“Where were you?”
Daniel’s face went red. “I didn’t touch her. I didn’t touch either of you!” He lunged.
Bear had been waiting for it. He’d watched Daniel’s weight shift onto his front foot ten seconds before it happened, watched the right shoulder cock back, watched the eyes lock onto Greta’s face. He was already moving when Daniel’s fist came up.
He stepped into Daniel’s line, caught the punch a foot from Greta’s cheek, and redirected. Daniel’s momentum carried him past his own balance point. Bear turned him, controlled the arm,brought him down to the asphalt with one knee in the small of his back.
Three seconds. Daniel was face down with his arm locked at an angle that made struggling a bad idea.
Daniel struggled anyway. He bucked. He swore. He spat. Bear held him there and counted breaths.
In. Out. Don’t squeeze too hard. Don’t lean too much weight. Just enough to contain. Don’t be the man you used to be.
“Get off me!” Daniel’s voice came up muffled. “You’re dead. You’re fuckingdead. I’m going to?—”
“I called the state troopers.” Naomi had her phone to her ear. “ETA two minutes.”
Bear kept counting.
Walker moved into his peripheral vision and rested a hand on Bear’s shoulder for three seconds and dropped it.
The troopers arrived in a marked SUV, two of them. Bear recognized the tall one from the flood response. They assessed the situation fast — Daniel pinned on the asphalt, Bear holding him there, the Valor Ridge crew in formation, Greta with her arms crossed and Atlas pressed against her leg with his hackles still up.
“We’ve got him,” the tall trooper said. “You can let go.”
Bear released Daniel’s arm and stood. Backed up three steps.
Daniel rolled onto his side, still swearing, and the troopers moved in and hauled him to his feet. They cuffed him and started walking him toward the SUV.
Greta stepped forward. “Wait.”
The troopers stopped. She crossed to them, her chin up, her voice steady.
“Daniel Goodwin was fixated on my twin sister Alice in the weeks before she disappeared in 2011. He pursued her, wouldn’t take no for an answer, and showed up at our house multiple times. She vanished on August seventeenth of that year. Herremains were just found after the flood on private land outside Solace.” She paused. “He’s been doing the same thing to me for the last two years. Breaking into my business. Vandalizing my property. Stalking me. He just admitted in front of fifteen witnesses that Alice was supposed to be his. I want it on record. I want his obsession with my sister investigated as part of whatever you’re charging him with tonight.”
The tall trooper pulled out a notepad. “Can you give me the details?”
Greta gave them everything. Names, dates, the pattern of behavior. Bear watched her do it. She laid it out like she was reading a map, her voice never wavering. When she finished, the trooper nodded and looked at his partner.
“We’ll follow up. Full statement from you tomorrow at the station?”
“Yeah.”
They loaded Daniel into the back of the SUV. He was still yelling—threats and obscenities that carried across the parking lot until the door slammed shut and cut him off. The SUV pulled away. Lights on. The parking lot went quiet.
Walker appeared at Bear’s elbow.
“You did good.”
Bear’s hands started shaking. He shoved them in his pockets before anyone could see.
“Seriously.” Walker’s voice was low. “A year ago you’d have put him through the asphalt. Tonight, you controlled it. You protected her without losing yourself. That’s growth.”
Bear’s jaw was so tight it hurt. He nodded once. Didn’t trust his voice. Walker squeezed his shoulder and walked away.
Greta came over. “You all right?” She searched his face.
Bear nodded, but the tremor in his hands wouldn’t stop. He curled his fingers into his palms, trying to hide it, but Greta noticed. She always noticed.
