Wounded.
Dangerous.
“Madison, sweetheart, you are exhausted. You don’t understand the financial arrangements your father and I made to protect you.”
“You forged my signature.”
“That is a serious accusation.”
“It’s also true.”
Behind her, I heard my father say something I could not make out.
My mother lowered her voice.
“You need to come home before you create a problem you cannot fix.”
For the first time in my life, the threat did not work.
“I’m not coming home alone.”
I ended the call.
Officer Alvarez looked at me.
“That was good.”
My hands were shaking violently.
“It didn’t feel good.”
“It usually doesn’t,” she said. “Not the first time.”
Evelyn arranged for me and Noah to stay at my grandfather’s townhouse that night. Before we left the station, she asked whether Daniel knew.
The question filled me with shame.
“No. He thinks everything is fine.”
“Call him before your family does.”
Daniel answered on the second ring from a dim military office half a world away. The moment he saw my face, he leaned toward the screen.
“Madison? What happened?”
I told him.
Not everything at first.
Then all of it.
I watched confusion turn into disbelief, then fury.
“I’ve sent fifteen hundred dollars every month,” he said. “More when Noah was sick. Your mother confirmed every transfer.”
“I never received it.”
Daniel turned away from the camera and pressed both hands against the desk.
For several seconds, he said nothing.
Then he looked back at me.
“Listen to me. None of this is your fault.”
“I should have told you.”
“They isolated you while I was gone. That is on them.”
His eyes moved toward Noah, sleeping beside me.
“Are you both safe?”
“Yes.”
“Then we deal with everything else one piece at a time.”
His command had already begun arranging emergency leave, though he would need several days before he could return.