“This is Colonel Bennett,” he said, his voice flat and hard.

I watched his jaw muscles tighten.

The hospital lobby smelled of bleach and cold, stale coffee.

“Yes,” my father said into the receiver. “I am looking at the screen right now. I need a verbal confirmation of the balance.”

He listened for several seconds, his face turning the color of wet ash.

“When?” he asked.

Another silence followed.

“Understood.”

He ended the call and slowly lowered his hand.

“Dad?” I whispered.

Owen stirred against my shoulder, letting out a soft, wet sigh.

“It’s gone, Hannah,” he said.

My heart skipped a beat.

“What do you mean?” I asked. “All of it?”

“The balance is twelve dollars and forty-two cents,” my father said.

The fluorescent light overhead hummed a low, steady vibration.

“But that was my inheritance from Mom,” I said. “And my savings from the school.”

“Ethan had joint access,” he said, staring at the screen. “He cleared it out three hours ago.”

He turned the screen toward me.

A single transaction code stared back at me.

It was a transfer to an offshore entity called Apex Holdings.