“We were at their house talking. Trying to calm her down. She was upset, crying, saying nothing in her life mattered anymore.” I rub a hand over the back of my neck and glance toward the river. “Then she suddenly grabbed her car keys and ran outside before I could stop her.”
“You followed her?”
“Of course I did.” I let that come out fast, offended by the idea I wouldn’t.
“She got in the driver’s seat and locked the doors. I was at the window trying to calm her down until she finally unlocked the passenger door and let me in.”
The officer scribbles quickly.
“So you got into the vehicle willingly?”
“I got into the vehicle because I thought I could stop her.” I shake my head like I still can’t believe how fast everything unraveled. “I kept telling her to pull over. To breathe. To let me drive. She never even looked at me—just kept speeding up.”
The officer glances toward the broken barrier on the bridge, then back to me.
“What happened next?”
“She started saying everyone would be better off without her. Then she said if she was going, she wouldn’t go alone.” I let the words hang there before continuing. “I reached for the wheel, but she jerked it first. We hit the barrier and went straight through.”
He looks up from the notebook. “And then?”
“She jumped.” I speak through uneven breaths. “She opened the door and threw herself out before the car hit the water. I went after her.”
The officer looks me over before turning toward the ambulance where paramedics are loading Sierra inside.
“Has she made threats like this before?”
I lower my eyes and rub the back of my neck. “She’s been struggling for a while. She was admitted recently.”
“Admitted where?”
“A private psychiatric facility outside the city.” I exhale slowly, like the admission embarrasses me. “She left earlier today without permission. That’s why I was with her tonight. My brother asked me to help calm her down and convince her to go back.”
Understanding settles over his face immediately. “So she absconded from care.”
“Yes.” I say quietly, dragging a hand over my face as if the whole night has finally started catching up with me.
Another officer walks over and murmurs something to him before turning to me.
“We’ll need a formal statement later, sir, but right now you should let paramedics check you over as well.”
I look toward the ambulance doors as they begin to close around her.
“Please make sure someone stays with her when she wakes up,” I tell him quietly. “She’ll be confused, and if she starts spiraling, she could become unpredictable.”
“We’ll handle it.” The first officer nods.
I give them a tired, grateful look and pull my phone from my pocket.
“I’ll call my brother now,” I say, already unlocking the screen. “He’ll want to come straight to the hospital and arrange for her to be transferred back to the facility.”
Chapter 20
Sierra
Pain is the first thing I notice, hard and relentless, throbbing behind my eyes with every pulse until even thinking feels impossible. I try to stay still, to sink back into whatever darkness I came from, because waking up already feels wrong in a way I can’t explain. But the pounding only gets worse, dragging me upward no matter how badly I want another second before facing whatever waits for me.
My mouth is dry enough to burn. My tongue feels heavy. There’s a strange chill against my skin, the kind that makes me instantly aware I’m not in my own bed, not anywhere familiar, and definitely not somewhere I chose to be.
