Page 24 of Mine To Hunt

“I told you to stay out of trouble.” He snaps. “Go home right now. And do not mingle with the likes of her.”

Maddie’s hand tightens around the phone. “Dad, please…”

“We have a reputation to uphold.” He cuts in sharply. “I have a board meeting this week and the last thing I need is my daughter getting dragged into some public mess.”

“Dad, this isn’t about reputation…”

“Stop being rebellious for five minutes and think.” He says coldly. “Poor people dragging you into their messes… and you running straight into it like always.”

“But…”

“Drop it.” He finishes. “And stay out of trouble.”

The line goes dead with a sharp click.

Maddie's hand shakes as she pockets the phone, her face crumpling with a mix of shock and betrayal that mirrors the devastation crashing through me.

The sergeant's smirk returns full force, but she doesn't rise to it. Instead, she grabs my arm, steering us toward the door.

"We're done here." She mutters, her voice tight. "Let's go."

We stumble out into the night, the rejection hitting like a gut punch, leaving me hollow and reeling as tears blur the car park. Defeat settles heavy in my bones, the hope we'd clung to shattering into pieces that cut deep.

Back in the car, Maddie grips the wheel white-knuckled, staring straight ahead without starting the engine.

"I'm so sorry, Ree." She says finally, her voice breaking on the words. "That asshole and my dad, none of this is right. We tried, but... God, I feel like such a failure."

I reach over, squeezing her hand even as my own chest aches with the weight of it all. The mockery, the dismissal, the reminder that my pain doesn't count because of where I live.

"It's okay," I say, forcing the words past the lump in my throat. "We tried our best. Really. At least... at least you believed me. That's more than I had yesterday."

But it's not okay, not even close. Devastation floods me full force, a tidal wave of worthlessness that makes me curl inward, sobs hitching in my chest as the reality sinks in. No justice, no safety. Just me against shadows that the world won't touch.

Maddie starts the car eventually, the drive back to her place silent except for my quiet sniffles, and by the time we settleinside, coats shed, tea brewing as a poor substitute for comfort. Exhaustion wars with the grief churning inside me.

Maddie's phone rings then, shattering the quiet, and she glances at the screen before answering on speaker.

Maddie exhales heavily as she drops onto the couch beside me, rubbing her temples like she’s trying to push the entire night out of her skull. The living room feels smaller than usual, the air thick with the humiliation we carried out of that station.

“Al?” she says. “Yeah, we’re back.”

A small pause. “How’d it go with your dad?”

Static crackles faintly through the speaker before Al’s voice fills the room, familiar and warm, though threaded with concern.

“Survived.” He says.

I can almost picture the crooked grin he probably has right now.

“Turns out it was just some investor pulling a power play. Nothing world-ending.” A beat passes. “But you two?” He adds, his tone sharpening slightly. “How’d it go at the station? That creep sweating yet?”

Maddie lets out a humorless grunt and drops her head back against the couch. “Disaster.” She mutters.

I stare down at my hands, still trembling slightly in my lap.

“The cop was a total asshole.”

Al goes quiet on the other end.