Each one digs deeper, twisting the situation into something ugly and unrecognizable.
I answer. Calm at first, clinging to my last bit of control. But a storm is building in my heart, my frustration growing.
“You expect us to believe this just happened?” one of them says.
I snap.
“I love her,” I bark. The words tear out of me before I can stop them. “You think I’d hurt her? She is the best thing in my life. Her happiness matters more than anything. I would die before I let anything happen to her.”
The room goes silent. The door opens, and I turn to see Millie standing at the entrance, her big brown eyes wide with shock and something else—something softer.
For a moment, the world narrows to just her.
But before I can move, before I can say anything, a hand grips my shoulder.
“Mr. Tate, we’re not finished.”
They escort me out, pulling me away from her. I glance back once. She’s still watching me as the door closes between us.
I never wanted her to see me like this…
Chapter Seven
Millie
The hallway outside the interview rooms smells like old coffee and antiseptic. It clings to the back of my throat, making every breath feel sharp. I sit on the hard plastic chair, my fingers locked together so tightly my knuckles ache.
The door at the end of the corridor shuts with a heavy thud. My chest tightens painfully at the thought of Wilder in there. He has told me a lot of things about his past. Things that should have sent me running in the opposite direction. He trusted me with his past, every broken, ugly piece. I know what prison did to him. I know what cages do to a man like him.
And now he’s here again. Because of me.
My stomach twists.
I picture him inside that room. The tight space. The questions. The suspicion. The walls closing in. I imagine the tension in his shoulders, the way his jaw has likely locked, the storm building behind his eyes. He hates not being in control. He hates being watched.
He hates being trapped.
I press my lips together, forcing the panic down. This will be resolved. It has to be. This is a misunderstanding. A stupid, ridiculous misunderstanding. All that matters is getting us outof here. I hear footsteps approach and look up just as an officer stops in front of me.
“Miss Winters?”
I stand so fast my head spins. “Yes.”
“This way.”
I follow him down the corridor, my pulse hammering wildly in my chest. The closer we get, the louder my heart pounds. My palms are damp, my breathing shallow.
We stop outside a door. The officer lifts his hand to knock, then a voice cuts through the wood.
“You expect us to believe this just happened?”
“I love her!”Wilder’s voice. Raw, powerful, and vulnerable all at once.
My breath catches, The words hit me like a physical blow, stealing the air from my lungs. Heat floods my chest, spreading outward until my skin is flaming red.
“I’d die before I let anything happen to her,”he adds.
My vision blurs, and for a second, I forget where I am. The station. The officers. The cold walls. Everything fades beneath the rush of emotion roaring in my ears.
