Part 3Goodbye to My Secret Wife

The heavy steel door of the brig slammed shut behind me, the sound echoing in the small, concrete cell.

On the third day, Seraphina came.

“Just admit it was your mistake, and I’ll step in and protect you,” she said, her voice devoid of emotion. “You’ll get a formal reprimand, a demotion, but you’ll be able to stay in the Navy. It’s your best option.”

I didn’t move.

“Ethan, don’t be stubborn,” she continued. “You can’t win against my family, and you certainly can’t win against the Crofts. Confess. And this all goes away.”

She was offering me a lifeline, on the condition that I get on my knees and admit to a crime I didn’t commit. To admit I was incompetent, that my medical ethics were flawed, that I was unworthy of the uniform I wore.

A bitter laugh escaped my lips. I wondered how I could have ever loved this woman.

I was just an intern at the naval hospital when we met. She was already a decorated Special Forces commander, not just an Admiral’s daughter. During a training exercise, a mortar misfired. She was hit by shrapnel, bleeding out and unconscious. On a makeshift operating table, I was the one who dug three pieces of metal out of her.

When she woke up, the first thing she asked was my name.

After that, she began to pursue me, in her own awkward, clumsy way. I thought her coldness was a shield, a wall she put up.

I was wrong. It wasn’t a shield. It was her foundation.

“What if I told you David did it?” I said, finally looking up at her, my voice flat.

Her brow furrowed instantly, a flicker of annoyance in her eyes. “Ethan, don’t be ridiculous. Don’t drag innocent people into your mess.”

“I know David,” she stated, as if it were fact. “He would never do something like this.”

In her world, David was forever the innocent victim, and I was forever the one making a scene, lying, making excuses.

“You know him?” I pushed myself off the cot and walked to the bars of the cell. “Seraphina, what do you really know about him?”

I stared into her eyes. “You know I would never shirk my responsibilities. You know I have a perfect record after six years as a physician. You know how much my honor as an officer means to me. And yet, you still choose to believe him instead of me.”

“Because the evidence is against you,” her voice grew colder. “You were responsible for the kit. You were in charge of the epinephrine. How am I supposed to believe you?”

I laughed until my eyes stung.

“What if I told you the kit was tampered with the day before the event? What if I told you David knew in advance that the attaché had a severe peanut allergy? What if I told you he personally arranged for the catering to include powdered peanuts in the pastries?”

Her expression didn’t change. “Do you have proof?”

My heart stopped for a beat. She didn’t care about the truth. All she wanted was my submission.

“No,” I said, letting all emotion drain from my face. “But I will find it.”

“Ethan.” Her voice was low, a clear warning. “Don’t fight a battle you can’t win. Admit your guilt, accept the punishment. It’s better for both of us.”

I took a step back from the bars. “Seraphina, when have you ever once considered what’s better for me?”

She fell silent.

I looked at her, this woman who once made my heart race, and all I felt was a profound sense of pity.

“Seraphina,” I said, my voice barely a whisper, “the day is coming when you will come begging me. Remember that. You will beg me.”

She stared at me for a second, the contempt in her eyes overflowing. “It seems seven days in the brig isn’t enough for you,” she said, turning to leave. “You can stay in here and keep dreaming.”