I don't know how, but I managed to stumble back through the hall, my legs barely working. The chaos blurred around me, glass underfoot, overturned furniture, broken picture frames that still held smiles from better years, the couch where I had once sat and talked of hope.
When I reached the kitchen, I dropped beside Sofia’s aunt again and yanked off my cardigan, balled it up, and pressed it hard to the bleeding wound at her temple.
“You’re okay,” I whispered. “Just hang on. You’re okay.”
But my hands were shaking. I didn’t feel okay. I felt hollow. Ravaged. Like every woman I couldn’t save was clawing at my ribs from the inside out.
Maybe I should’ve pushed harder.
Maybe I missed something.
Maybe it’s always too little, too late.
But as the sirens neared and the flashing lights began to stain the walls of the kitchen red and blue, I felt something settle in me. Not calm.
Conviction.
I would not let Sofia die in vain.
I would not stop until the ones responsible, all of them, faced the fire they lit.
Corruption. Negligence. Cowardice.
I would burn it down. Every last piece of it.
The door slammed open.
Boots thundered in.
And then I saw him.
Chief Harlan Gray.
Gun drawn.
Eyes wild.
Not the stoic man from the station.
This man looked awake for the first time. Like he’d finally seen the nightmare we lived in.
I met his eyes.
“She’s in the guest room,” I said softly.
And I watched something in him break.
CHAPTER 6
HARLAN - WHAT HAD WE DONE
The rookie sat across from Dane Loring, a folder of arrest records clutched like a shield. I stood with my arms crossed just outside the interview room window, watching Dane’s foot tap an uneven rhythm beneath the table. He didn’t look worried. Not like a man accused of multiple assaults should. He looked like a man who walked into a clinic intent on harm and knew nothing would happen to him. And that smirk, that sick little smirk, never left his face.
My stomach twisted.
Everything felt wrong... I didn't like feeling out of control, and that was exactly how I had felt since answering that assault call earlier today.
The door behind me opened. "Chief?" Officer Davis stepped in, holding a file in one hand and a USB drive in the other. "Security footage from the clinic. And the ER just faxed over Sofia’s medical records."
