He Forged My Name to Give Away Our Home, So I Gave Away His Chapter 04

He Forged My Name to Give Away Our Home, So I Gave Away His Chapter 04

The next morning, the hallway outside the base pharmacy was packed.

They hadn’t come for prescriptions.

They had come to gawk at me.

Ever since Chloe’s thermos shattered in our hallway, the neighborhood had generated about seven different versions of the story overnight.

Some said I was overreacting over a minor issue.

Some said Ethan was just being a loyal brother-in-arms.

Others whispered that Chloe was finally stepping into the position she deserved all along.

I threw on my white lab coat and began logging the morning inventory as usual.

Daisy stood behind the glass counter, firing back at the gossiping gossips with perfect precision.

“Take these pills three times a day after meals, ma’am. And maybe use your mouth a little less so your tongue doesn’t rot out.”

The woman taking the bag flushed bright red.

“Young lady, how dare you speak to me like that?”

Daisy slid the bag forward.

“I treat symptoms based on the diagnosis.”

I stepped in before it escalated.

“Next.”

A young female private handed a prescription slip through the window, her eyes completely avoiding mine.

“Mrs. Bennett… Captain Vance asked me to pick up her medication.”

I scanned the slip.

Sedatives. A heavy dose.

I filled the prescription according to protocol, sealed the bag, and passed it through.

The private hesitated, not moving away.

“Um, Captain Vance asked if we could omit her name from the label.”

I looked up.

“Why?”

The private stammered, “She… she said it creates a bad impression given the current situation.”

Daisy let out a loud scoff from the back.

“Stealing someone’s house doesn’t create a bad impression, but picking up your own meds does? Hilarious.”

The private’s face burned.

I pulled the medication bag back across the counter.

“Federal law requires all prescription narcotics to be registered under the patient’s legal name. If she doesn’t want her name on it, tell her doctor to rewrite the script.”

The private whispered nervously, “Major Miller already spoke to the hospital administration about it.”

My hands froze over the counter.

Daisy marched straight to the front.

“He’s pulling rank in our hospital now? The nerve!”

I picked up the landline and dialed the administration office directly.

Director Vance answered.

“Ava, don’t be difficult about this. Captain Vance’s assignment is sensitive. Using an alias for her medical file isn’t unprecedented.”

“If there’s an adverse reaction or an audit issue, who takes the fall, Director?”

Director Vance’s tone turned impatient.

“What could possibly go wrong? Don’t let your personal marital issues bleed into your professional duties.”

“Then I’ll need your signature,” I said smoothly.

He went quiet.

“My signature for what?”

“A formal administrative waiver taking full legal liability for bypassing standard prescription protocols.”

The line went dead silent.

I laid it out clearly.

“This is controlled medication, Director. If you want me to violate federal compliance, you need to sign your name to it.”

He cleared his throat roughly.

“Just… follow standard protocol then.”

The call clicked shut.

Daisy gave me a massive thumbs-up.

The young private stood there, looking completely trapped.

I handed her back the blank slip.

“Tell Chloe Vance she needs to come here herself.”

Half an hour later, Chloe arrived.

She was out of uniform, wearing a soft pastel scarf. The moment she entered the pharmacy lobby, every head in the waiting room turned to look.

She placed the slip onto the counter.

“Mrs. Bennett, please.”

I looked at her calmly.

“Government-issued ID, please.”

Her expression stiffened.

“You know exactly who I am.”

“Protocol.”

She closed her eyes for a brief second, then pulled out her military ID card.

I logged the serial number, verified the dosage, and slapped the printed label onto the bag.

She suddenly lowered her voice, speaking through the glass.

“Do you really have to make everything so unnecessarily humiliating?”

I slid the bag through the slot.

“Your medication.”

She didn’t pick it up.

“Ethan didn’t sleep a wink last night.”

“Then tell him to schedule an appointment with a physician.”

“He really cares about you deeply, Ava.”

I stopped my pen mid-air.

“He cares about me so much that he forged my name on a legal deed?”

Chloe’s face drained of color.

The murmuring crowd in the lobby went completely silent, straining to hear.

“I was the one who begged him for help,” she whispered.

Daisy muttered an expletive from the back.

Chloe pressed on. “I didn’t force him into anything. He just couldn’t bear to see me stranded with nowhere to go.”

I leaned in slightly.

“So you admit you knew that waiver wasn’t signed by me?”

Chloe’s mouth snapped shut instantly.

I closed our logbook with a firm snap.

“Take your medicine. Next.”

She reached out, grabbing the metal bars of the counter window.

“Ava, you aren’t going to win this. Ethan is never going to kick me out of that house.”

“What makes you so sure?” I asked.

Her jaw tightened. “Because of what he owes me.”

I didn’t say another word.

As she took the bag and turned to leave, an elderly woman in a worn, faded winter coat stepped out from the seating area.

The old woman looked Chloe up and down, then spoke up clearly.

“Young lady, if a man owes you his life, he gives you his life. If he owes you a favor, he returns a favor. Taking another woman’s home just makes you a thief.”

Chloe froze in her tracks.

The elderly lady smoothly stepped up to my window, handing over her medical chart.

“Mrs. Bennett, my son’s knee has been acting up. Can you check if these two prescriptions can be taken together?”

I took the chart with a respectful nod.

“Yes, but he needs to pause the anti-inflammatory pills for two days first.”

The old woman nodded, glancing back at the double doors where Chloe had just fled.

“Don’t you be frightened, dear. Just because they have a crowd doesn’t mean they have the truth.”

She didn’t speak loudly, but her words echoed perfectly across the quiet pharmacy.

Daisy’s eyes lit up.

“Ma’am, you said it perfectly!”

The old lady waved a hand dismissively.

“I’ve just lived a long time. I know what shameless looks like.”

Around noon, Ethan showed up at the hospital.

He stood outside the pharmacy window, his face looking even more exhausted than the night before.

“Ava, step outside.”

I didn’t move an inch.

“I am currently on duty, Major. If you have a medical inquiry, take a ticket.”

He controlled his temper, his voice dropping low.

“Stop playing games.”

I set my measuring scale down flat.

“Major Miller, are you here to pick up a script or to file an official complaint?”

The entire queue of patients turned their heads in unison to watch the show.

He finally stepped right up to the glass window.

“Why did you harass Chloe over her prescription?”

I looked at him through the glass.

“She attempted to pick up narcotics using an administrative alias. I enforced compliance. You call that harassment?”

He scowled.

“She didn’t want the base gossiping about her medical history.”

“When you forged my name to sign away my home, why weren’t you worried about the base gossiping about me?”

Ethan looked around nervously at the audience.

“Let’s step outside to talk.”

“I am working.”

His tone turned thoroughly commanding.

“Ava Bennett.”

I reached out and flipped the sign on the window counter: Window Closed.

I peeled off my latex gloves and walked through the side door into the hallway.

“Speak.”

He stared at me, his chest heaving as if he were practicing restraint.

“Drop the handwriting investigation.”

“Give me one good reason,” I challenged.

“If this leaks to the commanding General, it ruins reputations. It helps absolutely no one.”

“Does it ruin your reputation, or Chloe’s?”

He growled out, “It ruins our family.”

I let out a soft, mocking laugh.

“Oh, so now you remember we’re a family?”