"They already escalated once," Diaz said, her expression hardening."I don't expect them to stop just because we noticed.So you keep doing what we talked about yesterday.She doesn't go out there alone, ever.You don't leave tools lying around like an invitation.You lock everything, you take note of vehicles you don't recognize, and you call me the second something feels off.Not after you've investigated it yourself.Not after you've talked yourself out of being paranoid.You call me."
Sabrina listened, but a different thought pushed through the practical advice.
"If this is about assembling land for a resort," she said slowly, "that means it's not just me.Everyone whose property they bought, those people at the motels and cottages and the bait shop, they didn't know what they were signing away.They thought they were selling to individual buyers.They didn't know they were pieces being moved around on someone else's game board."
"No," Diaz agreed."They didn't.But you did.You said no when you could have said yes and walked away with a fat check.That puts you in a different category.That makes you a problem they have to solve instead of a transaction they can close."
"It feels like a target painted on my back," Sabrina said.
Diaz's gaze flicked to Colby, then back."Then it's a good thing you've got backup who knows how to watch for threats."
His hand found Sabrina's on the table, warm and steady."She's not standing out there alone.Not now, not ever."
Diaz drained the rest of her coffee in one long swallow and stood, pushing back from the table."I have a meeting with the chief this afternoon.He won’t be thrilled about me poking at corporate filings and making calls to the county assessor's office instead of writing traffic tickets, but he'll get over it."She set her empty mug in the sink without being asked, the gesture oddly domestic in the middle of everything else."I'll keep you updated as I find more.In the meantime, you two keep building that cabin.Every board you put up makes it harder for anyone to picture that land without you on it."
Sabrina stood as well, her legs steadier than she'd expected."Thank you.For all of this.You didn't have to dig this deep."
Diaz looked her straight in the eye, her expression carrying something Sabrina couldn't quite name."You're not doing this alone, Hartley.Remember that.You've got people in this town who give a damn about what happens to you.Use them."
She left with the same quick, economical stride she brought to everything, no wasted motion, no lingering.The front door clicked shut behind her, and the cottage went oddly quiet in her wake, like the air itself was processing everything that had just been said.
Sabrina sank back into her chair, her body suddenly heavy.
Colby watched her for a moment, giving her space."Talk to me."
She let out a breath that felt like it scraped her ribs on the way out."Six months ago, someone called and asked me to sell my home.I thought I was turning down a business deal I didn't want.I had no idea I was stepping into some kind of war.And nothing happened after that.No follow-up calls.No pressure.I assumed they'd moved on to easier targets."She shook her head."But they hadn't moved on at all.They were just working around me.Buying up everything else first."
"That's because they didn't want you to know it was a war," he said."They showed you pretty pictures and dollar signs and hoped you'd fold without ever realizing what you were standing in the middle of."
She looked at the site plan on the table, the rectangle of her cabin staring back at her with its neat labels and its wounded corner."They underestimated how stubborn I am."
He smiled a little, just the corner of his mouth lifting."They did."
"And I hate that they almost got what they wanted," she went on, the words tumbling out faster now."If the fire had gone a little differently, if I hadn't made it out, if the insurance company had been stingier, if Kara hadn't fought tooth and nail for my permits, I might have given up.I might have sold everything and walked away because I couldn't see another option.And they would have won before I even knew I was playing a game with stakes."
"But you didn't," he said."You're still here.You're sitting in my kitchen in the ugliest socks I've ever seen, planning out cabin number one."
She glanced down at her feet.The socks had cartoon coffee cups on them, complete with wisps of steam and little smiling faces.Lila had given them to her as a joke after a particularly long caffeine-fueled planning session."Leave my socks out of this."
"Fine," he said."Point stands.They lit a match under your old life and expected you to crumble.Instead, you're pouring concrete and arguing with Jason about where to put coat hooks."
Her throat tightened again, but this time it wasn't from fear."It's not personal to them.That's what gets me.I used to lie awake at night thinking someone hated me enough to do this.That I deserved it somehow.That I'd done something to invite destruction into my life.But to them, I'm not a person.I'm just a line in a budget.A problem to be solved so the numbers work out."
He leaned his forearms on the table, bringing himself closer to her."You didn't do anything to deserve any of this.You ran a good inn.You took care of your guests.You loved a piece of land your family passed down to you and tried to honor what they built.They decided that it didn't fit their vision.That's on them.Not you."
"It makes me want to fight," she said."Not just survive.Not just hang on by my fingernails until they get bored and go away.I want to actually fight back.If they want my land so badly, they can sit in their boardroom and watch me build something they can't put a price tag on."
"There she is," he said softly.
She blinked."Who?"
"The woman who stood in a half-framed cabin two days ago and talked about people leaving with less weight than they arrived with," he said."The one who knows exactly what she wants this place to be and why it matters."
She swallowed hard around the lump in her throat."I don't want to be pushed around anymore, Colby.Gavin pushed me for years, and I let him because I thought that was what marriage meant.The bank pushed when the numbers got tight.Now this faceless resort machine is trying to push me off land that's been in my family for generations.I'm tired of being pushed."
"I know," he said.
"But I'm also mad," she added."And I think maybe I can use that instead of letting it use me."
