Chapter 10 - The Hidden Truth
I thanked my father and carefully opened the cardboard box while James slept peacefully in his bassinet.
The box was filled with beautiful, hand-knitted baby clothes, expensive toys, and soft velvet blankets.
I smiled warmly, feeling a profound sense of gratitude for the wonderful life we were finally going to live.
My father kissed my forehead and walked down the hallway to get us some hot coffee from the cafeteria.
I reached deeply into the bottom of the gift box to pull out the very last knitted sweater.
My fingers brushed against something hard and metallic completely hidden beneath the soft fabric.
I pulled out a heavy, silver military dog tag attached to a cheap prepaid burner phone.
The dog tag belonged to my deceased mother, who had supposedly died in a car accident twenty years ago.
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The burner phone suddenly lit up in my hand, displaying a new text message from an unknown number.
The message read, "Your father ordered the bruises to force you back to the base, and Ryan was just following his commands."
