You will sleep on a steel rack without sheets.
And every single day, you will remember that you could have had an empire, but you lost it because you thought my daughter was weak.”
The sirens began to echo in the distance, screaming through the midnight rain, climbing the long winding road toward the Harrington gates.
Garrett was sobbing on the floor.Evelyn sat frozen, staring blankly at the cold tea in front of her, the silence of her ruined house louder than any bomb.
I walked out the front doors, stepped into the cleansing rain, and pulled my coat tight around my chest.
My phone buzzed against my ribs.
I pulled it out and tapped the screen.A text from an encrypted line at Bethesda Naval Hospital:
PATIENT STABILIZED. SWELLING ARRESTED. FETAL HEART RATE NORMALIZING. SHE OPENED HER EYES.
I took a deep, clean breath for the first time in twenty-four hours, climbed into my truck, and drove toward my daughter.
