Partners, Not Wives

Gideon and I were once the deadliest duo in our covert ops unit. We breathed and bled together. Then, fate played a cruel joke. During a high-stakes op, we were forced to pose as husband and wife, and the fake marriage eventually became a real chain. He resented me for stealing the title of wife from the woman he truly loved. I hated him for marrying me out of duty, with nothing left of his heart to give. For five bitter years, we weaponized our silence, each hoping the other would vanish.

Until the past caught up with us. A cartel we had dismantled years ago came for revenge. They tied me to a C4-wired chair on a yacht and forced Gideon to choose: "You die, or she dies." The moment the shot rang out, Gideon did the unthinkable. Without hesitation, he threw himself over me, tackled the cartel boss, and dragged them both into the icy oceanopting for mutual destruction.

Before the water swallowed him, he whispered up to me: "If theres a next life, lets just be partners. Never husband and wife." Then, the timer on my chair reached zero, and everything erupted in pain.

When I opened my eyes, I wasnt in the ocean. I was back in the sterile briefing room at headquarterson the very day we were meant to draw lots for the undercover mission.

This time, I didnt hesitate. I stepped forward, snatched both wooden sticks from the table, and declared calmly, "Skip the draw. I'm taking the solo assignment."

In this life, I would set him free. I would not be the wall between him and the woman he truly loved.

When my fingers closed around both long sticks, a flicker of surprise twisted my stomach. I looked up at the Director. Arthur shifted his weight, his eyes darting away from mine.

A second later, his expression tightened into something complicated. "Raven, this syndicate is ruthless. Are you absolutely certain you want to go in completely alone?"

In my previous life, Ruby had drawn the long stick first, marking her as the mole. Gideon and I had been paired as her backup, posing as a married couple. Back then, my heart had fluttered at the thought of playing his wife. I was so blinded by my own foolish crush that I never realized Arthur, who had always favored me, had rigged the draw to keep me out of the direct line of fire.

But Arthur couldn't have known his protective gesture would doom Gideon and me to five years of mutual torture.

I gave Arthur a look of genuine gratitude. "Ruby is too impulsive. Her cover would blow in a week. I'll take the inside job."

Seeing the finality in my eyes, Arthur gave a stiff nod.

With me going in deep, the backup roles fell into place. Ruby would automatically pair with Gideon to play the married couple running surveillance.

The moment we stepped into the hallway, Gideon came striding around the corner, his tactical boots heavy against the linoleum.

Rubys face instantly lit up. "Gideon!"

His expression was as icy as ever, but his eyes locked onto hers with a gravitational pull. They stared at each other for a beat too long, and Ruby finally looked down, the tips of her ears burning scarlet.

The raw, unspoken tension between them felt like a knife twisting in my chest.

A split second later, Gideon grabbed my elbow and dragged me down the corridor, out of earshot. Behind him, Rubys flushed face morphed into a mask of pure jealousy.

"I am completely against this operational plan," Gideon hissed, his grip bruising my arm. "Silas is a paranoid psychopath. Hell smell a rat the second an undercover agent steps into his inner circle."

He leaned closer, his voice vibrating with barely contained panic. "Ruby doesn't have the miles on her for this. I will not sign off on throwing her to the wolves."

I swallowed the bitter taste in my mouth. In my last life, he had fought just as hard when he thought Ruby was the one going in. He had argued every angle, torn apart every strategy. And when he failed, I had calmly waited until deployment day, taken his arm, and dragged him to the courthouse to make our cover unbreakable.

"You know the protocol," I said, my voice deadpan. "Someone has to get close to Silas. It was always going to be me or Ruby."

His jaw clenched. His eyes, usually so cold and calculating, burned with arrogant certainty. "If Command gives me just a little more time, I can find another pressure point. Pushing a woman into Silas's bed isn't the only tactical entry we have."

I offered him a hollow, pitying smile.

The only reason Command narrowed it down to me or Ruby was because we spent most of our careers sporting buzzcuts and tactical gear. Silas's intel stated our strike team was entirely male. Sending a female operative in high heels and silk was our only blind spot advantage.

"Captain," I said, my tone stripping away years of our partnership. "We are out of time. The op is green-lit. Show up to the briefing or don't. Your call."

I yanked my arm free and walked away, leaving him standing there in stunned silence.

I had no intention of telling him that I was the one going into the snake pit. Let him hear the good news from his precious Ruby. Hed be thrilled to know she was safe.

Gideon, I thought, the neon lights buzzing above me. In this life, Ill trade the title of your wife for a glass of whiskey poured over your grave.

That night, alone in my quarters, the reality of my rebirth still felt like a fever dream.

A soft knock pulled me from my thoughts. I cracked the door to find Arthur standing in the dim hallway, holding a greasy paper bag of street skewers and a six-pack of imported beer.

"I don't drink before a deployment," I said, raising an eyebrow at him.

He stepped past me, making himself at home on my worn sofa. "I know. That's why I'm drinking the beer, and you're eating the meat."

A genuine laugh punched its way out of my chest.

He drank in silence. I ate in silence. It was a comfortable rhythm we had built over the years. Finally, the question burning in my throat had to come out.

"Why did you do it?"

He knew exactly what I was asking. He took a slow pull from his bottle and smirked. "I was shipping you two. Thought Id give fate a nudge."

I rolled my eyes so hard they hurt, but the chaotic storm in my chest finally settled into a quiet calm.

The next morning, the sun hadn't even crested the horizon when a fist hammered against my door.

I rubbed the sleep from my eyes and undid the latch. Gideon shoved the door open, practically vibrating with rage.

His eyes were bloodshot. The corners of his eyes, usually sharp and calculating, were tight with fury. Before a mission, he always drew a small scorpion motif near his templethe mark that earned him his lethal reputation in the underworld. His skin was bare today, but his glare was venomous enough to kill.

"Raven, you are absolute garbage."

He backed me against the wall. "Why the hell did you conspire with the Director to rig the draw?"

His hands flew up, his fingers digging into my shoulders, shaking me. "I actually thought... I thought it was just the luck of the draw. Destiny."

His thumbs pressed dangerously close to my windpipe. I clawed at his wrists, my voice tight. "Gideon, back off! You're hurting me!"

"You feel pain?" he spat, his face inches from mine. "Do you think Ruby wouldn't feel pain? Do you think getting tortured to death on an undercover op wouldn't hurt?"

He was panting, his chest heaving. "You have no idea what happened last time" He abruptly cut himself off, his jaw snapping shut as if he had almost spilled a state secret.

When he looked at me again, the fury had melted into absolute, crushing disappointment. "Why are you so hellbent on tearing us apart? Why do you insist on sending Ruby to her death?"

His grip tightened, cutting off my air. Initially, I hadn't braced for combat, but the lack of oxygen flipped my training switch. I twisted my hips, grabbed his elbow, and threw my weight forward.

In the cramped space of my quarters, the fight was brutal and fast.

"Are you out of your mind?!" I yelled, pinning his arm against the drywall. "The assignment comes from Command! We don't write the script!"

His eyes were feral. "You're lying! Both sticks were long! Ruby told me she drew the long one to go deep cover. We all know you and Arthur played us!"

I knew exactly where his old injuries were. I pressed my knee into the nerve cluster on his thigh, forcing him down.

"I'll say it one last time," I hissed in his ear. "Command makes the calls. As for what you really want... I'm sure Command will accommodate your happily ever after."

He let out a broken, cynical laugh. "What I want... I can never have it again. Because of you."

I held him until the fight completely drained out of his muscles. When I finally stepped back, he dropped to his knees, his fists slamming into the floorboards.

Seconds later, he stood up. The emotional wreckage was gone, replaced by the glacial, untouchable captain I knew so well. It was as if his total breakdown hadn't just happened.

He threw a muttered "My mistake" over his shoulder and walked out. I didn't say a word.

Only Ruby could make him lose his mind like that.

In our previous life, while playing the perfect married couple, Gideon had been dosed with a highly potent neural-stimulant by an enemy target. To maintain our cover and save his life, I gave myself to him. Even in bed, he was a statue of military discipline, his face carved from stone. There was no passion. No heat.

When the drug wore off, he buttoned his shirt without looking at me and said, "I'll take responsibility for this."

After Ruby died and the mission imploded, we never bothered to file the divorce papers. We just existed in the same airspace. But from that day on, he treated me like a stranger carrying a disease.

We went from being the team's most lethal, synchronized weapon to a hollow couple who only communicated in nods.

I thought taking the bullet for this undercover op would preserve our professional respect. Clearly, I was wrong. The cracks were already showing.

But maybe this was for the best. If Silas put a bullet in my brain, Gideon wouldn't lose any sleep over it.

The syndicate had been under Command's microscope for three years. The intel was dense.

Our squad sat around the conference table, methodically breaking down the entry strategy. Because she was now paired with Gideon to play his wealthy wife, Ruby couldn't stop beaming.

As the briefing wrapped, she pulled a small, tarnished silver pendant from her pocket and slid it across the table with a shy smile. "Gideon, I got this from St. Jude's cathedral yesterday. For protection."

Gideon was a hardline atheist. He despised anything related to faith or prayer. After his father died when he was seven, his mother drained their bank accounts, gave the money to a cult, and abandoned him to live in an ashram. He grew up eating scraps and surviving on pure spite.

Once, during a heavy firefight, I had muttered a quick prayer to survive. He had shoved his rifle barrel against my vest and snarled, "Say that again and I'll kick you out of my unit myself."

So, when Ruby offered the saint's medallion, the entire squad collectively held their breath, waiting for the explosion.

Instead, Gideon's lips curled into a gentle smile. He took the pendant, looped it around his neck, and reached into his tactical vest. He pulled out a heavy, vintage silver locket.

I recognized it instantly. It was the only thing his mother had left behind. The man was a walking contradictionhe hated her guts, but carried her memory over his heart.

In our past life, shortly after we married, I accidentally knocked that locket off a table. He didn't say a word. He just grabbed my collar and flipped me over his shoulder onto the hardwood floor.

Jax, our comms specialist, leaned back in his chair and whistled. "Damn, Cap. You finally thawing out?"

I unscrewed the cap of my canteen and took a long drag of water. For some reason, it tasted like ash. Bitter. Worse than the black sludge from the breakroom coffee maker.

Another teammate chuckled. "Our girl Ruby is unstoppable. She bagged the Captain, and now she's gonna go deep cover and wrap Silas around her little finger. This op is in the bag!"

My head snapped up. I stared at Ruby in total shock.

She avoided my gaze, suddenly fascinated by the stitching on her holster.

She hadn't told them.

She was letting the team believe she was the one going in. I couldn't fathom why she was playing this game.

Jax grinned. "Hey, you better watch your six in there, Ruby. Silas eats pretty girls for breakfast."

I watched Gideon's knuckles turn white. He slammed his fist onto the metal table, the sound echoing like a gunshot. "Shut your mouth!" he barked.

The room instantly flatlined. Nobody dared to breathe.

After the meeting, Ruby cornered me in the shadowed stairwell.

"Raven, I... I didn't mean to take the credit for the undercover gig. It's just that Gideon pulled me aside." Her face flushed a deep crimson. "He was so worried about me. He spent the whole night going over deep-cover protocols and infiltration tactics with me."

She looked up through her lashes. "I just didn't have the heart to tell him I wasn't the one going in."

Looking at her playing the bashful maiden, everything clicked into place.

I sighed and rubbed my temples. "It's fine. He's the team lead. He should be training you. Just soak up the intel."

After all, she was going to be his partner in the field from now on. I had to keep telling myself that.

I honestly couldn't remember how I walked back to my room that night.

The next morning, the air in the briefing room was thick enough to choke on.

I was two minutes late. There were six people in the room, making me the seventh. No one was sitting.

Gideon stood at the head of the table, radiating pure violence.

When I walked in, his eyes locked onto mine. "The day you joined my squad, I gave you three ironclad rules. Jax. Recite them."

Jax swallowed hard, looking from me to Gideon. "Uh. Rule one: keep yourself breathing. Rule two: keep your squad breathing. Rule three: no internal sabotage or backstabbing."

Gideon's gaze shifted to the sniper standing next to Jax. "Penalty for breaking rule three?"

"Three thousand push-ups, ten-mile run with an eighty-pound ruck. And a public apology."

Gideon turned his dead eyes back to me. "Raven. Drop."

I planted my boots, totally confused. "What the hell are you talking about?"

Jax took a step toward me, his face grim. "Look, Raven... I love you like a sister, but what you did crossed the line. You need to apologize to Ruby right now."

The rest of the squad nodded in agreement. I looked at Ruby. She was staring at the floor, hugging her arms around herself.

"You want to play dumb?" Gideon growled. He reached into his pocket, pulled out a folded tissue, and threw it onto the table.

It was the vintage silver locket. Smashed into pieces.

"I gave this to Ruby to keep her safe," Gideon's voice was a lethal whisper. "You couldn't handle that, so you ripped it off her neck and crushed it?"

My eyes widened in absolute horror. "What? No! I didn't touch it!"

I spun toward the girl. "Ruby, tell them! Tell them what actually happened!"

She bit her trembling lip and shook her head, tears spilling over her lashes. "Raven... I didn't want to say anything, but Gideon saw it. If I lie, he'll punish me instead."

"Raven," Jax cut in softly. "We all know you've got feelings for the boss, but going scorched-earth out of jealousy? Over a piece of silver? He just wanted her safe. She's going into the lion's den, for god's sake."

The rest of the team chimed in, their voices a chorus of disappointment and anger.

I stared at Ruby, my mind short-circuiting. I couldn't comprehend how someone could fabricate such a flawless, devastating lie out of thin air.

"Ruby. Look me in the eye." My voice shook with suppressed rage. "Did I do this?"

She let out a choked sob and buried her face in her hands. "Gideon... she didn't mean it, please don't be mad at her."

"Enough!" Gideon roared.

He marched up to me, his chest almost brushing mine. "You make me sick. You have become a liability. You don't deserve the patch on your shoulder."

His eyes were merciless. "Take the punishment and confess, and maybe we let you stay in the unit. Refuse, and I am marching up to Command to have your badge stripped. You're no operator. You're a jealous child."

I shook my head, my eyes burning. We had bled together in war zones. He knew my character down to my bones. But all it took was a few fake tears from Ruby, and suddenly I was a traitor?

"Are you going to apologize?!" he barked.

I bit the inside of my cheek until I tasted copper. I kept my eyes locked on Ruby.

After a long, agonizing silence, my voice came out like cracked ice. "I'm sorry."

"Louder!"

"I am sorry!"

"Drop."

I hit the floor. I didn't speak. Three thousand push-ups was torture. Around the two-thousand mark, my triceps started spasming. My pace ground down to a grueling, agonizing crawl.

When the last rep was done, I stood up, strapped on the eighty-pound ruck, and walked out the door. Jax tried to step forward to plead for me, but Gideon shut him down with one terrifying glare.

I hit the asphalt track. Lap after lap.

My vision blurred. My muscles screamed. Right near the finish line, my legs gave out, and I slammed hard into the dirt, tasting blood and gravel.

A shadow fell over me. A suffocating cloud of designer perfume filled my lungs.

"Tsk, tsk. Sorry about that, Raven." Ruby crouched down next to me, a sickeningly sweet smile on her face. "I just wanted to test how much Gideon really cared about you."

She laughed, a sharp, ugly sound. "Turns out, not much."

I pushed myself up onto my elbows, glaring at her. "Why?" I rasped out. "Why do you all want me to take the deep-cover op? You know it's a death sentence. Arthur wants it, Gideon wants it... he spent all week training you, just to make sure you wouldn't have to go. So I'm just collateral damage?"

I let out a bitter, exhausted laugh. "It's not going to work out the way you think, Ruby."

"Oh, really? Don't think I don't know you stole those sticks. And so what if you've been his partner? Once I'm standing by his side in the field, I'll erase every memory he has of you."

"I'm sure you will," I whispered tiredly. He already loved her. That was a fixed point in the universe.

But my quiet resignation sounded like a challenge to her ears. Her eyes flared with malice. "Don't get cocky, bitch."

Before I could react, she lunged forward, pinning my exhausted arm down. She jammed a small white pill against my lips.

"I just need you to do me one more favor!"

But in a chaotic blur of motion, she suddenly shoved the pill into my palm, grabbed my hand, and forced it to push the pill into her own mouth.

She collapsed backward, clutching her throat. "Raven! Why are you doing this to me?!"

Her eyes were wide with perfectly feigned terror. Heavy boots pounded into the dirt behind me. Gideon flew past me, dropping to his knees and gathering Ruby into his arms. He whipped his head around, his face feral.

"What the hell did you force her to swallow?!"

"Gideon..." Ruby whimpered, her face flushing crimson as she curled into his chest. "I feel so hot. I... I just came down to help her back to the barracks. I brought her medical spray..."

Tears streamed down her cheeks. She looked like a broken angel.

My mind spun. How could someone with this level of psychotic acting ability possibly fail an undercover op in her past life?

Before I could solve the puzzle, Gideon's hand shot out and clamped around my throat, slamming my head back into the dirt.

My airway collapsed. Black spots danced in my vision.

"What. Did. You. Give. Her. Where is the antidote?!"

I tried to peel his iron fingers off, a manic, hysterical laugh bubbling up in my chest. "Ask her! Ask her what she took!"

His eyes were rimmed with red. The absolute disgust radiating from him felt like physical blows. "What the hell did you turn into? Or have you always been this twisted and I was just too blind to see it?"

He kicked me in the ribs, sending me sprawling across the dirt. My body was completely broken from the punishment. I didn't have the strength to lift my arms.

I swallowed the blood pooling in my mouth, forcing myself up on one trembling arm. I looked right at the trembling girl in his arms. "Bravo. I hope you can keep the mask on forever."

"You are beyond saving," Gideon snarled. "I am submitting the paperwork to burn your operative number. I'm reporting every single thing you've done. You are unfit to wear the uniform."

Operative Number: 01467.

It was my father's old call sign. Gideon knew exactly why I fought so hard to inherit it. But right now, blinded by what he thought he saw, he was going to strip me of my legacy.

Panic finally broke through my exhaustion. "I was wrong! Gideon, I admit it, I was wrong, please don't"

He didn't even look back. He scooped Ruby up and sprinted toward the medical wing.

My vision narrowed to a pinprick, and the darkness finally pulled me under.