CHAPTER 2 — THE TRUTH UNDER THE UNIFORM

The hospital wing of the military compound was silent except for the steady beep of monitors.

Lena sat wrapped in a blanket, doctors checking her condition. The baby was stable. That was the only reason Raymond Dickman hadn’t already turned the entire base upside down.

The young officer—Captain Marcus Hale—stood outside the room under guard. His face was pale, stripped of every trace of pride.

Inside, Raymond spoke softly.

“You’re not supposed to be here,” Lena whispered.

“I know,” he said. “That’s what makes this more complicated.”

He placed the insignia on the table beside her.

“You were never just a captain’s wife,” he continued. “Your father didn’t disappear. He was reassigned—off the record—after a classified operation went wrong.”

Lena’s breath caught.

“My father died when I was twelve.”

Raymond shook his head.

“No,” he said. “Colonel Adrian Carter is alive. And he was the one who designed the Hawk Division’s command protocols. That insignia belonged to him before it ever belonged to me.”

Lena’s hands trembled.

Outside the room, Marcus was listening now.

Every word shattered him further.

Raymond turned toward the window.

“And your husband,” he said coldly, “either didn’t know who you were… or chose to forget.”

Lena whispered, almost broken:

“He said I was nothing. That I embarrassed him.”

The General’s jaw tightened.

“No,” he said. “He embarrassed himself.”

A long silence followed.

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Then Raymond made a decision.

“Bring Colonel Carter to me.”