The world tilted.
For a second, Maddox couldn't breathe, couldn't think, just sat there while her brain tried to process what she'd just heard.
They knew. Someone had reported them. Everything she'd built, everything she was, suddenly felt like it was balanced on the edge of a cliff.
"Shaw?" Chief Marten's voice cut through the static in her head. "Do you have anything to say about that?"
Maddox forced air into her lungs, forced her voice to work. "Who reported it?"
"That's not relevant to this conversation."
But Maddox already knew. Vanessa Torres. That calculating look at the committee meeting, the way she'd been watching them, she'd seen something—or thought she had—and reported it.
"Is it true?" Chief Marten asked, her tone had an edge of something that sounded almost like sympathy.
Maddox's throat was tight. Every fiber of her being wanted to deny it, to lie, to protect what she and Jade had built. But Chief Marten already knew, so the question wasn't whether the relationship existed but whether Maddox would be truthful and own up to it.
"Yes," Maddox said quietly. "It's true."
Chief Marten nodded slowly, like she'd expected that answer. "How long?"
"About a month." It felt both longer and shorter than that. Had it really been a month of nights together, mornings in each other's kitchens? A month of falling for each other…
"And Ms. Kessler is aware of the potential complications and the ethics concerns?"
“We’ve discussed it.” They had, in careful terms, discussed the boundaries and professional standards they needed to maintain at work. But Maddox suddenly realized how naive they’d been thinking careful was enough.
Chief Marten was quiet for a moment, studying her. Then she opened the file folder and pulled out a single sheet of paper.
“Here’s where we are,” she said. “Jade Kessler is a contracted therapist, not a department employee, which gives us some flexibility but not much. The wellness committee requires her regular presence, and your work with the K-9 outreach programs means frequent professional contact. The appearance of a conflict of interest exists, regardless of whether an actual conflict does.”
Maddox’s hands tightened around her thighs. She knew where this was going.
“I have three options to present to you, and I want you to think carefully about them,” Chief Marten continued. “One: you end the relationship immediately and we document this conversation as a verbal warning. Two: Ms. Kessler’s contract is terminated effective immediately, and she releases all contracts with police department employees. Three: you request a transfer to a different precinct effective immediately.”
Each option hit Maddox like a physical gut punch. End it, lose Jade’s work, or leave Phoenix Ridge…leave Zeus.
“I need you to understand something, Maddox.” Chief Marten’s voice was gentler now, using her first name to ground her. “This isn’t about punishing you. But we have policies for a reason, and those policies exist to protect everyone involved, including you and Ms. Kessler.”
Maddox couldn’t speak, couldn’t process the information given to her. Her mind was spinning through the options, each one impossible.
If she ended it with Jade, she’d be destroying the best thing in her life to save her career. If Jade lost her contract with the police department, and possibly all Phoenix Ridge first responder departments, it’d be Maddox’s fault. Again, someone paying the price for Maddox’s choices.
And if she transferred…
No. Zeus wouldn’t come with her. K-9 partners didn’t transfer. Zeus would be reassigned to another handler, and Maddox would start over somewhere new, alone, without Zeus.
“I’m giving you until Monday to decide,” Chief Marten said. “That’s two days. Think carefully about what you want, Shaw. And talk to Ms. Kessler. She deserves to be part of this decision.”
Maddox managed a nod, even though she felt like she was drowning.
“Dismissed,” Chief Marten said quietly, a note of softness in her tone.
Maddox stood on legs that felt unsteady, turned, and walked out of the office. The hallway seemed longer than before, the fluorescent lights too bright, everything slightly unreal.
She made it to the locker room before her knees gave out.
Maddox didn’t remember deciding to leave.
