I swallowed hard. My chest felt tight. “He should be who he is all the time, not just when he’s with you. That’s what real character looks like.”
Her voice cracked. “Do you trust me?”
I didn’t answer right away, because part of me wanted to scream. To shake her. To drag her away from whatever this was before it turned to ash in her hands.
But another part, bigger, quieter, was just afraid.
Because I did trust her.
Maybe more than anyone.
“Of course I trust you,” I said finally.
She stepped around the desk, came close enough that I could see the glint of unshed tears in her eyes. “Then trust that I know what I’m doing. I’m not naïve, Harlan. I’m not chasing a fantasy. I’m making a choice.” Her voice dropped to almost a whisper. “I’m happy. For the first time in a long time… I’m actually happy. Please… let me be happy.”
I looked down at her.
And for a moment, she looked like the girl I first met in my precinct a few years ago. All fire and fight and sharp-edged brilliance.
But behind that… something new.
A softness I hadn’t seen before. A quiet kind of hope that made my stomach turn.
I nodded.
Just once.
Because I couldn’t bear to steal that look from her face.
That sparkle in her eye she never had when she was with Jack.
Even if it killed me.
“I’m still going to keep an eye on him,” I muttered.
She smiled, and a tear slipped down her cheek. “I’d expect nothing less.”
I left the office a few minutes later, heart hammering.
And I prayed I was wrong.
But something in me already knew:
This wasn’t what she had always dreamed of.
It was the beginning of a tragedy.
CHAPTER 84
AVA - BIKER GETS THE GIRL
The air had that strange mix of chill and pollen that signalled spring in this town, too warm for jackets but still cold in the shade. I’d just left the clinic, a tea in one hand and my purse slung over my shoulder, when I spotted him.
Across the street.
Standing in front of the old church fence, hands in the pockets of his dark coat, eyes fixed on the clinic like he was trying to see straight through the brick.
Jack.
