Chapter 2
I stared at Nia.
"What does that mean?"
She stood at the foot of the staircase, clutching the front of her bathrobe.
Her face was wet with tears.
But the words she had just spoken were still ringing in my ears.
I thought you were never coming home.
Not that she had received official confirmation.
Not that I had been declared dead.
She thought.
Or perhaps she wanted to believe.
"Explain yourself," I said.
Nia shook her head.
"Marcus, you don't understand what it's like waiting."
I felt something inside me snap.
"Waiting?"
I looked at my uniform.
"Do you think I enjoyed being away from home?"
She began crying again.
"I was lonely."
I stared at her.
"I was lonely too."
Daniel stood beside the hallway table, still wearing his bathrobe.
He looked embarrassed.
But more than that, he looked devastated.
I turned toward him.
"Get dressed."
He blinked.
"What?"
"Please. Get dressed. Then we can talk."
He nodded immediately.
He disappeared upstairs.
I looked toward Nia.
"You stay here."
She swallowed.
"Marcus, please don't leave me."
I laughed bitterly.
"That's an interesting thing to say."
I walked into the living room.
Everything looked familiar.
The same couch.
The same curtains.
The same hardwood floor I installed with my father before he died.
But the details were different.
My Army photographs had disappeared.
The flag I kept in a glass case was missing from the bookshelf.
The framed picture of our wedding had been replaced by photographs of Nia and Daniel.
I felt as though someone had erased me while I was still alive.
"Where are my things?" I asked.
Nia stood in the doorway.
"What things?"
"My photographs. My medals. Dad's flag."
She wiped her cheeks.
"I put them in storage."
I turned slowly.
"Storage?"
"I couldn't look at them every day."
I stared at her.
"Because you missed me?"
She nodded desperately.
"Yes."
I looked toward the staircase.
"Or because Daniel might have noticed you were married to a living soldier?"
She looked down.
That was answer enough.
I took out my phone.
My first call was to my older sister, Jasmine.
She was thirty-six and lived twenty minutes away.
She answered immediately.
"Marcus! You're back?"
"Yeah."
"Why didn't you tell us?"
"I wanted to surprise Nia."
There was a pause.
Then Jasmine laughed.
"How did she react?"
I closed my eyes.
"Jasmine, I need you to come over."
Her voice changed.
"What happened?"
I swallowed.
"Please. Just come."
She didn't ask another question.
"I'm on my way."
My second call was to a friend from the Army who knew a local attorney.
I explained that I had discovered documents bearing my signature.
He gave me a number.
I called the attorney and arranged an appointment.
Then I contacted my bank to report possible unauthorized activity and request safeguards on my accounts.
I wasn't thinking clearly.
But I knew one thing.
I needed to protect myself before anyone moved another dollar.
Daniel returned downstairs wearing jeans and a gray shirt.
His face was pale.
He held the folder carefully.
"Marcus, I think you should see everything."
Nia rushed forward.
"Daniel, you promised!"
He stared at her.
"Promised what?"
She stopped.
He looked disgusted.
"Promised to love a woman who told me her husband was dead?"
I glanced between them.
Daniel continued.
"You let me comfort you while you cried over a man who was still alive."
Nia shook her head.
"Daniel, please."
He looked at me.
"I met her seven months ago."
My stomach tightened.
"Where?"
"At a charity event."
I remembered the event.
Nia had told me she was helping raise money for military families.
I had been proud of her.
Daniel continued.
"She said her husband had died during a deployment and she was trying to rebuild her life."
I looked at Nia.
She wouldn't meet my eyes.
"Did you tell him when I supposedly died?"
Daniel nodded.
"She said it happened two months before we met."
I nearly laughed.
At that exact time, I had been sending Nia videos from overseas.
I had called her on our anniversary.
I had ordered flowers for her birthday.
She was telling another man I was dead while answering my calls.
Daniel opened the folder.
"She showed me a notification letter."
He handed it to me.
The paper carried military-style formatting.
My name appeared in bold letters.
The text claimed that I had been killed during an overseas operation.
I stared at it.
The letter was full of mistakes.
The office designation was wrong.
The wording didn't match military casualty notification procedures.
Even the signature block looked suspicious.
I knew immediately it wasn't authentic.
"Where did she get this?" I asked.
Daniel looked at Nia.
"She said it came from the Army."
I shook my head.
"It didn't."
Nia covered her face.
"I made it."
The silence that followed was unbearable.
Daniel stared at her.
"You forged a death notification?"
She nodded.
I felt sick.
"Why?"
She whispered, "I wanted people to stop asking questions."
I stepped backward.
"About what?"
She didn't answer.
Then Jasmine burst through the front door.
"Marcus?"
She stopped when she saw us.
Her eyes moved from Daniel to Nia.
Then to the roses still lying outside.
"Oh, no."
I looked at my sister.
"Apparently, I've been dead for months."
Her face changed.
"What?"
Daniel explained what he knew.
Jasmine listened in silence.
Then she looked at Nia.
"You told people my brother was dead?"
Nia began crying.
"Jasmine, I didn't mean—"
"Don't."
My sister raised her hand.
"Do not finish that sentence."
I handed Jasmine the fake notification.
She read it.
Then she looked at me.
"Marcus, we need to preserve this."
I nodded.
"I already called an attorney."
Jasmine looked relieved.
Then she noticed the financial documents.
"What are those?"
Daniel explained the eighty-five thousand dollars.
He said Nia had told him she owned the house outright because I had left it to her.
She claimed the property needed renovations and several outstanding expenses paid before they could refinance it together.
Daniel gave her money from his savings.
In return, she promised to add him to the property's ownership documents.
I stared at him.
"Did she?"
He shook his head.
"I don't think so."
Jasmine opened the folder.
She examined the paperwork.
Then her expression changed.
"Marcus, this document doesn't just mention the house."
I leaned closer.
She pointed to a paragraph near the bottom.
It referred to a proposed transfer involving a military investment account I had maintained for years.
My stomach dropped.
"That account is separate from the house."
Jasmine nodded.
"And it looks like somebody tried to use it as supporting financial information."
I turned toward Nia.
"How did you get access to that account?"
She said nothing.
Daniel suddenly looked toward the kitchen.
"Nia, where's the blue laptop?"
She froze.
I looked at him.
"What laptop?"
He swallowed.
"The one she said belonged to her cousin Carla."
Nia began shaking.
Daniel continued.
"She told me Carla was helping organize the mortgage paperwork."
I felt cold.
May you like
Then he looked directly at me.
"Marcus, I saw Carla using your military identification information."
