A Missing Key 218 Missed Calls One Family Secret novel Chapter 47

Chapter 8

Chapter 8

After that day, Dad tried to make amends.

He placed corporate transfer documents in front of me, saying he wanted to give me the entire company.

“Nora, I’m so sorry… don’t study military medicine. Stay with me, and I’ll make it up to you.”

He even offered to kick Rebecca and Jake out.

I looked at his face full of remorse and regret, and cut him off.

“I told you, I don’t want your company.”

I took off the military dog tag I’d worn smooth from years of handling and placed it in front of him.

“Do you know what this is?”

He stared at it blankly.

“This is what Mom left me. It’s not just a piece of metal-it has GPS tracking and an emergency beacon.”

“When I had surgery at fifteen, when I was bullied at sixteen, when I had that accident at seventeen-every time, Mom found me through this and saved me.”

“When I was kidnapped, I called you three times and you hung up every time. In the end, it was Mom who saved

me.”

My voice was completely calm, without a ripple, but it hammered into his heart like a sledge.

“To protect us, she had to ‘die’ once and live in this world in a different way.”

“She’s out there alone, facing dangers we can’t imagine, but she still has to worry about protecting me-the daughter you ignored.”

“Dad, all these years while you were enjoying your new family and new life, do you know how she was living?”

“When you hit me for Jake breaking my music box, do you know she might have been fighting for her life somewhere?”

“You don’t know.”

“You know nothing.”

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A Missing Key, 218 Missed Calls, One Family Secret

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Chapter 8

Dad’s face had lost all color.

He stared at that small military tag like he was seeing all his selfishness, avoidance, and stupidity from these years.

He dropped to his knees with a thud, covering his face and letting out desperate sobs.

“I’m so sorry to you both… I failed you and your mother…”

I didn’t look at him again.

I took back my dog tag and put it around my neck.

“I’m going to find her now.”

“This time, I’ll be the one protecting her.”

I pulled my suitcase and walked out of the home I’d lived in for eighteen years, without looking back.

The crying behind me faded into the distance.

…

Life at West Point was harder than I’d imagined.

Daily 5 AM physical training, endless engineering problem sets, and the relentless pressure of military discipline and academic excellence.

Several times I hid under my blankets and cried quietly.

But every time I felt the dog tag at my chest, I found strength again.

Four years later, I graduated from West Point with top honors. While most of my classmates reported to their first military assignments, I had different plans.

I applied to USUHS and was accepted.

Medical school was another four years of grueling study-the stinging smell of formaldehyde in anatomy labs, mountains of medical knowledge that seemed impossible to master, all while maintaining military bearing and physical fitness standards.

After earning my M.D., I chose to specialize in surgery during my residency at a military hospital.

Finally, eight years after leaving West Point, I became a military surgeon and deliberately requested assignment to

a forward operating base hospital near the border-the most dangerous posting available.

11:27

A Missing Key, 218 Missed Calls, One Family Secret

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