2026-09-03 16:18:02"Derek, are you watching the news broadcast right now?" Brett asked with a highly urgent and tense voice.
"I am looking at the television screen as we speak," Derek answered with a very calm and steady expression. "The sky looks completely orange and black on the screen. It looks like the entire mountain range is being swallowed whole by the flames."
"It is much worse than it looks on television," Brett explained with a dark and serious tone. "The wildfire in Los Vangees has spiraled completely out of control. The winds picked up an hour ago."
"Where is it heading?" Derek questioned with a tight jaw and focused eyes.
"It is jumping multiple ridges without slowing down at all," Brett stated with a heavy sigh and a grim face. "It is spreading directly into the main residential areas and the luxury mountain resorts. Thousands of people are trapped."
"Do we have any confirmed numbers yet?" Derek asked with a professional and ready posture.
"Casualties have already been reported by the local crews on the ground," Brett replied with a very sad and quiet voice. "The state government just activated cross county mutual aid. They are calling in every single department."
"What time do we roll out?" Derek asked with a firm and decisive tone.
"All available personnel will deploy at exactly two in the morning," Brett instructed with a loud and commanding voice. "Make sure you have all your heavy gear ready to go."
"I will be at the station early," Derek confirmed with a slight nod of his head.
"Listen to me closely, Derek," Brett added with a much softer and caring tone. "This could easily be one of the worst wildfires in history. It is a total monster. I need you to go properly say goodbye to your family before leaving the house."
"I understand completely," Derek said with a completely blank face and an empty voice.
Derek put his phone back into his pocket. The news broadcast continued to play brightly on the screen, showing massive walls of bright orange flame.
Derek initially planned to walk back into the kitchen and say a few final words to Erin.
He truly believed that three whole years of marriage deserved some kind of proper ending.
Despite everything she had done tonight, they had shared a life together. He walked slowly back into the living room, expecting at least a small moment of closure.
Erin was sitting extremely comfortably beside Mike on the large leather couch. She had a fancy ceramic plate resting on her lap.
"This wagyu beef is cooked perfectly," Mike said with a very satisfied smile and relaxed shoulders. He chewed his food loudly.
"I am so glad you like it, Mikey," Erin replied with a very sweet and warm voice. She stroked his arm gently with her hand. "You need to eat well and recover your strength after the terrible fright you had at the hotel."
"You always take such good care of me," Mike purred with a smug and happy look.
Derek stood quietly near the doorway, watching them act like a perfect couple in his own home. Erin finally turned her head and saw him still standing there in the shadows.
"Why are you still here?" Erin asked with a highly cold and annoyed expression. "I thought you were leaving the house."
"I just got a major deployment call from my captain," Derek stated with a very quiet and even tone. "I am leaving for Los Vangees right now. The big wildfire is completely out of control."
"Oh, alright then," Erin said with a completely dismissive and empty voice. She made a very brief and fake attempt to look concerned. "Please try to be safe out there. Do not do anything stupid."
Before Derek could even respond to her fake concern, she turned her full attention directly back to Mike.
"Do you want me to pour you another glass of red wine, sweetheart?" Erin asked with a bright smile and a deeply caring face.
"That would be wonderful, babe," Mike answered with a loud and cheerful laugh.
Derek simply gave up on the entire idea of saying goodbye. There was nothing left to say to this cold woman.
He turned around and walked silently down the long hallway. He went straight into the master bedroom they had shared for three years.
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CHAPTER 25 PART 2
Fae looked up at Derek with clear and honest eyes. The alcohol had softened the edges of her usual bravado, but there was something very steady and deliberate behind her expression. She was not rambling. She was confessing."I need someone to pretend to be my boyfriend," Fae said with a direct and unapologetic voice. "Someone my family would believe. Someone real and solid and trustworthy enough that they would back off long enough for me to figure out what I actually want to do with my own life."Derek leaned back in his chair slightly. "You want a fake boyfriend.""Yes," Fae confirmed with a simple nod. "Not forever. Just long enough to take the pressure off. My family will not stop pushing the engagement until they believe I have moved on. If I show up with someone convincing, someone who looks like he could actually be with me, they will ease up. And I will finally have room to breathe.""And you picked me," Derek said with a flat and disbelieving expression."I picked you," Fae r
CHAPTER 25 PART 1
Fae stared at the amber liquid in her glass for a long and quiet moment. The soft bar music played behind them. The city lights glowed outside the wide window. When she finally spoke, her voice had dropped to something Derek had never heard from her before. Something small and honest and completely stripped of performance."I was never heartbroken," Fae said with a quiet and steady voice, still looking at her glass.Derek set his own drink down. "What do you mean?""The night you found me at the motel. The fire. The lighter. The window. All of it," Fae explained slowly, running her finger around the rim of the glass. "You assumed I was destroyed over some man who cheated on me. Everybody assumes that when a woman sets things on fire and cries.""You told me it was about a man," Derek pointed out with a careful and neutral tone."I told you I wanted everything that reminded me of him to burn," Fae corrected with a thin and tired smile. "That was true. But I was not heartbroken. I was e
CHAPTER 24 PART 2
Derek walked back into the dorm building. Fae was still there. She was sitting on one of the narrow beds with her legs crossed, examining the brass plaque she had brought him with a bored and curious expression."That looked intense," Fae said with a casual and observant voice, looking up at him. "Are you okay?""I just signed my divorce papers," Derek answered with a flat and tired tone, sitting down heavily on the bed across from her.Fae studied his face for a quiet moment. The playful energy she usually carried had softened into something calmer and more careful."I am going to drop the boyfriend thing," Fae said with a simpler and more honest voice. "For now.""Thank you," Derek replied with a small and relieved expression."But I still owe you something," Fae continued with a firm and sincere tone, leaning forward slightly. "You saved my life, Derek. You stopped me from doing something terrible. I cannot just walk away from that with a plaque and a cheap motel room.""The plaque
CHAPTER 24 PART 1
Erin did not leave the station. She walked down the corridor and stopped near the entrance of the main bay area. She stood with her back against the brick wall and pressed the leather folder hard against her chest. Her eyes were burning but completely dry.Derek found her there two minutes later. He had given her the space she needed and then followed because he knew she had not come to the station just to argue about Fae Gray. She had brought something with her. Something inside that leather folder she had been clutching the entire time."What is in the folder, Erin?" Derek asked with a quiet and direct voice, stopping a few feet away from her.Erin looked at him for a long moment. Her expression had changed. The fury and the jealousy were gone. What was left behind was something cold and hollow and entirely resigned.She opened the leather folder and pulled out a thick document. She held it out toward him with a steady hand."This is the divorce agreement," Erin stated with a flat a
CHAPTER 23 PART 2
The words landed in the small room like a heavy stone dropping into still water. The ripples spread outward in every direction and touched everything they reached.Erin stood completely still. Her lips parted slightly but no sound came out. Her dark eyes widened and then slowly narrowed as the meaning of what he had just said settled fully into her chest.Not important enough.Three words. Simple and plain and spoken without any anger at all. That was what made them so devastating. He had not shouted them. He had not thrown them at her in the heat of a fight. He had simply stated them the way a person states the time of day. As if they were just an ordinary fact about the world."You do not mean that," Erin said with a very low and unsteady voice, her fingers curling tightly around the leather folder."I do mean it," Derek confirmed with the same calm and quiet tone. "And I need you to hear something else before you walk out of this room."Erin waited. Her chest rose and fell with qui
CHAPTER 23 PART 1
Derek walked down the corridor toward the empty equipment storage room at the back of the station. Erin followed closely behind him, her heels clicking sharply against the floor. She still held the leather folder pressed tightly against her side like a weapon she had not yet decided to use.Derek pushed open the storage room door and stepped inside. Metal shelves lined the walls, stacked with helmets, hose nozzles, and spare gear. A single fluorescent tube hummed above them. He turned around and faced Erin directly."Close the door," Derek said with a calm and quiet voice.Erin pushed the door shut behind her. The sound echoed briefly in the small room. She crossed her arms and lifted her chin with a hard and expectant expression."Talk," Erin commanded with a clipped tone."Fae Gray is the owner of the motel where I am renting a room," Derek explained with a steady and patient voice. "I saved her life a few nights ago. She came here today to give me a thank you plaque. That is the en
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