Chapter 31
Bear paced outside the interview room of the Oak Creek police department, the fluorescent lights buzzing faintly overhead. He checked his watch—Callum had been in there with Daniel for forty-five minutes.
Each step Bear took replayed those terrifying moments, hearing Joy’s voice change through the phone, knowing an intruder was in her house while he was miles away in his truck, useless.
He’d never driven so fast in his life, blowing through stop signs, taking corners with tires squealing. Police code be damned. Joy had been in danger, and he hadn’t been there.
Bear glanced through the glass partition to where Joy sat with Sloane on a small couch in the reception area. A paramedic had wrapped her wrist, confirming what Joy had already known—minor injuries, nothing serious. Unlike Daniel, who was lucky not to be in a coma right now.
The two women huddled close, Sloane’s protective arm around Joy’s shoulders as they spoke in low voices.
The interrogation room door opened, and Callum emerged, looking tired and grim. He nodded at Bear then his gaze found Joy immediately, and he crossed to where she sat with Sloane.
Bear followed and took a seat beside Joy, who immediately shifted closer to him. “Get anything?”
Callum nodded. “Daniel Fletcher, freelance reporter. Claims he’s working on an exposé about the Kozak brothers and their kidnapping operation.”
Both Joy and Sloane stiffened.
“Why all the cloak-and-dagger stuff?” Joy asked. “If he was investigating stuff about the Kozak brothers, why not just interview me like a normal person?”
“Because he needed more than just your statement,” Callum explained. “He thought if he could document your recovery process —” air quotes punctuated his words “—it would make for a more compelling narrative.”
“Document it?” Bear repeated, disgust twisting his features. “You mean spy on her. Plant cameras in her bedroom.”
Joy paled slightly. “Did he say how many cameras he put in my house?”
“Three. One in your bedroom, one in the living room, one outside aimed at the playhouse.” Callum’s jaw clenched. “We’ve already retrieved them all.”
Bear would be borrowing some equipment from Lincoln to make sure nothing had been missed.
“So, all those times I felt like someone was watching me…” Joy’s voice trailed off.
“You weren’t paranoid,” Callum confirmed. “He was watching.”
Joy let out a shaky breath, somewhere between relief and horror. “I knew it. I knew someone was there.”
Bear’s arm tightened around her shoulders. “He didn’t care what psychological damage he might cause you, as long as he got his story.”
“That’s pretty much it,” Callum agreed. “He saw you as his big break. Said something about the perfect setup —using your trauma as his stepping-stone to journalistic fame.”
A strange relief washed over Joy’s face. “I wasn’t imagining things.”
“No,” Bear said firmly. “You weren’t.”
She nodded, resolve hardening her features. “Good. I mean—not good that he was actually spying on me. But good that my paranoia had some sort of factual roots.”
Callum turned to Sloane. “I can’t help but think he would’ve been targeting you next since you were actually held by the Kozaks. Didn’t start with you because Joy was an easier target.”
Joy flinched. “Yeah, I really was.”
Bear leaned in to kiss her temple. “But you’re definitely not anymore.”
“Daniel is looking at multiple felony charges.” Callum closed his notebook. “Breaking and entering, voyeurism, assault, attempted murder.”
They all leaned back, taking that in. Daniel wasn’t going to be a threat to anyone for a long damn time.
Callum left briefly and returned with a tray of coffee cups—and one tea for his pregnant fiancée—from the break room. “Figured we could all use this. How are you holding up, Joy?”
Joy accepted the cup with a small smile. “I’m okay. Better than okay, actually. I kicked his ass.”
Callum grinned. “That you did.”
Bear kept his arm around Joy, the solid weight of her against him a constant reassurance.
“Oh,” Joy said, looking toward him. “Did you tell Callum about the other mystery we solved?”
Callum raised an eyebrow. “What other mystery?”
“The break-ins around town,” Bear explained. “The missing equipment, tools, ladder—all of it.” He quickly outlined what they’d discovered about the Johnson boys and their homemade obstacle course.
“Teenagers,” Callum muttered, shaking his head.
“They’re going to return everything they can,” Bear said. “Work off what they can’t. I’m going to help them put together a proper proposal for the town council to create a legitimate training course for the local teens.”
“Turning vandals into community leaders,” Callum said with a hint of admiration. “Not bad, Bollinger.”
They fell into a comfortable silence, the events of the day finally catching up with all of them. Joy stifled a yawn against Bear’s shoulder.
“You should get some rest,” he murmured, pressing a kiss to her temple.
“We all should,” Callum agreed, standing and stretching. “Nothing more we can do tonight.”
As they gathered their things, Bear watched Joy move with a quiet confidence that hadn’t been there before. She hugged Sloane, thanked Callum, her movements easy and natural. Despite everything that had happened, she seemed lighter somehow. More herself.
And so she should.
Outside in the parking lot, the night air was crisp and cool, stars bright overhead. Bear opened his truck door for Joy, then rounded to the driver’s side.
“You want to stay at my place tonight?” he asked as they pulled onto the quiet street. “After everything that happened, if you’re nervous about being at home, it’s understandable.”
Joy considered this, her fingers idly tracing patterns on the console between them. “No,” she said finally. “I don’t want to be run out of my house again. Not by him, not by the memories.”
“You sure?”
She turned to face him, moonlight catching the determination in her eyes. “Tonight’s encounter with Daniel… It was like a reset of what happened with the Kozak brothers. This time, I protected myself and my home. I didn’t freeze or break. I fought back—and I won.”
Pride surged through him again. “You definitely won.”
“Thank you for believing me on the phone,” she said quietly. “For not questioning it or trying to say I was imagining things.”
Bear’s hand found hers in the darkness of the truck cab. “I’ll always believe you, Joy. Always.”
“I know.” She squeezed his fingers. “That’s part of why I love you.”
Those three words still hit him like a physical force, warming him from the inside out. “Part of why, huh? What’s the rest?”
“Your cooking skills. Your mechanical abilities. Your impressive obstacle course design talent,” she listed playfully. “Oh, and how you look in those jeans.”
Bear laughed, the remaining tension from the day finally dissolving. “Not my sparkling personality?”
“That too.” Her voice softened. “And how you see me—all of me. Not just who I was or who I might be, but who I am right now. Even when I was struggling to see myself clearly.”
Something caught in Bear’s chest. “Joy…”
“You taught me how to protect myself physically,” she continued. “But more than that, you protected my spirit while I was healing. You gave me space when I needed it and pushed when I needed that too.”
Bear pulled into her driveway, then turned in his seat to face her fully. “I was terrified tonight,” he admitted, the confession raw in his throat. “When I heard you on the phone, knew you were facing him alone—and then that silence after… Christ, Joy, those were the longest minutes of my life.”
She reached up, her palm warm against his cheek. “I knew you were coming.”
“But I wasn’t there when?—”
“You were,” she interrupted gently. “Everything I did tonight, every move, every decision—you gave me those tools. You prepared me. You were with me, Bear. The whole time.”
He pulled her across the console into his arms, holding her as tightly as he dared. “I love you,” he whispered into her hair. “So damn much.”
“I know.” She pressed a kiss to his jaw. “Now, come inside, and let me show you just how much I love you back.”
Bear had never moved so fast in his life, practically tumbling from the truck in his haste. Joy laughed, the sound pure and unreserved, as she unlocked her front door and pulled him inside.
This woman—strong, resilient, fierce—was everything he’d ever wanted. And tonight, finally, all the shadows had been chased away.