"Everyone got out."He held her gaze steady."The three guests in the east wing, Mr.Patterson in Room 6, and the Hendersons on the third floor.You got them all moving before the smoke got bad.You saved them, Sabrina."
Her breath released in a rush, and some of the tension drained from her shoulders.She closed her eyes briefly, and when she opened them again, they were clearer.Steadier.
Footsteps approached in the corridor.Sergeant Diaz appeared in the doorway, her notebook already in hand, pen tucked behind her ear.
"Ready?"Diaz asked.
Sabrina straightened her shoulders, and Colby watched fear and resolve war across her features.Fear won for a heartbeat.Then her jaw set, and something fierce flickered in her eyes.
"Yes," she said."I want to tell you what I know."
Diaz stepped in and closed the door behind her with a soft click.Colby shifted his chair back slightly, giving the sergeant room to work, but he didn't leave.He leaned against the wall beside the bed, arms folded loosely across his chest, posture relaxed but alert.Sabrina glanced at him once, a quick flicker of her eyes, checking that he meant what he'd said.
He gave her a subtle nod.
I'm here.
Diaz pulled the other chair around to face the bed, settling into it with the economy of someone who'd conducted a thousand interviews in a thousand uncomfortable places."Start from the beginning.Take your time."
Sabrina took a breath.Then another.And she began to talk.
Her voice started quietly and hesitantly, but grew steadier as she went.She told them about meeting Gavin five years ago at a hospitality conference in Charleston.About the whirlwind romance that had swept her off her feet, the way he'd seemed so attentive, so devoted.About how that devotion had slowly twisted into control—who she talked to, where she went, what she wore.About the first time he'd grabbed her arm hard enough to leave bruises, and how he'd cried afterward, promising it would never happen again.
It always happened again.
Colby listened without interrupting, his jaw tight, his hands curled into loose fists at his sides.He'd heard stories like this before—too many times, in too many emergency rooms and women's shelters and quiet conversations after the danger had passed.It never got easier to hear.It never stopped making him want to find the man responsible and teach him what fear really felt like.
But that wasn't what Sabrina needed right now.She needed someone to listen.Someone to believe her.Someone to stay.
So he stayed.
Diaz asked careful questions, her pen moving steadily across the notepad.Physical description.Known addresses.Names of mutual acquaintances who might know Gavin's current whereabouts.Sabrina answered as best she could, her voice occasionally faltering but never stopping.
When she finally finished, silence filled the room.The monitors beeped their steady rhythm.Outside, the first gray hints of dawn were beginning to lighten the sky.
Diaz closed her notebook and met Sabrina's eyes."Thank you.This gives us a lot to work with."
"Do you think..."Sabrina's voice caught.She tried again."Do you think you can find him?"
"If he's still in the area, we'll find him."Diaz stood, tucking the notebook into her jacket."I'll have a patrol car swing by the hospital every hour tonight.Tomorrow, we'll talk about longer-term arrangements."
Sabrina nodded, but her expression remained uncertain.Fragile.Like she was waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Diaz paused at the door, looking back at Colby.Something passed between them—an understanding, a silent agreement.Then she was gone, her footsteps fading down the corridor.
Colby pushed off from the wall and reclaimed the chair beside Sabrina's bed."How are you holding up?"
"I just told a complete stranger every awful thing that ever happened to me."A weak laugh escaped her."So, about as well as you'd expect."
"That took courage."
"It didn't feel like courage.It felt like desperation."
"Sometimes they look the same."He leaned forward, resting his forearms on his knees."You should try to sleep.The hospital's safe, and Diaz wasn't kidding about those patrols."
"I don't know if I can sleep."She looked toward the window, where the darkness was slowly giving way to gray."Every time I close my eyes, I see the fire.I feel the heat.I hear the smoke alarm that came too late."
"That'll fade.Not quickly, but it will."He spoke from experience, from too many nights spent replaying the calls that went wrong, the ones where he hadn't been fast enough, hadn't been strong enough, hadn't been there in time."And until it does, you don't have to face it alone."
