Chapter 3

3.

Standing behind the agitated mob, Jesse and Lacey dropped their righteous act.

He discreetly squeezed Lacey’s hand, but she playfully pulled away with a coy smile.

“Jesse, stop. There are so many people here,” she whispered softly.

Every detail of their shameless flirting registered in my eyes.

I knew they had no morals, but flaunting their affair in front of a grieving crowd was a new low.

Suddenly, sirens wailed outside the station.

A flicker of panic crossed Jesse’s face, but the moment the Fire Chief stepped through the door, his panic turned into smug confidence.

He assumed the Chief was here to discipline me.

He could not have been more wrong.

Following right behind the Chief were several police officers.

The cramped office became instantly packed.

“Chief! You got here just in time!” the man with clenched fists shouted, glaring at me with venom.

“I don’t know how this department is run, letting a little girl make life-or-death decisions!”

“She decided our district was not worth saving!”

“We might have fewer people than the East District, but we are still human beings! How could she abandon us?”

His voice shook with raw grievance and fury.

“If Captain Shaw had not stepped up and led us out of the flood zone, we would all be dead in the water!”

I rolled my eyes so hard it almost hurt.

Jesse had not only lied through his teeth to the higher-ups, but he had also framed me as the scapegoat in front of the victims.

Pity these poor survivors―they had narrowly escaped death, only to worship the very man who almost killed them.

“Who called dispatch?” the lead police officer asked, scanning the crowded room.

I raised my hand calmly.

“I did.”

Jesse let out a mocking laugh. “You called the cops? I am the one who should be pressing charges! If we were not married, I would have had them cuff you on the spot!”

His arrogance was sickening.

He was practically boasting that I was only standing here because of his magnanimous mercy.

Ignoring his blabbering, I turned to the officers with a deadpan expression.

“Officer, I would like to report a deliberate act of sabotage against municipal emergency equipment.”

Jesse’s eyes widened in sheer disbelief.

Technically, he had not physically damaged the radio―he had just tried to orchestrate my death.

The real culprit was someone else.

I was not letting him off the hook; uncovering the sabotage was simply the first step to exposing the entire truth.

“I am formally reporting Lacey Mercer for intentionally sabotaging department comms, cutting off our emergency channel, and recklessly endangering every life in the West District.”