

“Forget about me, I’ll live. Treat my wife first! She has no pre-existing conditions. She just gave birth a month ago, type A blood!”

Moments later, after examining Sophie, the doctor’s expression turned grim.

“Captain Hart, your wife has lost too much blood. She needs a transfusion immediately, but our blood bank is empty.

“It’ll take at least a week to get more in. She won’t last that long. You might have to… call in a favor and request blood from your unit’s emergency reserve. There’s still time.”

But Daniel fell into a long silence.

With what little strength she had left, Sophie forced her eyes open a fraction. She heard the aide lower his voice.

“Captain, what are you waiting for? Look at her, she’s bleeding out. Just give the order!”

Daniel closed his eyes, his voice low and strained.

“How am I supposed to give that order? Have you forgotten—after I gave Sophie’s child to Clara, I already used my record to keep everyone at the hospital quiet?”

“The paperwork for the baby isn’t even done yet. If I don’t keep control of this, what happens when the truth comes out?

“Clara will find out everything. She’s already lost so much. How is she supposed to survive losing another child? I won’t let her take that risk. I can’t.”

The words cut cold and deep, piercing straight through Sophie’s heart.

“Daniel… how could you be this cruel…”

She was hanging by a thread, and all he cared about was whether Clara might lose the child.

What about her?

Even before this, she had already lost two pregnancies.

Her body had been too weak and malnourished.

Each time, the moment she learned she was pregnant, it ended in blood.

She was afraid he would blame himself, that it would affect his work, so she said nothing, swallowing all the pain and grief alone.

And now, was she about to become just another pool of blood, dying before she could even leave?

Sophie felt her blood slipping away, drop by drop, taking her warmth with it.

Despair closed in, inch by inch.

Just then, Clara rushed in.

Without hesitation, she rolled up her sleeve. “Doctor, take my blood! I’m a match! I can save her!”

Daniel’s brows knit together as he quickly pulled her back.

“Clara, what are you doing?”

“You just gave birth. You haven’t even recovered yet. You can’t donate blood!”

Clara shook him off, her gaze unwavering.

“Daniel, let me do this. She got hurt because she was making soup for me. When she’s in danger, I should be the one to step forward.”

Daniel’s eyes reddened instantly, his expression full of pain.

In that brief moment of hesitation, Clara had already followed the nurses, pushing Sophie’s stretcher into the emergency room.

She glanced down at Sophie and gave her a gentle smile.

“All these years, I’ve never forgotten how well Daniel’s treated me. Let me repay some of that to you.”

The blood flowed through the tube, slowly entering Sophie’s body. She felt a faint return of strength, and a flicker of gratitude stirred in her chest.

What Daniel had done was his choice; it had nothing to do with Clara.

Sophie forced her eyes open, wanting to say thank you.

But suddenly, a chill ran through her body.

Her chest tightened as if a weight had been dropped onto it. Her face drained of color, and even breathing became difficult.

The nurse yanked out the transfusion line and shouted, “Miss, did you lie about your blood type?!

“Doctor! Doctor! The patient is having a hemolytic reaction. We need to resuscitate immediately!”

As the nurse rushed out to call for help, Clara’s gentle expression vanished.

A cold smile curled on her lips as she said, “Go. To. Hell.”

“Only if you’re gone will Daniel belong to me alone.”

Sophie’s eyes widened.

Clara had done this on purpose.

But she couldn’t speak.

Her body convulsed, her vision went black, and she lost consciousness completely.