Love Me Long (Love Me Book 4)

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.