Page 3 of Brutal Collateral

Every aspect of my identity is different. Even my birthdate. Looking closer, my stomach drops. There’s no father listed.

Unknown.

Alexander made me a bastard! I’m gonna kill him. I turn around, but my brother and the car are gone.

He ACTUALLY left me...

Feeling sick to my stomach, I open the recruitment office’s door emblazoned with the daunting US Navy logo.

“Can I help you?” The man in a uniform who watched us earlier stands up from behind a cheap metal desk.

His deep blue double-breasted jacket with two rows of gold buttons, gold bands on the sleeve cuffs, and little gold embroidered anchors takes my breath away.

Not for the man, but the uniform.

“I... I have an appointment.” I feel like a slob in my jeans and sneakers. I was never one for dresses or high heels. Even though I’m technically a Greek Mafia princess.

“Name?”

I freeze, realizing I’m about to commit fraud.

The recruiter tilts his head. “Problem?”

“Your uniform. I thought you only wore white,” I say to stall.

“In the winter we wear blue and, in the summer, we wear our whites.”

Plural. Whites. That’s...cool.

I point to a photo of several officers in theirwhites. “Those men...”

“Thosewarriorsare SEALs.”

“SEALs, as in...SEAL Team 6?”

He folds his arms. “Are you interested in being a SEAL?”

“Are there women SEALs?”

“Not yet.” He motions for me to sit in a chair facing his desk. “Every class, we invite the most qualified female recruits to do the SEAL challenge. Most don’t accept, though.”

Butterflies take flight in my stomach at the idea of being a Navy SEAL. And the first female? Ilovea challenge.

I’m a little off today because I was ripped from my bed before the break of dawn, tossed into a smelly car, and driven four hours away to be dumped here.

I sit up straight, ignoring my stinging scalp from the bleach. “That sounds amazing.”

“Great. Once again, recruit. What is your name?”

Shifting my weight, I look him in the eye and say the fake name I memorized, “Hadleigh Castille.”

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