Anna, dear, Mark says there has been a misunderstanding. A baby needs both parents. Let’s be adults before lawyers make everything ugly.

Then another.

Also, I assume you understand family resources should remain with family. Your grandfather would not want outsiders influencing you.

Outsiders.

She meant my attorneys.

Or perhaps my daughter.

Or perhaps me.

I screenshotted both messages, sent them to Dana, and blocked Margaret’s number.

Part 6: The Carter Warning

That evening, General Hayes returned without an entourage. He brought a small stuffed bear in Army dress blues and set it awkwardly beside Grace’s bassinet.

“I was told this is appropriate,” he said.

Despite everything, I laughed.

Then his expression changed.

“We have a preliminary finding.”

He explained that Elise had admitted improper communication with Mark. She shared impressions, not documents, but those impressions gave him enough confirmation to keep digging. She would face disciplinary review.

But the access to my legal identifiers had not come from her account alone.

Someone had used Mark’s credentials through a civilian contractor portal connected to family readiness services. It was limited access, but enough to view dependent and contact records.

Mark had volunteered briefly with a spouse support committee the previous year.

I remembered him asking whether my military email followed a pattern.

I had laughed then.

Now the memory felt like a fingerprint.

“He used that to find my legal paperwork?”

“Not directly,” Hayes said. “But he may have used personal information from that system to answer identity questions elsewhere.”

Dana’s warning echoed.

Real estate financing.

Investment account.

LLC.

“What was he trying to do?”

General Hayes glanced toward Grace.