Chapter 2: Colonel
The soldier's salute held perfectly still in the cold morning air.
Raymond laughed — a short, nervous sound.
"What is this?
Some kind of joke?"
No one answered him.
The soldier kept his eyes locked on me.
"Colonel.
Your transport is ready."
The word landed like a stone dropped into still water.
*Colonel.*
Victoria's coffee cup stopped halfway to her lips.
Harrison stepped onto the porch, his newspaper hanging loose at his side.
Eleanor gripped the doorframe.
Raymond was the first to speak.
"Colonel?
She's a— she does paperwork."
I set down the cardboard box slowly and straightened.
"I did a lot more than paperwork," I said.
A second soldier stepped forward and held out a sealed document.
I recognized the letterhead before I even touched it.
Joint Chiefs.
Eyes only.
My name printed at the top — not the name my family used, but my full rank and designation.
Victoria snatched it before I could stop her.
Her face went pale.
Then paler.
"This says you outranked Marcus," she whispered.
"By two grades," I said quietly.
Harrison's mouth opened.
Nothing came out.
Then my phone rang.
I looked at the screen.
The number was blocked — but I recognized the prefix.
I knew exactly who was calling.
And when I answered, everything my family thought they understood about this house, this marriage, and Marcus's final mission was about to collapse.
---
What that phone call revealed changed everything — and my family had no idea how much they had already lost.
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