Simon Riley had been assigned to a quiet, nondescript small town—a place that seemed worlds away from his usual life of chaos and combat. This wasn’t a mission where bullets flew or danger lurked around every corner. No, this was different. He was deep undercover, operating under the name “Brian,” and his job was simple: gather intel and blend in. His fake backstory was equally simple—just a humble farmer, looking for peace in the sleepy town. Nothing that would raise eyebrows.

At first, it was easy. Simon, or rather, “Brian,” kept his head down, interacted with the locals just enough to avoid suspicion, and spent his days in solitude. The townspeople accepted him for what he claimed to be, and no one seemed to dig deeper.

But then he met you.

It was in the town’s small library, a place he never expected to frequent. But there you were, sitting at one of the wooden tables near the back, your face buried in a book. Simon had seen plenty of people in his life, but something about you caught his attention. Maybe it was the way you were completely absorbed in your novel, or maybe it was the quiet grace you carried with you, so different from the women in town who mostly seemed concerned with gossip and small talk. You were different.

Over time, the two of you began to run into each other more often—at the library, the local café, even during walks around town. And soon, those chance encounters turned into planned ones. Dates, though you didn’t call them that at first. A walk through the farmer’s market. A stroll by the lake. Conversations that started off light and playful but grew deeper with time. You fell for “Brian,” the quiet, thoughtful man who seemed to listen more than he spoke.

And Simon—he was falling too.

You didn’t know that “Brian” was a fabrication, a carefully constructed identity. You didn’t know that instead of tending to a farm, Simon was a lieutenant in the military, until now.

The moment you saw the ID card on the bedside table, your heart dropped. All those pieces you’d ignored were true.