He Forged My Name to Give Away Our Home, So I Gave Away His Chapter 07

He Forged My Name to Give Away Our Home, So I Gave Away His Chapter 07

The forensic analysis would take exactly three days.

During those three days, Ethan never showed his face at our old duplex.

The night Chloe officially moved into the new house, the residential loop looked like it was celebrating a national holiday.

Neighbors were helping her carry boxes, carrying over welcome baskets, and dropping off home-cooked meals.

Daisy stood beside me at the edge of the lawn, her teeth grinding.

“Do these people think the legal wife is already dead and buried? The disrespect is unreal.”

I stood under the shadow of the oak tree, looking up at the brand-new security door installed on the front porch.

Taped to the frame was a bright card: [Welcome to Your New Home.]

That card felt louder than a physical slap across my face.

Mrs. Higgins walked past, her expression morphing into instant awkwardness when she spotted me.

“Ava… I didn’t go inside to help them.”

“What are you trying to tell me, Mrs. Higgins?” I asked quietly.

She glanced around nervously, stepping closer to lower her voice.

“Last night, I saw Major Miller heading over to Mr. Davis’s house. When he left, the clerk’s wife was crying up a storm on their porch.”

“Crying about what?”

“Word is Mr. Davis is being abruptly reassigned to an outpost supply depot out in the desert. Their whole family has to pack up.”

I noted the detail in my mind.

Daisy immediately whispered, “Burying the loose ends?”

Mrs. Higgins gasped, swatting at Daisy’s arm.

“Hush, girl! Keep your voice down.”

From the second-story balcony, Chloe’s soft laughter drifted down. She was standing outside with a few of the neighborhood wives.

“Thank you so much, everyone. Please come inside for dinner tonight once we’re done.”

Someone called out, “Is the Major joining us tonight?”

Chloe paused for a brief second.

“He’ll be here as soon as he wraps up command brief.”

A chorus of giggles followed.

“The Major is so attentive to you!”

I turned to walk away.

Chloe spotted me from the balcony and suddenly called out.

“Ava!”

Every head on the lawn snapped in my direction.

She walked down the stairs, holding a ring of brass keys in her hand.

“There are still a few pieces of Ethan’s civilian clothes left in the old duplex. Would you mind packing them up tonight? I just think… it wouldn’t be appropriate for me to go into your space.”

Daisy let out a sharp, angry laugh.

“You’re sleeping in her marital bed, but you draw the line at entering her old apartment? Fascinating logic, Captain.”

Chloe kept her eyes locked on me.

“Ava, I am simply trying to handle this transition smoothly.”

I reached out, taking the keys from her hand.

“Fine.”

She hadn’t expected me to agree so readily.

“Anything else?” I asked evenly.

She hesitated.

“In Ethan’s study desk, in the right-hand drawer, there’s a locked steel lockbox. Please don’t move it. It contains items that are incredibly important to him.”

“Too important for him to retrieve himself?”

“He’s been overwhelmed with command duties these past few days,” she said smoothly.

I nodded.

“Understood.”

That night, I unlocked the door to the old duplex.

The interior remained exactly as it had been the morning I walked out. Ethan’s service dress uniform hung neatly on the coat rack, the collar perfectly pressed.

The right-hand drawer of his desk was securely locked.

I didn’t smash it open.

I simply reached into the back of the pantry and retrieved our spare key.

Inside the steel lockbox lay a thick stack of letters.

The top envelope was postmarked from three years ago. The handwriting belonged to Chloe: Ethan, if you hadn’t thrown yourself over me during that mudslide, I would have been buried alive. You told me you’d spend the rest of your life making it up to me. I’m holding you to that promise.

The second letter was also from Chloe: I didn’t sleep a wink the night of your wedding. You told me it was an arrangement forced by your family, that your heart wasn’t in it. I choose to believe you.

I flipped through the letters one by one.

The very last item wasn’t a letter.

It was a blueprint for the interior layout of the new house.

The small extra room adjacent to the master suite was explicitly labeled: Ava’s Pharmacy/Study.

The handwriting belonged to Ethan.

And scrawled right next to the layout was a tiny note: Ava’s joints ache when it gets damp. Position the custom medicine cabinets against the interior wall to avoid the draft.

I stared at those words for a very long time.

Daisy sat on the edge of the mattress, her anger suddenly draining away into pure confusion.

“What kind of twisted man is he? He designs a custom pharmacy for you in the blueprints, but hands the keys over to her?”

I placed the blueprint back into the box.

At the very bottom, pressed flat, was a store receipt.

An advance deposit for custom living room furniture.

Purchaser: Chloe Vance. Delivery Address: Major Miller’s New Residential Assignment. Date: Two months ago.

In other words, long before the housing list was ever finalized or posted to the base, Chloe was already purchasing furniture specifically measured for that house.

I pulled out my phone and took a crisp, clear photograph of the receipt.

Suddenly, the sound of keys jingling rattled at the front door.

Ethan pushed the door open, stepping into the room. The moment his eyes fell on the steel lockbox in my hands, his face turned dark.

“Who gave you permission to open that?”

I held up the receipt between my fingers.

“Chloe knew she was moving into that house two months ago, Ethan?”

He strode across the room, reaching out to rip the box from my hands.

I stepped back, evading his reach.

“Answer me.”

“Those are my private papers, Ava,” he barked.

“And that house was my private life.”

He suppressed his rage, his voice vibrating.

“Ava, hand over the box.”

“When did you two arrange this?” I demanded. “Was it the day I was picking out curtains? Was it the weekend you accompanied me to the furniture showroom? Or was it the evening you promised me you’d insulate the study walls to keep my medicine dry?”

He finally snapped, roaring across the empty room.

“I told you to drop it!”

The entire building seemed to go dead quiet.

I looked at him, my heart entirely steady.

“Why are you yelling, Ethan? Are you afraid of me finding out, or are you afraid of remembering that there was a time you actually wanted to build a home with me?”

His face looked as though it had been struck by a physical blow.

I slammed the receipt down onto the desk.

“Thank you for providing the premeditation evidence. I’ll add it to the file.”

He reached out, his hand firmly clamping onto the strap of my purse.

“You aren’t leaving with that.”

I wrapped my fingers around the leather strap, pulling back with equal force.

“Let go.”

“Ava, this investigation ends tonight. I am ordering you to stop.”

“Too late,” I said.

At the open doorway, Mrs. Higgins stood frozen, holding a bowl of leftovers, completely trapped between entering and fleeing. Her eyes darted to the receipt on the desk, her voice trembling.

“Chloe bought furniture two months ago?”

Down on the lawn, another neighbor’s voice drifted up through the window. “What furniture?”

Mrs. Higgins didn’t say another word, her mouth hanging open.

Ethan’s face turned completely black.

I yanked my purse free from his grip with one sharp pull.

“Major Miller,” I said, walking past him toward the door. “Starting tomorrow morning, you’re the one who’s going to have to start answering questions.”