The next morning, two federal officers arrived to deliver a notice. Caleb wasn’t just gone. The military had officially classified his status as MIA — Missing in Action.

The silence was the heaviest thing I’d ever had to carry.

Chapter 3 — Trust the Training

For three weeks, the world outside our rattling window kept turning while my reality hung in a suffocating vacuum. I’d been placed on administrative leave pending the theft investigation.

My dress blues, once my proudest possession, hung in the closet like a shroud. I spent my days pacing the worn floorboards, staring at the splintered remnants of the crest, replaying Caleb’s last words until they lost all meaning.

Trust what we built. Trust the training.

But it’s hard to trust your training when the military you serve flags your husband as Missing in Action in a classified sector they won’t name.