My wife severed our marriage through an email while I was serving overseas…

Of course, I said. And Mr. Briggs? Your wife just arrived at the scene. She’s…distressed. I looked down the street.

Becky was standing on our lawn, hands over her mouth, watching as FBI agents carried boxes of documents from our house. What happens to her? I asked. That depends, Patel said.

On what she knew, and on what you want. I watched Becky for a long moment. Thirteen years of marriage.

Good years, at the beginning. Before whatever this had become. I just want what’s right.

I said finally. The federal case moved quickly. Jeremy and Spencer both took plea deals, implicating each other and several other conspirators in what turned out to be a three-state operation targeting military families.

Becky maintained she knew nothing about the larger scheme. Said Jeremy had convinced her I was hiding money, planning to leave her with nothing. Said the refinance was his idea.

She’d just gone along with it. Maybe that was true. Maybe it wasn’t.

Either way, she agreed to a settlement. Full restitution of the stolen funds. Forfeiture of any claim to the house or my military pension.

A signed confession about the forgery. In exchange, I didn’t press charges. The divorce was finalized six months after that email from Kandahar.

No fault. Clean break. All things considered.

On the day the last paperwork was signed, I got a call from Agent Patel. Jeremy Ryan was sentenced today. Eight years for fraud, conspiracy, and identity theft.

Spencer got 12. Thought you’d want to know. Thank you, I said.

There’s something else, she added. We found evidence they’ve done this to 11 other military families. Your case helped us build the pattern.

Those families might get their money back because of you. After we hung up, I sat on the porch of my rental apartment, watching the sunset. Thinking about those other families.

Other men who’d deployed, thinking their homes and marriages were safe, only to come back to emptiness. I hadn’t planned on being the one to bring down Jeremy and Spencer’s operation. I just wanted what was mine.

But sometimes things work out in ways you don’t expect. My phone buzzed. Text from Becky.

I never meant for things to end this way. I didn’t respond. There was nothing left to say.

A year later, I sold the house. Couldn’t stand to live in it anymore. Too many memories, too much betrayal in those walls…