He Forged My Name to Give Away Our Home, So I Gave Away His Chapter 09

He Forged My Name to Give Away Our Home, So I Gave Away His Chapter 09

The moving truck pulled up to our duplex at exactly three o’clock.

Daisy had requested a half-day of personal leave to help me pack, and Mrs. Higgins brought two other neighborhood wives to assist with the heavy lifting.

After three years of marriage, I didn’t actually own much.

My pharmacology reference manuals, my clothes, a few crates of medical supplies, and the antique wooden keepsake box left behind by my late mother.

Mrs. Higgins sighed deeply as she wrapped my stoneware plates in newspaper.

“Three years, Ava… just like that, it’s over?”

Daisy chimed in from across the room, her hands full of packing tape. “Better over now than spending New Year’s baking pies for Chloe Vance across the street.”

Mrs. Higgins swatted her shoulder.

“Watch your mouth, girl.”

I tucked my final pharmaceutical encyclopedia into the cardboard box, sealing the top.

Heavy footsteps rattled the wooden porch outside.

Chloe had arrived, flanked by three neighborhood wives from the upper loop. Leading the pack was Mrs. Gable’s sister, a woman who spent her life sucking up to the officers’ families.

The sister stepped inside, looking around with a sneer.

“Well, look at this. Actually packing. Mrs. Bennett sure has a massive temper. The Major practically bowed his head to apologize, and she still throws a fit.”

Daisy rolled up her sleeves, stepping forward.

“When exactly did you see the Major bow his head? Cite your sources, lady!”

The woman let out a sharp scoff.

“Men handle high-level command decisions for this country; wives are supposed to show some grace and support. Captain Vance has failing health. What’s the big crime in letting her utilize the property for a few months?”

I finished taping my box and stood up straight, looking her dead in the eye.

“Would you let her utilize your house for a few months?”

The woman’s jaw locked, completely speechless.

Mrs. Higgins muttered from the corner, “The knife never hurts until it cuts your own skin.”

Chloe shot Mrs. Higgins a warning look.

“Mrs. Higgins, regarding that receipt you saw last night… it’s a complete misunderstanding.”

“What misunderstanding?” I asked, stepping forward.

Chloe pulled a fresh piece of paper from her pocket.

“The furniture order was actually placed on Ethan’s behalf. He originally wanted to surprise you with a fully furnished living room for our anniversary. It was only when my housing logistics fell through that we had to pivot, creating this confusion.”

Daisy stared at the paper, letting out a loud laugh.

“Wow. You are a truly gifted fiction writer.”

Chloe extended the paper toward me.

“Look at the invoice notes, Ava. The delivery recipient clearly states: Mrs. Ava Bennett.”

I took the slip from her fingers.

The paper was crisp, the ink fresh, the fibers barely settled.

I smiled.

“The copy in the lockbox last night didn’t have this note.”

“The store manager printed out an updated, corrected manifest for me this morning,” Chloe said smoothly.

“Which store?” I asked.

She rattled off the name of a local boutique downtown.

I nodded, sliding the invoice into my pocket.

“Perfect. I’ll drive down there later to audit their ledger entries.”

Her fingers twitched slightly, her composure fracturing for a split second.

The officer’s sister immediately stepped in front of her. “Are you completely obsessive? She just gave you a perfectly valid explanation!”

I pulled the invoice back out and tossed it onto the table in front of Chloe.

“Fabricating a secondary trail isn’t an explanation. It’s tampering with evidence.”

The sound of a heavy engine roaring echoed from the driveway.

Ethan’s Jeep slammed into park outside.

He strode through the front door, his eyes immediately landing on the stacks of taped boxes filling our living room.

“Who gave permission to remove these items?”

Daisy snapped back instantly. “I did! What are you going to do, Ethan? Forge another signature to force her to stay?”

Ethan didn’t even grant Daisy a glance. His eyes were pinned entirely on me.

“Ava, stop this before it becomes entirely unrecoverable.”

“My packing is fully recovered,” I said evenly.

He turned a sharp, commanding gaze toward the two civilian moving contractors standing by the door.

“Leave the boxes. Do not touch the truck.”

The two movers looked back and forth between us, completely paralyzed.

Mrs. Higgins quickly stepped in. “Major Miller, let’s talk like reasonable adults. Don’t go around intimidating working men.”

Ethan’s jaw was tight, his voice dangerously low.

“Mrs. Higgins, this is a private matter within my household.”

I walked right up to him, standing inches from his chest.

“These are my physical possessions. I purchased them, I packed them, and I am moving them. You have absolutely no legal right to stop me.”

Chloe stepped up, her voice sweet and conciliatory.

“Ethan… just let her go. She’s too emotional to listen to reason right now.”

Ethan snapped his head around to glare at her.

“Go back to the house, Chloe.”

Chloe froze, her expression instantly hardening.

The officer’s sister quickly took her arm. “Chloe was only trying to help.”

Ethan repeated, his voice dropping into a dangerous rumble.

“Go back.”

Chloe bit her lip hard, turned on her heel, and marched out the front door.

The crowd of onlookers on the lawn had doubled in size.

I picked up my late mother’s wooden keepsake box from the counter.

Ethan suddenly reached out, his heavy palm clamping down flat onto the lid, pinning it to the wood.

“Leave this box here.”

I looked up into his eyes.

“This belonged to my mother.”

“You can walk out,” he whispered, his voice desperate, “but don’t strip this house entirely bare. Don’t do this to me.”

I stared at him, genuinely unable to comprehend his mind.

“Taking my dead mother’s inheritance constitutes stripping you bare, Ethan?”

Realizing how terrible his words sounded in front of the witnesses, his grip relaxed slightly.

“That’s… that’s not what I meant.”

Daisy practically exploded from the back.

“Ethan Miller, are you even human?!”

The officer’s sister mumbled from the porch, “Who knows if she didn’t pack some of the Miller family silver inside that chest.”

I popped the brass latch, swinging the lid of the keepsake box wide open for the entire room to see.

Inside lay a single vintage silver bracelet, a handwritten book of home remedy recipes, and a faded, yellowed photograph of my mother as a young girl.

I pulled the photograph out, holding it up directly in front of Ethan’s face.

“See anything valuable to the military? Do you want to perform a full strip-search on me before I cross the base gates, Major?”

A wave of humiliation washed over Ethan’s face.

I slammed the lid shut, latching it firmly.

“Move out of my way.”

He slowly stepped to the side.

The moving contractors immediately hoisted the heaviest boxes, carrying them out the door. One by one, the pieces of my life passed right by his shoulders.

He stood alone in the center of the living room, looking as though he were being violently hollowed out of his own home.

As the final crate was loaded into the truck, I walked back inside and laid my house keys flat on the empty table.

“The old duplex is yours. I will be taking legal action to reclaim the new house. And as for our marriage… I will be filing the paperwork on Monday.”

Ethan’s voice went completely raspy.

“What paperwork?”

I looked at him one last time.

“Divorce.”

His face drained of all color.

“I will never sign it,” he choked out.

“Your signature isn’t required for me to file, Ethan. You’ve proven you’re quite talented at signing things alone anyway.”

He lunged forward, his fingers clamping tightly around my wrist.

“Ava Bennett, don’t you dare walk out that door.”

From the porch outside, a clear, authoritative, elderly voice echoed through the house.

“And why shouldn’t she?”

The elderly lady in the worn, faded winter coat stood at the threshold, flanked by Colonel Sterling from the staff command.

She glared directly at Ethan’s hand.

“Let go of her wrist, young man.”

Recognizing the woman’s face, Ethan’s fingers slowly unlocked, his arm dropping back to his side.

The old woman walked right up to my side, offering her arm.

“Sweetheart, the sedan is right out front. Wherever you need to go tonight, we will escort you.”

I held my mother’s keepsake box tightly against my chest.

“Thank you, ma’am.”

Ethan stared at the elderly woman, his voice tight and trembling with sudden realization.

“Ma’am… with all due respect, why are you interfering in a base domestic matter?”

The old lady looked Ethan up and down with utter disdain.

“My son nearly suffered an acute medical crisis last week because of a bad drug reaction, and Mrs. Bennett was the one who caught the error and saved his life. When an officer tries to bully a righteous woman, I make it my business. Do you understand me?”

Colonel Sterling added smoothly, “And the retired General is very interested to learn exactly how that housing waiver materialized in our records archive, Major.”

Ethan’s face went entirely, utterly white.