Chapter 8
At the memorial, Ruth held Caleb’s hand while the names were read.
Mason Reed.
Thomas Carver.
Eli Brooks.
Nathan Mercer.
James Holloway.
Victor Lane.
Owen Price.
Seven names.
Seven flags.
Seven families who finally knew their sons had not died because of a mistake.
They died because they had been betrayed.
And because Caleb lived, that betrayal did not stay buried.
When the ceremony ended, Mason Reed’s little daughter walked up to Caleb.
She was only six years old.
She held a small paper star in her hand.
“My mom said you were with my dad,” she said.
Caleb knelt so they were eye to eye.
“I was.”
She placed the paper star in his palm.
“Then you can keep this,” she whispered. “So you don’t feel alone.”
Caleb stared at it.
For a second, he could not speak.
Then he closed his hand gently around the star.
“Thank you,” he said.
That night, Caleb put the medal in a wooden case.
Not on the wall.
Not under a spotlight.
Beside Mason’s photo.
Beside the paper star.
Beside the truth.
He no longer saw the medal as bait.
He saw it as a promise.
The world had watched him be dragged off a stage as a traitor.
Then the world watched the real traitors fall.
But Caleb never cared about looking like a hero.
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He only cared that the men who died beside him were remembered as heroes too.
And this time, no one could take that from them.
