The Second Life of a Discarded Heiress novel Chapter 342

A flicker of disappointment crossed Hastings’ eyes as he heard her refusal. He hesitated, then finally said, “They say this field exercise is live-fire. Who knows if I’ll make it back. Here, I want you to have this.”

Citrine pressed her lips together, hesitating for a moment before finally sitting down again. She let Hastings fasten the necklace around her neck.

What Hastings didn’t know was that, the moment he left, Citrine immediately took off the necklace and slipped it into her pocket.

The next day, the joint field exercise between Vermillion Vanguard and Magnolia officially began.

As an instructor, Citrine was seated in the very center of the operations room, surrounded by Vermillion Vanguard’s trainers and officers, all watching the live feed.

Someone nearby couldn’t help but whisper, “General, do you think our guys have a shot at winning this?”

Citrine glanced at him and replied simply, “Yes.”

At first, the Vermillion Vanguard team steamrolled Magnolia’s soldiers at every turn. But halfway through, Magnolia started to play dirty, disregarding the rules and secretly using concealed weapons.

Leo was wounded by one of their hidden blades, and before he could recover, the same opponent took a shot at him. Leo twisted just in time, so the bullet missed anything vital, but it still lodged itself deep in his shoulder.

Citrine’s heart clenched as she watched the scene unfold on the screen. Silently, she prayed that Leo would be all right.

Seeing Leo go down, Hastings rushed to his side, firing a shot that struck the Magnolia soldier square in the chest.

As the enemy fell, Hastings grabbed Leo and managed to drag him to safety, ducking down behind cover.

Leo gritted his teeth and tried to shove Hastings away. “Go,” he gasped, “don’t worry about me.”

But Hastings refused to leave. For the first time, he was staring the possibility of a teammate’s death right in the face.

He knew this was different from any exercise before—real bullets, real danger, and any mistake could mean someone wouldn’t make it out alive.