“I don’t,” I lied, too fast. “I care about getting Remi out in one piece.”
He exhaled hard, rubbing the back of his neck. Frustrated. “Ava, we’ve got to stop second-guessing. Wehavethem. This is another brick in the wall. Another way we burn it all down.”
“Yeah,” I said softly. “But what if it all comes down on top of us, too? What if innocents get crushed in the process? Good people. We don’t know the full story yet.”
That made him pause.
I leaned forward, elbows on my knees. “I’m not saying we don’t use it, Jack. I’m just saying not yet. Let’s let it breathe. Let’s make sure we’re not risking more than we’re saving.”
He studied me for a long beat.
“What changed?” he asked finally. “Last week, you were ready to light a match and watch it burn.”
“I got perspective,” I said.
His gaze sharpened. “From who?”
My throat tightened. “Doesn’t matter.”
He didn’t believe me, I could see it written all over his face, but he let it go. For now.
I left him pacing my living room, still planning, still spinning this whole thing like a campaign, and told him I needed fresh air.
What I really needed was space.
A minute to stop drowning in the noise.
I didn’t even realize where my feet were taking me until I was standing across the street from the precinct. The air was cool but heavy, the kind of mid-spring dampness that carried the faint scent of lilacs from the park nearby.
It was just after six. The sky was bruised purple and gold, clouds streaking like watercolour.
I waited.
I didn’t want to go inside. Didn’t want to see Erin’s smug face. Didn’t want to risk Remi seeing mine before we had anything worth showing her.
So, I waited.
Twenty minutes later, Harlan came out.
He looked wrecked. Shirt sleeves rolled to the elbows, tie hanging loose, his hair damp like he’d showered at the station. There were shadows under his eyes, the kind that no amount of sleep could erase.
He stopped short when he saw me, something sharp flickering in his expression, surprise, relief, and wariness all tangled together.
“Ava.”
My chest ached.
For one split second, I wanted to cross the distance between us. To just… fold into him, forget everything, pretend we weren’t on opposite sides of a war we never asked for.
“Baby,” he breathed, like seeing me gave him life.
“Don’t,” I said quickly, shaking my head. “Don’t make this about us. Not right now.”
He stepped closer anyway, slow and careful, like I was a deer he didn’t want to spook.
“God, Ava. I just want to...”
“I can’t,” I interrupted, my voice sharp and thin. “Remi’s still locked up. Erin is out there setting fires just to watch us burn. And Jack is one press release away from lighting the fuse on the whole damn city. I can’t carry us on top of all that.”
