All Chapters of The War Correspondent's Homecoming: Chapter 1 - Chapter 9

9 Chapters

Chapter 1

Russell Ellison and Pamela Hester both looked stunned.Pamela's smile froze on her face, and Russell let go of her hand as though he'd been shocked by it.He passed the child into Pamela's arms, his voice unsteady. "Harper, what are you doing here?"I stared at the three of them—their little family—and said nothing.Pamela clutched the child tighter, her eyes reddening instantly. "Harper, let me explain. It's not what you think—""Then what is it?" I pointed a shaking finger at the wedding photo on the wall. "Russell, you married Pamela, and nobody thought to invite me to the wedding?"Russell started to reach for me, then stopped halfway. "Harper, it's complicated. Everyone thought you were dead, so we—"My voice shook as I cut him off. "I've only been missing for two years, and your child is already three. You two were together long before that, weren't you?"Russell remarrying wasn't even the part I couldn't stomach. What I truly couldn't accept was that he'd cheated on me w

Chapter 2

I touched my stinging cheek and looked up in disbelief."So the little bird's finally grown her wings, has she? Off to be a big war correspondent? What are you even doing back here?"I took a deep breath. "Mom, Russell married Pamela. They have a child together. Did you know that?"My mother's expression didn't so much as flicker. "Of course I knew. Both our families threw the wedding together.""What did you just say?" My eyes went wide, and the words came out before I could stop them. "I'm Russell's wife. I'm your daughter. How could you—""And you still have the nerve to say that!"My father stormed out at the sound of her voice, his face dark as a storm cloud. "We told you not to go overseas, and you had to go anyway. You had a good life here, and you threw it away to go get yourself killed in that place."You went missing two years ago. We all thought you were dead. Your mother cried herself sick every single day."And here you are, alive this whole time, without so much a

Chapter 3

At the mention of Pamela's name, the young woman's eyes lit up."Pamela is amazing. That documentary she shot in Veyland was incredible!"She pulled it up on her computer to show me. Pamela's name sat right there in the credits, under Executive Producer and Director."Look how good it is—we all cried watching it!"The footage on the screen was painfully familiar. Every photograph, every interview, had cost me blood to get.They'd cut out every shot of me on camera and dubbed Pamela's voice over the rest. From start to finish, my name didn't appear anywhere in the credits.The Ellison Group sat at the top of the sponsor list.Russell.He was the only one who knew the password to my computer.I closed the video and drove straight for the Ellison Group's offices. A truck behind me leaned on its horn, the blast deafening.My head started pounding, and that same explosion sound roared to life in my ears. I clapped my hands over my ears, lost control of the wheel, and slammed into

Chapter 4

Russell called me half a dozen times. I didn't pick up.My parents texted me demanding I take the video down. I ignored them too.Within the hour, Pamela's name topped every trending list. But the tide turned fast.The Ellison Group put out a statement claiming I was mentally unstable and that nothing I said could be trusted. The Eastwood Group followed with a press conference of its own.My parents took the stage themselves and released my psychiatric records from overseas—cherry-picked excerpts, taken out of context—claiming I was mentally disturbed and had deliberately slandered Pamela.My mother sobbed through the whole conference. "My own daughter, so ungrateful. We searched for her for two years, and all along she was alive and never once came looking for us. Now she comes back and starts spreading lies. How did our family end up with a daughter like this?"Pamela sat beside her, eyes rimmed red. "Harper is my best friend. I had no idea she was sick. I don't blame her for a

Chapter 5

Down in the courtyard, the lights blazed bright as day.Russell and Pamela stood at the center of it all, raising their glasses for a toast."Thank you all for joining us to celebrate our anniversary," Russell said. He bent down and pressed a reverent kiss to the back of Pamela's hand. "Pamela, thank you for staying by my side all this time, and for giving me such a wonderful son."Pamela's eyes shone with tears, and the crowd broke into thunderous applause.Russell raised his glass, the smile still lingering on his face.Before the glass reached halfway up, a deafening crash cut through the noise, and a white shape dropped out of the sky and hit the ground.It happened without any warning at all. The glass slipped from his hand and shattered at his feet. Pamela screamed and clapped a hand over her mouth.Chaos broke out instantly. People shouted, people ran, people cried. Russell stood frozen in place, his pupils shrinking, his hands shaking uncontrollably."Harper..."He sho

Chapter 6

When I opened my eyes again, the first thing I noticed was the familiar smell of disinfectant.I yanked the IV needle out of my arm and tried to drag myself out of bed, clutching my head and screaming. A second later, someone pulled me into a tight embrace."Harper, I'm here. It's okay. It's okay..."My mind slowly cleared. This wasn't the psychiatric hospital—it was a regular one.Russell kept his hand on my back, patient as he tried to calm me down, refusing to let go no matter how hard I hit him.I gradually settled and took in the room around me. My mother stood at the foot of the bed, her eyes swollen from crying."Harper, it's my fault." Her voice came out raw and broken. "I didn't know you'd lost your memory. I didn't know how badly you'd been hurt..."My father spoke, his face heavy with grief. "Harper, it was on us before. We'll get you the best doctors there are. You're going to get better."I turned my face away and said nothing for a long time.Russell went to pour

Chapter 7

The day I was discharged, Russell showed up early to take me home. He'd just finished packing my things when his phone rang.Pamela's voice came through. "Russell, it's Teddy's birthday today. He's been crying for his dad. Can you come home and calm him down?"Russell looked over at me, thinking I was sound asleep, and lowered his voice. "Tell him to play by himself for a bit. I'll be there soon."He left.The moment the door shut behind him, I opened my eyes. I'd actually been awake for a while—I just hadn't wanted to face him.I told the bodyguards I wanted to go downstairs for some air and asked them not to follow me. Then I hailed a car and went back to the house Russell had set me up in.Once I'd packed everything, I booked the earliest flight I could find and headed straight for the airport.At the gate, my phone buzzed. I looked down. Russell had texted: [Harper, wait for me at the hospital. I'll come get you soon.]I didn't answer. I just powered the phone off.As the

Chapter 8

My reporter friend had already taken care of everything by the time I arrived.Once I'd gotten settled, I went in to report to the new team. Plenty of familiar faces greeted me there—people I'd worked alongside in Veyland. My colleagues pulled me into a big group hug and said, "Welcome home."The first thing I did wasn't plan a new project. It was to gather stronger evidence to prove my innocence.One of the photographers handed me a flash drive full of behind-the-scenes footage from my time in Veyland—everyday moments I'd never even thought to notice, that he'd quietly recorded anyway. They told me they'd back me up however I needed, whenever I needed it. I took the drive and thanked him.A week later, an international news channel's official account released its first statement, along with the raw footage from my time in Veyland. In the clip, I stood on a bombed-out balcony delivering a report, fire lighting up the sky behind me, gunfire and shelling crashing in the backgro

Chapter 9

Russell hesitated for a moment before finally letting go."Harper, if I divorce Pamela, will you forgive me?"I didn't answer. I just turned and walked away.He still didn't understand—divorce or not, I was never coming back to him.Not long after Russell left, my parents showed up. They stood outside my apartment for ten straight minutes, ringing the doorbell, before I finally opened the door.The second it opened, my mother threw herself at me, sobbing uncontrollably. "Harper, come home with me. We won't stand in your way anymore, whatever you want to do—"My father chimed in beside her. "Harper, we've been worried sick about you. You out there all alone overseas. We can't rest easy."I stood still and let my mother cry herself out, then gently pushed her back."Harper, come home with us. I'm begging you. You're the only daughter we have.""That day at the press conference, you released my medical records to the whole world, called me an ungrateful daughter, said I was menta

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