Chapter Twenty-Eight Sunny
Sometimes it feels like the ground disappears all at once.
And sometimes—it vanishes slowly, one choice at a time until suddenly you realize you’re falling, and there’s no one left to catch you.
I watch through the glass of the police station lobby as the man who has held my world together is shoved into a back room in handcuffs.
I want to scream. Fight. Rip open doors with my bare hands.
But I can’t move.
Because all I can see—is the blood on his knuckles.
Blood that should never have been there. Blood he spilled for me.
“This is my fault,” I whisper.
A hand touches my shoulder.
Ethan.
I expect anger. Judgment. An I-told-you-so sharp enough to slice.
Instead—his voice is low.
“Sunshine… no. This isn’t on you.”
I blink. Because I don’t remember the last time he called me that.
“You didn’t ask him to fight,” Ethan says. “You didn’t choose Trevor. You didn’t choose any of this.”
A sob tightens my chest.
“But I stayed,” I whisper. “And he paid the price.”
Ethan exhales—frustrated, helpless. “Dylan made a choice. His choice. Let him own it.”
But I already know something too painful to ignore:
He didn’t hit Trevor to prove he was strong.
He did it because loving me turned him into someone he never wanted to be
The lobby door opens. A storm enters.
Reporters. Cameras. Questions.
“Sunny, do you stand by Dylan Knight? ”Did you trigger his violence? ”Are you ending the engagement?”
I almost fold. Almost run.
But then—I remember the alley. The fence. The way Dylan stopped—only because I said his name.
He deserves someone who stands when everything else collapses.
So I stand.
I step into the swarm—head lifted, voice shaking but real.
“Dylan Knight saved me,” I say. “He protected me when no one else did. He was arrested because he stopped a violent man from hurting me again.”
The crowd freezes.
“He isn’t a monster,” I continue. “He’s a man who has been fighting alone his entire life. And maybe… maybe it’s time someone fought for him.”
Phones rise. Red lights blink.The world watches.
“For the record—”My voice breaks, but I don’t stop. “I love him. I don’t know what that means tomorrow, or in a year… but it’s the truest thing I’ve ever said.”
There is no going back now.
Hours blur.
Coffee cups. Chairs too hard. Breath too shallow.
Ethan sits beside me, elbows on knees—not talking just… being there.
The silence between us is no longer war.
When the officer finally approaches, everything inside me goes still.
“Ms. Emerson? Mr. Knight is being released.”
My knees nearly give.
I move toward the hallway—heart sprinting. lungs burning.
Dylan emerges.
No suit. No armor. Wrists red from cuffs. Eyes bruised with exhaustion.
He looks at me like he doesn’t know if he’s allowed to hope.
I step forward.
His voice—barely audible—“You shouldn’t be here.”
I nod. "I know.”
He swallows. "You shouldn’t wait for someone like me.”
“I didn’t wait,” I whisper. “I chose.”
Something flickers in his eyes—fear, want, relief, pain—
A storm no one warns you how to survive.
But then—the officer clears his throat.
“There’s paperwork. And… the charges aren’t dropped.
His company is now under emergency review.
Knight Capital may be dissolved pending investigation.”
Shock ripples through the air.
Dylan closes his eyes—just once.
Like he’s bracing for the hit.
And when he opens them again—he looks like a man who has nothing left to lose.
He steps past me.
Not cold. Not distant.
Just empty.
And I realize—
Freedom isn’t always the hardest prison to escape.
Sometimes it’s the one you walk out of…
with nowhere left to go.