Chapter 3 - The Daughter Who Was Supposed to Be DeadCaptain Valerie Sterling had spent years learning how to control fear.
Fear was useful in combat.
Panic was not.
Thousands of miles away, however, something had been bothering her for weeks.
Her mother had stopped answering calls.
Messages went unanswered.
Family explanations became increasingly inconsistent.
Then came the final message from Julian:
Your mother is resting. She doesn't want to speak to anyone.
Valerie didn't believe him.
She had spent enough years reading danger in the smallest details to recognize when something was wrong.
During an overnight military operation, she received an encrypted security alert connected to an old surveillance system she had installed at the family estate before deployment.
The system had detected unusual activity.
Repeated movement around the courtyard.
Physical struggle.
A person being dragged.
Valerie stared at the screen.
Her mother's estate had just become an active threat zone.
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She didn't wait for permission to wonder why.
She started coming home.
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