Lena discovered that justice rarely satisfied everyone.
But one thing mattered most.
Her father's record had changed.
The official story no longer called him negligent.
It recognized that he had returned because another soldier was trapped.
That truth could not bring him back.
It could not give Lena more childhood memories.
It could not give her mother back the years she had spent defending a dead man's name.
But it gave the family something they had been denied for twenty years.
The truth.
Chapter Nine — The Name Is Hers
Several weeks later, Lena found Carter outside the training building.
He stopped when he saw her.
Neither spoke for a moment.
Finally, Lena touched the old tag hanging from her neck.
“You were right about one thing,” she said.
Carter looked uncertain.
“I did not earn my father's name.”
He said nothing.
Lena continued.
“I was given it.”