On my wedding, my sister gave me a gift box. My seal commander husband said: "Don't touch it." "What's wrong?" I asked. He stared at my sister, his voice like ice: "You brought a threat into my home." His seal team guests stood up. My sister's smirk... Turned to fear.

Three days later, the real work began.

While the FBI handled the criminal espionage charges against Aethelgard Defense and Vanessa, I set up a temporary command center in the study of Ethan’s mountain house.

Two large monitors, three laptops, and stacks of financial printouts covered the heavy oak desk. Marcus and two other team members—Jake and Sam—sat on the leather couch, reviewing security logs and tracking vehicle registrations associated with the private military contractors.

"Maya," Marcus said, tossing an iPad onto my desk. "We cross-referenced the license plates from the two SUVs at the estate. They were registered to a logistics firm in San Diego called 'Vanguard Pacific.'"

I looked up from my spreadsheets. "Vanguard Pacific... that’s a subsidiary of Vance Holdings."

"Rear Admiral Thomas Vance?" Ethan asked, entering the study holding two mugs of black coffee. He handed one to me and stood behind my chair, looking at the screen.

"The same Admiral whose access badge was planted in Vanessa's gift box," I pointed out. "Why would a retired Rear Admiral’s holding company be leasing vehicles to private contractors trying to steal military drone schematics?"

"Unless Vance isn't the victim," Ethan realized, his eyes narrowing. "He’s the insider."

I brought up Vance Holdings’ corporate filings on my central monitor. "Look at the financial trail. Vance Holdings purchased a thirty-percent stake in Keller Logistics six months ago—right around the time Vanessa began transferring money offshore."

"He was funding her gambling debts," I murmured, connecting the dots in real time. "Vance gave Vanessa the cash she needed to keep Keller Logistics afloat, but in exchange, he required her to give him access to Ethan’s personal and professional schedule."

"She didn't just sell out the company," Ethan said, his voice dropping an octave into a register that made the room grow quiet. "She sold out my team's operational security."

My phone rang on the desk. The caller ID displayed my mother’s name.

I hesitated before pressing answer and putting it on speaker.

"Maya?" Eleanor’s voice came through the speaker, breathless and high-pitched. "Maya, you have to come to the city right now. Your father is at the corporate office. The board of directors is executing an emergency vote to strip him of his chairmanship!"

"Mother," I said calmly. "I told you, Keller Logistics is under federal freeze."

"No! Arthur says there is a loophole!" Eleanor cried. "If we surrender the family trust assets—the lake estate and the commercial properties—we can pay off the initial creditors and stop the bankruptcy!"

I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath.

"The family trust assets belong to me, Eleanor," I said, using her first name for the first time in my life. "And I am not liquidating them to pay off Vance’s fraudulent loans."

"You selfish girl!" Eleanor screamed through the phone. "Your sister is sitting in a federal holding cell! Your father is having chest pains! And all you care about is your grandmother’s real estate?!"

Ethan reached over, taking the phone gently from my hand.

"Mrs. Keller," Ethan said into the receiver, his tone so sharp it cut through her hysteria instantly. "This is Commander Cole. If you call my wife again to demand she finance your husband’s criminal negligence, I will personally direct the U.S. Attorney to include you as a co-conspirator in the Vanguard Pacific investigation. Am I clear?"