My family laughed at my military rank, called me an embarrassment, and looked almost relieved when two police officers arrived to arrest me.

Chapter 2

Nobody moved.

The only sounds left in my parents’ living room were the hum of the refrigerator and the wet click of Brad’s glass settling against his knuckles.

General Cyrus Bramwell did not repeat himself. He simply waited, the way men wait when they have never once needed to ask twice.

The older officer—Sandoval, according to the nameplate above his pocket—looked down at the folded complaint in his hand as though it had changed weight.

“Sir,” he said, “with respect, this is a civilian matter. A family dispute.”

“I am aware of what it is,” Bramwell said.