Shadows of the General

Chapter One – The Silence Before the War

The pen trembled in Selene Carter’s hand, though she held it with the practiced composure of a woman raised never to show weakness. Across the mahogany table, Adrian Kane sat still, too still, broad shoulders squared, jaw locked, dark eyes unblinking.

The only sound in the room was the soft scratch of paper as Selene slid the documents forward.

“Sign them,” she said, her voice cool, clipped, betraying nothing of the storm clawing at her chest.

Adrian didn’t move. His calloused hands rested on the table, fingers scarred and strong, as if forged for battles that had nothing to do with her world. He studied the papers, then lifted his gaze back to hers.

That silence, it was what had ruined them. Silence in the face of her family’s contempt. Silence when whispers painted him a failure. Silence when the police dragged him away in handcuffs two years ago, leaving Selene humiliated in front of her entire circle.

She wanted him to fight for her. To explain. To deny. But Adrian Kane had only ever given her silence.

“I won’t say it again,” she pressed, her nails biting into the table’s polished surface. “Sign. The. Papers.”

Adrian’s eyes darkened, unreadable. He reached for the pen.

Something in her chest twisted, hope, regret, she didn’t know. But the pen’s tip hovered above the line, and he paused. For one suspended heartbeat, she thought he might speak.

He didn’t.

He signed.

Selene’s breath caught, though it was what she wanted, what she had demanded for months.

It felt like being gutted.

“You won’t even ask why?” she whispered before she could stop herself.

Adrian set the pen down with controlled precision. His gaze locked with hers, steady and merciless. “I don’t beg for what’s already gone.”

The words cut sharper than any blade, She pushed her chair back so hard it scraped against the marble floor. “Then this is finished.”

For a moment, something flickered in his eyes, pain, fury, or maybe the last splinter of a love he refused to show. But then his face shuttered into that same impenetrable mask.

Selene snatched the papers, turned on her heels, and walked away, She didn’t look back.

The morning sunlight streamed through Selene’s bedroom window, mocking her with its warmth. She should have felt relief. Instead, the weight on her chest was heavier than ever.

Her phone buzzed, Her mother’s name flashed on the screen. With a sigh, Selene answered.

“Have you seen the news?” Her mother’s voice crackled with barely contained excitement.

“What news?” Selene asked flatly, running her fingers through her tangled hair.

“Turn on the television. Now.”

Something in her mother’s tone sent a prickle of unease down her spine. She crossed the room, pressed the remote, and the screen flickered to life.

The image hit her like a punch., A sea of uniforms. Soldiers standing in rigid formation. A stage draped with the nation’s flag, And there, at the center, Adrian Kane.

Straight-backed, expression carved from steel, wearing medals that glinted like fire in the morning sun. The announcer’s voice rang through the speakers:

“…in recognition of valor, loyalty, and service beyond measure, we salute Five-Star General Adrian Kane…”

Selene’s knees buckled. The remote slipped from her grasp, clattering to the floor.

No. No, this was impossible.

Her husband, the man her family sneered at as worthless, the man she had just divorced, was being honored as the highest-ranking general in the nation?

The camera zoomed in. Adrian’s gaze swept over the crowd, cold and unyielding, For the first time, Selene understood.

The silence. The humiliation. The nights he came home bloodied and refused to explain. The arrest, It hadn’t been weakness, It had been war.

Her chest tightened until she could hardly breathe. The world saluted him now. And she… she had just walked away.

The applause thundered from the television, a storm she couldn’t escape, And then, Adrian’s eyes, as though piercing the screen, locked with hers.

Selene staggered back a step, her pulse crashing. It was impossible. He couldn’t see her. But the weight of that stare… it was as if he knew.

Knew she was watching.

Knew she was broken.

Knew that it was far, far too late.

Selene clutched the edge of the dresser, breath shallow. On the television, Adrian raised his hand in salute.

But his lips, unseen by the roaring crowd, moved just enough for her to catch the words.

She froze.

Because he wasn’t addressing the nation.

He was speaking to her.

And his mouth formed a single, devastating sentence:

“You will regret this.”