Chapter 30
Alice
Ican tell something’s wrong the moment Sawyer walks into my house. The evening air follows him in, still warm from the day. His shoulders are tense, and he has that look he gets when he’s trying to figure out how to tell me bad news. I'm not a fan of that look.
“That bad?” I ask, closing the door behind him.
He sits heavily on my couch. “Lance’s family filed their complaint.”
My stomach drops. My hands twist together in my lap. I adjust my glasses nervously. “Already?”
“With expensive lawyers. They're claiming I coerced you, used excessive force, falsified evidence—the whole nine yards.” He runs a hand through his hair. “State police are getting involved.”
I sit down next to him. The couch cushion sinks under my weight. “What does that mean?”
“They’ll interview both of us, review all the evidence, go through everything with a fine-tooth comb.”
The thought of having to relive everything with investigators makes my chest tight. I press my hand against my sternum. “When?”
“Chief said probably next week.”
“Sawyer, I’m sorry. I should have just signed that stupid paper.”
“No.” His voice is firm. “You made the right choice.”
“Did I? You’re under investigation, and Lance still gets to play the victim.”
“Hey.” He waits until I meet his eyes. “Your mother is desperate. She’s throwing everything she has at this because she knows she’s losing. Lance’s family wouldn’t be hiring expensive lawyers if they thought he was innocent.”
“But what if the investigation—”
“What if it proves everything I said was true? What if they find out Lance really was stalking you, really did break into your house, really did assault you?”
I want to believe him, but the fear is still there. “What if they don’t?”
“Alice, you can’t let them bully you into silence. That’s exactly what they’re counting on.”
My phone buzzes on the coffee table. A text from my mother.
Mom: Have you reconsidered? It’s not too late to fix this.
I show Sawyer the message. His jaw tightens. My phone feels hot in my hand.
“She’s not going to stop,” I say quietly.
“I know.”
“She’s going to keep trying to destroy you until I give her what she wants.”
“Then she’s going to be disappointed.”
I look at him, this man who’s willing to risk everything for me, and I feel that familiar mix of gratitude and terror. “Why are you doing this?”
“Because it’s right. Because—” He pauses, then reaches for my hand. “Because I care about you too much to watch you get bullied into giving up.”
“You’re too good of a guy to have this happen to you.”
“Ali, if I let them intimidate me into abandoning you, what kind of man does that make me? What kind of cop?”
I know he’s right, but the guilt is overwhelming. “I hate that you’re paying the price for my mess.”
“This isn’t your mess. This is Lance’s mess. Your mother is just helping him make it worse.”
My phone buzzes again.
Mom: Alice, please. Think about what you’re doing to everyone.
Everyone. Not me. Never what's being done to me.
I push my glasses up my nose. I stare at the message, then delete it without responding.
“What if we lose?” I ask quietly.
“What if we win?”
“You make it sound simple.”
“It is simple. We tell the truth. We trust that the evidence will speak for itself.”
I lean against him, feeling the solid warmth of his shoulder. “Promise me something.”
“What?”
“If this gets completely out of hand, if it looks like you’re going to lose everything, promise me you’ll walk away. I don’t care how hard it is. You need to walk away.” I adjust my glasses, not meeting his eyes.
Sawyer pulls back to look at me. His dark brown eyes are steady, certain. “I’m not making that promise.”
“Sawyer—”
“Ali, I’m not walking away from you. Not for your mother, not for Lance’s family, not for anyone.”
My eyes sting. I blink hard.
“But—”
“No buts. I mean it.”
Part of me wants to keep arguing. To push him away before he gets hurt worse.
To save him from me. But the certainty in his voice makes something tight in my chest loosen.
For so long, I’ve been used to facing things alone.
Having someone refuse to abandon me, even when it would be easier, feels foreign and wonderful and terrifying all at once.
“Fine,” I say finally.
“Okay then.”
“We face it together.”
Sawyer smiles, the first real smile I’ve seen from him all evening. “Good. Because I wasn’t planning to give you a choice anyway.”
Despite everything, I laugh. “You're very bossy for someone whose career is on the line because of me.”
"Bossy works for me." There's a hint of a smile at the corner of his mouth. “My career is on the line because Lance Carlston is a stalker and your mother would rather protect him than you. You didn’t do anything wrong, Alice.”
I want to argue, but something in his voice stops me. Maybe he’s right. Maybe I need to stop taking responsibility for other people’s choices.
“So what now?” I ask.
“Now we wait for the state police to contact us. We tell them the truth. And we trust that justice will actually be served.”
“What about my mom?”
“We'll handle her.”
He pulls me closer, and I rest my head on his shoulder. His heartbeat is steady under my ear. My phone buzzes one more time with another text from my mother, but I ignore it. I turn it face-down on the coffee table.
For the first time in my life, I'm choosing someone who chooses me back. And no amount of threats or lawyers or complaints is going to change that.
My mother wants me to believe I'm not worth fighting for.
But Sawyer's proving her wrong every single day. And maybe, just maybe, I'm starting to believe him.