Diaz continued, her gaze never leaving Gavin's face."You didn't just know about Seaside Development.You were Seaside, at least in part.You fed them information about Sabrina for years.About her loans.Her insurance policy.Her refusals to sell.Her stubbornness about that land.You made it nice and easy for them to aim at exactly the right target."
Gavin's face had gone pale under his carefully maintained tan, the color draining away like water through sand."You're twisting things.Taking facts out of context."
"No," Diaz said."I'm reading from the file.The federal file, actually.You really should stop leaving such neat paper trails.It's almost like you wanted to get caught."
He glanced at Sabrina then, searching her face like he might find a way to pull her into his side of the story, like the connection they'd once shared might still count for something."You know how business works," he said, his voice taking on a pleading edge that didn't suit him."Investors talk.I mentioned you were under financial strain, that the property was draining you.That's not a crime.That's just conversation."
Bree stepped in front of Sabrina, shoulder to shoulder with her now, a wall of protective friendship."You said her life was a dead investment," Bree said, her voice shaking with fury."You told her she was throwing everything away.And then you handed her to people who lit it on fire."
Diaz nodded once."Pretty much sums it up."
Gavin's composure cracked, the polished facade splitting to show something desperate underneath."She was drowning," he said, the words coming faster, almost frantic."I offered her a life raft.I tried to get her to see reason."
"You offered a way out that made you money," Sabrina said, her voice coming from somewhere calm and certain, a place she hadn't known existed until this moment."You didn't tell me the raft had a leak and a match taped to the side."
Diaz's gaze flicked to Sabrina, assessing."You all right?"
"I'm fine," Sabrina said, and found that she meant it."Finish what you came to do.I really want to watch this."
"Gladly," Diaz said.
She folded the paper and tucked it away, then reached for the cuffs at her belt.The metal caught the light as she moved, glinting like something precious.
"Gavin Hartley," she said, her tone shifting into the formal cadence of official procedure, "you have the right to remain silent.Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law.You have the right to an attorney.If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you.Do you understand these rights as I have read them to you?"
Sabrina listened, but the words seemed to come from very far away, like a radio playing in another room.She watched Gavin instead.
He tried for charm once, twice, the old reflexes kicking in.Both attempts bounced off Diaz like pebbles off a brick wall.When she clicked the cuffs around his wrists, the sound sharp and final in the flower-scented air, he looked at Sabrina again.Something indignant and wounded was fighting for space on his face, jostling with fear and calculation.
"You think this will fix anything?"he asked, his voice rough now, stripped of polish."You think a wedding and a few cabins make up for what you lost?You think any of this replaces Norman House?"
"No," she said, and her voice was steady as bedrock."They don't make up for it.Nothing makes up for it.They're what I chose after.That's the difference.That's what you never understood."
He opened his mouth, some final argument forming behind his eyes.
Diaz's hand landed on his arm."Time to go," she said."The county has a lot of questions for you.I'd suggest you start thinking about your answers."
She steered him toward the door, her grip professional and unyielding.As they passed, Bree muttered under her breath, just loud enough for Sabrina to hear: "Best bridal shower game ever."
The bell chimed one more time as the door swung shut behind them, the cheerful sound impossibly bright against what had just happened.
Silence settled over the shop like dust after a storm.It was still full of flowers and buckets and lists on clipboards, still smelled of green stems and sweet blossoms, but for a long moment it felt like a church after a service, emptied of sound but charged with something holy.
The florist exhaled, the breath shaky with released tension."Are you okay?"she asked, her voice soft with concern."That was a lot.That was really something."
Sabrina realized she still held the bouquet.Her hand had gone slightly numb around the stems, her fingers stiff from gripping too hard for too long.
She looked down at the flowers, at the soft coral and white petals that had somehow stayed beautiful through everything, then at the door where Gavin had gone out in handcuffs.
"I am," she said, and heard the surprise in her own voice, the wonder of it."I really am."
Bree sagged a little, then straightened, her shoulders squaring."I was fully prepared to chuck a centerpiece at his head," she said."For the record.I had my eye on the one with the heavy vase."
"I know," Sabrina said, a laugh bubbling up from somewhere deep."Thank you for not decorating him with baby's breath.Restraint is underrated."
"Felt like it would send a mixed message," Bree said."'I hate you, but also here are some delicate white flowers.'"
The florist edged closer, her expression a mixture of professional concern and genuine care."Do you want to come back another day?"she asked."We can reschedule all of this.After something like that, nobody would blame you for needing to go sit somewhere quiet."
