My knees buckled. I caught myself on a chair, but my arms felt like water. The room was spinning now, the lights bleeding into each other, Kevin's masked face swimming in and out of focus.
"The security guard outside," I managed. "He'll come in. He'll?—"
"Already handled."
Gunshots. Muffled but unmistakable. The crack of violence.
Larsen.
"You should have stayed hidden." Kevin's voice had gone flat. Rehearsed. Like he'd practiced this. "You should have let it go."
I tried to respond, but my mouth wouldn't form words anymore. The world was tilting sideways, the floor rushing up to meet me, and the last thing I saw before the darkness took me was Kevin's eyes empty in a way I'd only seen once before. In the morgue.
Then nothing.
CHAPTER 17
Brian
Two weeks since Ava left.
Two weeks since I'd woken up in that hospital bed, reaching for someone who wasn't there.
Since I'd found her note on the coffee table.
I love you too much to let them hurt you again.
The bruises had faded. Yellow-green shadows that had finally disappeared, leaving my skin unmarked—as if the attack had never happened. Captain Rodriguez had signed off on my return to full duty three days ago. He slapped me on the shoulder and told me it was good to have me back.
Everything was back to normal.
Except nothing felt normal. Nothing would, until she came home.
The station felt the same as always—diesel and old coffee, the weight of routine, the easy rhythm of people who'd spent years learning to trust each other with their lives. I went through the motions. Equipment checks. Drills. The maintenance that kept a firehouse running. I ate meals at the long table with the crew, laughed at jokes I didn't hear, and nodded along anyway.
"Torres." Shane dropped into the chair beside me in the break room, where I'd been staring at the same page of the same magazine for twenty minutes. "You eat dinner?"
"Not hungry."
"That's the third time this week you've said that." He stretched his legs out and crossed his arms. Casual. Like we were just two guys talking about nothing. "Maya's worried about you. Keeps asking if you're eating enough."
"Tell Maya I'm okay."
"I did. She doesn't believe me." Shane was quiet for a moment. "I don't believe that either."
I turned the page I hadn't read. "I'm fine."
"You're not fine. You're going through the motions like a ghost wearing a Brian suit." He leaned forward, elbows on his knees. "Have you tried calling her?"
"She asked me not to."
"That was two weeks ago. Things change."
"She hasn't reached out." I think I'd know if she had. I'd checked my phone so many times that the screen felt worn into my palm. No calls. No texts. Nothing but silence from the woman who'd become the center of my world.
Shane sighed. Ran a hand through his hair. "She's scared, Brian. She watched you get beaten half to death because of her. She's not thinking straight."
"I know."
