Chapter 2The Colonel's Price

On the way home, my phone buzzed with news alerts.

[Major Cecelia Croft, embedded for months, single-handedly takes down terrorist stronghold!]

[Peacekeeping Hero Promoted! A True Heroine for the Ages!]

[She is the Nation’s Pride.]

The military section of every news site was flooded with Cecelia “Cece” Croft’s “heroic deeds.”

The comment sections were a frenzy.

[OMG QUEEN SO BADASS!]

[I heard those terrorists love to torture people, like turning them into paste. For Major Croft to survive that long alone is incredible!]

[I heard she’s the daughter of the pop star Christopher Croft! And that Colonel Vance personally mentored her!]

[Could Christopher be the Colonel’s secret husband??]

[Definitely. Did you see the Colonel’s comment on his latest post? You don’t talk like that unless you’re family.]

[Sobbing, what a power family!]

The more I read, the tighter my fists clenched.

The real hero was lying silently in a small box, his body too shattered to be pieced back together. And Cece Croft—who had spent her entire deployment in the Green Zone—was being hailed as the deep-cover operative?

Stealing someone’s commendation wasn’t something Cece could pull off alone. Evelyn had to be behind it.

My phone buzzed again. A call from Evelyn.

“Delete it,” she snapped, without preamble. “Don’t make me say it twice.”

I frowned. “What?”

“Don’t play dumb, Noah! Look at what you’ve been reposting! If I weren’t suppressing it on my end, the media would have already run with the baseless rumors you’re spreading! What do you expect them to do then?”

“Baseless?!” My hand trembled. “That was Aaron’s commendation! Cece spent her entire tour bullying him because he was a lower rank! The only thing she did on this mission was show up at the end for a photo op! Aaron did all the work! How dare she waltz in and take everything from him!”

“Enough!” Evelyn’s voice was sharp. “I know you’re prone to jealousy, but military honors are a serious matter! Cece spent months in a foreign country. Do you have any idea how hard that is for a young woman? Christopher has been worried sick about her every single day. After all their hardship, you think you can just erase their sacrifice with a few words?”

I laughed, and a tear rolled down my cheek. “Cece was here for a few months and you made her a Major with zero experience! Aaron was here for years, and you held him back so he couldn’t even make Sergeant! Who had it easy? Christopher is living a glamorous life back home while I’m stuck here in a war zone! Who had it hard?”

“That’s enough!” Evelyn’s voice was laced with fury. “Not only are you slandering Cece, but now you’re running your mouth like this? Was this Aaron’s idea? Tell him to report to my office immediately!”

My knuckles turned white where they gripped the box. “He’s not coming. He was killed in action.”

Silence on the other end of the line.

Then, a low, cold laugh. “Noah, to think you’d stoop this low. Now you’re even making up lies about our son’s death just to compete with Christopher? I don’t have the patience for your petty games. If I don’t see that brat by five o’clock, he can spend the rest of his life as a private.”

She hung up.

I clutched the bloody uniform, my tears soaking into the tattered fabric.