I stood. “Watch your next words very carefully.”
She smirked. “You’re siding with a girl who has a sealed juvenile record. You think I didn’t investigate her? Littles Ms. Perfect, Remi Carter?”
Erin moved closer, voice low and venomous.
“Do you know how many charges and marks are on her file before and after it got buried? You think she’s some hero? She almost killed a boy. Has a pattern of violence. Of manipulation. Ava’s worse. She’s the face. The mastermind. They’ve been playing you since day one.”
She glanced at my phone on the desk.
“Looks like threats are being made against the department, sir,” sheadded, eyes glittering. “And you. From someone connected to multiple patients. Probably one of your ‘conflict of interest’ darlings.”
She reached for my phone.
I snatched it before she could touch it. “That’s enough.”
Erin’s face went blank. Cold.
“You’re making a mistake, Chief.”
I stared at her.
“No,” I said. “I already did.”
I walked past her, out into the hall, needing air. Needing to think.
I needed to figure out how to undo the damage I’d done before it buried everyone.
I needed to figure out what game Erin was playing at.
I needed to finish this.
Because I’d spent too long trying to fix a system that was rotting beneath me…
And somehow, I’d finally let the rot in all the way.
And lost everything important to me along the way.
CHAPTER 41
AVA - WE GROW OLD TOGETHER
I didn’t cry.
Not when I left the station.
Not when I passed the coffee shop where he used to wait for me.
Not when I got home and saw the hoodie I stole from him draped over the back of the kitchen chair.
I didn’t cry.
I couldn’t.
Instead, I cleaned.
I scrubbed the counters until my knuckles went raw. I bleached the sink. I folded laundry that wasn’t even mine. I reorganized the spice rack and threw out three expired jars of cumin like they were responsible for the ache in my ribs.
Because I needed control.
