2 months later..
October 10th, 2021
The night was quiet inside the barracks. The hum of the generator, the distant footsteps of patrolling soldiers, the occasional murmur of laughter in the mess hall, it all seemed far away from Major Rio Castellan's office.
Here, silence had settled, heavy and suffocating, broken only by the scratching of his pen against paper.
Rio sat at his desk, a pile of paperwork before him, the lamp casting a pale yellow glow across his face. His storm-gray eyes were sunken, rimmed with fatigue. Ever since his father's letter arrived a month ago, he hadn't slept properly.
He tried to bury himself in duty, in routine, in command. But at night, when the world grew still, the words of Janus Castellan returned like a curse, carved into his soul.
Your mother is unfaithful.
Your sisters knew and betrayed me.
They chose her, not us.
He could still see the neat, trembling handwriting, the stains of dried tears on the page. His father's pain had spilled through every word. And though Rio wanted to deny it, wanted to believe it was all some bitter fabrication, his heart knew better.
Tonight, the weight was heavier. His pen dropped, and he leaned back, staring at the ceiling. The desk lamp flickered slightly. He muttered under his breath, voice hoarse, "Mama wouldn't do this to us… would she?"
A knock interrupted the silence. Three raps firm, respectful.
"Enter," Rio commanded, sitting upright.
The door opened, and Captain Elias Castle stepped in. He was one of Rio's most trusted squad leaders, a man of quiet loyalty with scars across his jawline and sharp blue eyes that rarely wavered. Elias stepped forward, saluted crisply, and Rio returned the gesture.
"Major," Elias said, his voice grave. "We've returned."
The air froze. Rio's pulse quickened. For weeks, he had waited for this moment, the results of his secret order. An order that, if discovered, could end his career, tarnish his honor. Sending soldiers across borders for personal investigation was a reckless, illegal move. But he didn't care. Family mattered more than protocol.
"Sit," Rio said firmly. "Report everything."
Elias didn't sit. Instead, he stepped forward, pulled a thick envelope from his satchel, and placed it on the desk with deliberate care. His hand lingered on it for a moment, as though reluctant to let it go. Then he looked up at Rio, his eyes heavy.
"Major… you need to prepare yourself."
Rio's storm-gray eyes narrowed, but his hands were steady as he picked up the envelope. "Tell me."
Elias took a slow breath. "Your orders were followed. We scoured Cremont City. Every record, every alley, every connection the Castellan family had. Your relatives, your neighbors, even old business partners. But…" He trailed off, as though the words weighed too much.
"But what?" Rio's voice was sharp, cutting the silence like a blade.
"They're gone," Elias finally said. "Isabela. Alessandra. Marcella. Selene. All missing. No sightings. No trail. As though they vanished."
Rio's grip on the envelope tightened. His knuckles whitened, but his face remained composed. Military discipline held him together on the surface, but deep inside, something cracked.
"You're saying you found nothing? Not a trace?"
Elias sighed and sat down opposite Rio at last. His voice softened, the soldier giving way to the man. "We followed every lead. Every rumor. But it's a dead end. Even their old associates, the ones who knew your mother, claim to know nothing. Some have fled Cremont. Others… we suspect they're dead. Cremont has swallowed them whole."
The room felt colder. Rio's heart pounded in his chest. "And my father? Janus?"
Elias hesitated. "He's gone too."
Rio lowered his gaze, the envelope still clenched in his hand. The silence stretched, heavy and unbearable, until finally Elias said quietly, "There's more."
Rio's eyes lifted, sharp and demanding.
Elias gestured to the envelope. "Inside. Legal files. Divorce papers. It's… official. Your father wasn't lying."
The words struck like bullets. Slowly, Rio opened the envelope. Inside were several photographs, hastily taken copies of documents. He spread them across his desk, his gray eyes scanning each one.
"Janus Castellan v. Isabela Castellan"
"Divorce finalized."
"Custody of assets awarded to Isabela Castellan."
"Grounds: Infidelity."
Rio's chest tightened, breath shallow. There it was. Cold, hard truth. His mother, the woman he had adored, who hugged him with tears the night he left Cremont, who called him her light, her pride, had betrayed his father. Not rumors. Not suspicions. Facts written in black ink and sealed by a judge's gavel.
His jaw clenched. He wanted to deny it again, to tear the papers apart and scream that it was a lie. But denial no longer held weight. Reality was undeniable.
Janus's melancholic smile flashed in his mind, the silent sadness he wore the night Rio left. He had known even then. He had been drowning in betrayal, and Rio hadn't seen it.
Rio's hands shook as he pressed a palm against his forehead, staring down at the papers.
"Mama…" he whispered, voice breaking.
Elias shifted uncomfortably. He had seen him a cool and collected man, but he had never seen him like this. So raw. So vulnerable.
"Major," Elias said gently, "everything is really true in your father's letter. Your three sisters, they sided with her. They chose your mother. They kept her affair hidden from your father. That's what the papers suggested. Testimonies confirm it."
Rio froze. His storm-gray eyes widened, shimmering with disbelief. His sisters? Alessandra, with her regal charm. Marcella, with her teasing warmth. Selene, with her quiet, cold brilliance. They had chosen this path? They had betrayed their father, betrayed him?
"No…" Rio shook his head violently. "No, they wouldn't. Alessandra used to hold my hand when I was scared of the dark. Marcella used to sneak food into my room when Mama scolded me. Selene… Selene used to watch over me like a hawk, even when she pretended not to care." His voice grew louder, desperate. "They wouldn't do this. Not them."
Elias's expression was grim. "Major, I wish I could tell you otherwise. But the facts are what they are. They abandoned him. And they abandoned you."
Rio's breath hitched. His storm-gray eyes burned, not with tears, but with a hollow kind of pain that cut deeper than any blade. He stared at the photographs again, his vision blurring with rage and grief.
"They hated me for leaving," he murmured, voice trembling. "I thought it was just anger. Just hurt feelings. But this… this is different. It seems that they wanted me gone."
Elias reached across the desk, placed a firm hand on Rio's shoulder. "Major, I've seen men break under less. You're strong. But even the strongest can't carry this weight alone."
Rio closed his eyes, letting the silence consume them both. For a long time, he said nothing, his body rigid, his hand tightening on the papers until they crumpled.
Finally, he opened his eyes, storm-gray like steel now, hardened. He stood abruptly, the chair scraping against the floor.
Without a word, he crushed the divorce files in his fist and hurled them into the waste bin. The crumpled papers landed with a hollow thud, like the sound of something dying.
"This family I worked for," Rio said, his voice low, icy, "this family I bled for, they're gone. Shattered. Nothing left to fight for."
Elias stood as well, his face uncertain. "Major..."
"Dismissed," Rio interrupted, his tone sharp, final.
Elias hesitated, then saluted. "Yes, sir." He turned, pausing only at the door. "For what it's worth, Rio… I'm sorry."
The door closed. Silence returned.
Rio stood alone in the dim light, his shadow stretching across the wall. His storm-gray eyes, once filled with warmth, now held only emptiness. His chest felt hollow, his heart broken in ways no battlefield had ever managed.
He whispered to himself, a vow only the walls could hear:
"They're gone. And so am I."
Then, with a final exhale, he turned away from the desk, leaving the broken remnants of his family behind in the waste bin.
The Major of Cremont City was no more. What remained was a soldier without a home, without a family, without trust.
And this was the moment that would define him forever.