Chapter 6 - What Victoria Had Already Taken
Three weeks later, Rachel met Victoria in a federal detention facility.
Victoria entered the interview room wearing a plain gray uniform. Without silk, pearls, and carefully styled hair, she looked smaller.
She sat across from Rachel.
“My attorney advised me not to speak with you.”
“Then don’t.”
Victoria narrowed her eyes. “Why are you here?”
Rachel placed a folder on the table.
“Because Vale kept records.”
“I know.”
“He recorded your conversations.”
Victoria looked away.
Rachel opened the folder.
“You told him where I traveled. You gave him dates Daniel mentioned. You provided copies of our private mail.”
“I never entered your bedroom.”
“You entered my home.”
“Daniel gave me a key.”
Rachel leaned forward.
“You also intercepted a letter sent to me eleven months ago.”
Victoria’s face went still.
That was the answer Rachel needed.
The letter had come from the Department of Defense. It offered Rachel a permanent leadership appointment in Washington, one that would have allowed her to leave field operations and build a safer life.
She never received it.
The position went to someone else after she failed to respond.
“Why?” Rachel asked.
Victoria folded her hands.
“Daniel would have followed you.”
“He was my husband.”
“He would have abandoned his career.”
“We discussed moving to Washington. He wanted it.”
“He didn’t know what was best for him.”
Rachel’s anger remained quiet.
“You stole a federal letter and declined a position in my name.”
“I protected my son.”
“You took a year of my life.”
“You already had everything. Rank. influence. People who stood when you entered a room.”
“I wanted a life with Daniel.”
Victoria’s mouth twisted.
“You wanted him to orbit you.”
“No. You did.”
The words struck cleanly.
Rachel closed the folder.
“You didn’t love Daniel. You loved being necessary to him.”
Victoria’s eyes filled with tears, but Rachel felt no triumph.
“What will happen to him?” Victoria asked.
“That depends on the investigation.”
“Will he go to prison?”
“He cooperated. He did not knowingly provide Vale with classified information.”
“So he’ll keep his career?”
“No.”
Victoria flinched.
Rachel continued.
“He accepted responsibility. He is resigning his commission.”
“He cannot.”
“He already has.”
Victoria stared at the tabletop.
“I only wanted him to succeed.”
“You taught him that success mattered more than integrity. Then you acted surprised when his life collapsed.”
Rachel rose.
Victoria looked up.
“Will you forgive him?”
“That is between Daniel and me.”
“You’re divorcing him.”
“Yes.”
Victoria’s expression hardened again.
“Then you won.”
Rachel paused at the door.
“There was never a competition.”
She left without looking back.
Daniel was waiting outside the building.
He wore civilian clothes and held a cardboard box containing the last belongings from his office.
“You didn’t have to wait,” Rachel said.
“I know.”
They walked toward the parking lot.
Daniel looked thinner than he had at the Army ball.
“I signed the resignation papers this morning.”
Rachel nodded. “General Hayes told me.”
“I’ll lose my pension credit.”
“Yes.”
“I may face administrative sanctions.”
“Yes.”
He almost smiled. “You don’t soften anything.”
“You used to say you liked that about me.”
“I did. Until I began measuring myself against you.”
Rachel stopped beside her car.
Daniel faced her.
“I found the Washington letter,” he said.
She said nothing.
“It was in a box at my mother’s house. She signed the refusal using your name.”
“I know.”
“I sent the evidence to your agency’s inspector general.”
“Thank you.”
“I also wrote a statement confirming that you never refused the appointment.”
Rachel studied him.
“Why?”
“Because fixing what I can is not the same as asking you to return.”
For the first time since the ball, her anger loosened.
Daniel continued.
“I accepted a position with a veterans’ disaster-response nonprofit. No rank. No uniform. No family influence.”
“That sounds useful.”
“I hope it will be.”
A long silence passed.
“I’m sorry,” he said. “Not only for the ball. For every time I let my insecurity become your burden.”
Rachel looked toward the distant flag above the federal building.
“I believe you’re sorry.”
“But you still want the divorce.”
“Yes.”
He nodded.
“I’ll sign without fighting.”
“Thank you.”
Daniel placed the cardboard box in his car.
Before opening the door, he turned back.
“Did they offer you Washington again?”
Rachel’s expression gave him the answer.
A small smile appeared on his face.
“You should take it.”
“I haven’t decided.”
“You spent years making yourself smaller so I wouldn’t feel threatened.”
Rachel looked at him sharply.
Daniel lowered his gaze.
“I see that now.”
May you like
He opened his car door.
“Don’t do it anymore.”
