Chapter 7: Kevin's Regret

Michelle stared at the message until the letters blurred.

You survived.

Kevin won't.

Her fingers went cold.

For several seconds, she couldn't move.

"Michelle?" her mother asked.

Michelle handed her the phone.

Mrs. Hart's face changed immediately.

"I'm calling the police."

"Wait."

"Someone just threatened Kevin."

"I know."

"Then why would we wait?"

Michelle looked toward the hospital window.

Part of her wanted to say Kevin wasn't her problem anymore.

Part of her wanted to believe she had finally stopped caring.

But the image of his face outside the ICU still lived somewhere inside her.

Love could die without turning into cruelty.

"Call Detective Cole," Michelle said quietly.

Her mother nodded.

Within twenty minutes, Cole arrived with two officers.

He read the messages twice.

"Did you reply?"

"No."

"Good."

"Can you trace it?"

"We'll try."

"Is it Mercer?"

"Possibly."

"You don't sound convinced."

"Because threatening Kevin through you doesn't fit his original pattern."

"What does that mean?"

"Mercer wanted Kevin to suffer by watching you die."

"Now?"

"If Mercer believes the plan failed because you survived, he may change tactics."

Michelle's mother tightened her grip on the chair.

"Is Kevin in danger right now?"

"I'm calling him."

Cole dialed.

No answer.

Again.

Nothing.

Michelle's pulse quickened.

"Call again."

"I am."

Still no answer.

"Where is he?" Michelle asked.

"Last known location was his apartment."

"Send someone."

Cole looked at her.

"Already did."

Across town, Kevin stood in the middle of his study holding the engagement ring.

He had been staring at it for nearly ten minutes.

Not because he still planned to propose.

Because he was trying to understand how something so small could contain so much wasted time.

His phone was on silent.

He hadn't noticed the calls.

A knock sounded at his door.

Kevin frowned.

Another knock.

"Kevin Woods? Police."

He opened the door.

Two officers stood outside.

"Is something wrong?"

"Detective Cole needs to speak with you immediately."

"About Mercer?"

"Sir, come with us."

Kevin's stomach tightened.

"What happened?"

"There's been a threat against you."

"Against me?"

"Yes."

Kevin reached for his phone.

Seven missed calls.

Three from Cole.

One from Michelle's mother.

His heart stopped at the sight of her name.

"Michelle?"

"She's safe," the officer said.

Kevin exhaled.

"Then what happened?"

"Someone sent her a message saying you wouldn't survive."

Kevin went completely still.

Ten minutes later, he was in the back of an unmarked police car.

Cole called him directly.

"You finally found your phone."

"What exactly did the message say?"

"You survived. Kevin won't."

"Mercer."

"Probably."

"Where is Michelle?"

"Hospital. Guarded."

"Does she know?"

"She's the one who received it."

Kevin looked out the window.

"Is she scared?"

"Yes."

"For herself?"

"No."

Kevin looked down.

"For me."

"Don't read too much into it."

"I'm not."

Cole's voice softened slightly.

"Good."

Kevin closed his eyes.

The old version of him would have turned Michelle's concern into hope.

A second chance.

Proof she still loved him.

He wasn't going to do that anymore.

Caring about someone didn't mean wanting them back.

"What do you need from me?" Kevin asked.

"You follow instructions."

"Fine."

"No heroics."

"Fine."

"No going after Mercer yourself."

Kevin hesitated.

"Kevin."

"Fine."

Cole sighed.

"You said that too slowly."

"I'm a doctor, not a detective."

"Forensic doctor."

"Still not Batman."

"Good. Remember that."

The police moved Kevin to a secure location.

For the next two days, Mercer remained invisible.

Then the threats changed.

A photograph of Kevin leaving work.

A photograph of Michelle's hospital floor.

A photograph of Violet entering her apartment.

Three people.

One message.

Choose better this time.

Cole placed the printed photograph on the table.

"He's escalating."

"He's watching all three of us," Kevin said.

"Or he wants us to think he is."

"What's the difference?"

"One means he's nearby. The other means he prepared this in advance."

"Can you tell which?"

"We're checking timestamps."

Kevin stared at the words.

Choose better this time.

"He's obsessed with the choice."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because your choice ruined his plan."

"My choice almost killed Michelle."

"Mercer doesn't care about that."

"I do."

Cole leaned back.

"Then use that regret for something useful."

"Like what?"

"Help us understand him."

Kevin frowned.

"I'm not a profiler."

"No, but your evidence helped convict him."

"Years ago."

"What kind of man was he?"

Kevin thought back.

"Controlled when he thought he was winning."

"And when he wasn't?"

"Vindictive."

"Anything else?"

"He hated humiliation."

"There."

"What?"

"You humiliated him."

"How?"

"He built the entire kidnapping around one belief: that you'd rush to save Michelle."

Kevin's expression darkened.

"And I didn't."

"Exactly."

"So now he wants to prove he can still control me."

"That's what I think."

Kevin stared at the message again.

"Then we let him."

Cole's eyes narrowed.

"Explain."

"He wants me to choose."

"Yes."

"Give him the chance."

"Absolutely not."

"Hear me out."

"No."

"Cole."

"You are not bait."

"He already sees me as bait."

"That's different."

"He'll keep escalating until someone gets hurt."

"We'll catch him."

"When?"

Cole didn't answer.

"Exactly."

Kevin leaned forward.

"Send a message through the number that threatened Michelle."

"Saying what?"

"That I want to meet."

"No."

"He'll respond."

"Probably."

"And you'll trace him."

"Maybe."

"You said maybe a lot when Michelle was kidnapped."

Cole's jaw tightened.

"Don't use that on me."

"I'm not."

"It sounds like you are."

Kevin sat back.

"Then tell me a better plan."

Cole remained silent.

An hour later, the trap was approved.

Not because Kevin insisted.

Because Mercer sent another message first.

Midnight. East Pier. Alone.

Bring the ring.

Kevin's blood ran cold.

"How does he know about the ring?"

Cole looked equally concerned.

"We don't know."

"Only a few people know."

"Michelle, you, me, her parents, maybe Violet."

"Violet didn't know."

"Are you sure?"

Kevin thought about it.

"No."

"We'll ask."

Violet was questioned again.

This time she admitted something Kevin had never known.

"I saw the ring receipt," she said.

Kevin stared at her.

"When?"

"Months ago."

"Where?"

"Your apartment."

"You went through my things?"

"No. It fell out of your coat."

"And you never said anything?"

"What was I supposed to say? Congratulations?"

"Yes."

Violet looked away.

"I didn't want you to marry her."

Kevin's expression changed.

"Why?"

"Because I knew everything would change."

"It was supposed to change."

"Not for me."

Kevin stared at her.

For years, Violet had insisted Michelle invented the competition.

Now the truth stood between them.

"Did you tell Mercer about the ring?"

"I told him you might be planning to propose."

Kevin closed his eyes.

"When?"

"When he asked how serious you were."

"So yes."

"I didn't know who he was!"

"I know."

"Then stop looking at me like that."

"Like what?"

"Like I caused this."

Kevin's voice remained quiet.

"You didn't cause the kidnapping."

Violet exhaled.

"But you helped a dangerous stranger understand exactly where the cracks in my relationship were."

"I said I didn't know."

"And I believe you."

"Then what do you want from me?"

"Nothing."

Violet froze.

"Nothing?"

"That's what you don't understand."

"Kevin—"

"I'm not asking you to fix this."

"You can't just erase twenty years."

"I'm not erasing anything."

"Then what are you doing?"

"Stopping the cycle."

"What cycle?"

"You need something. I run."

"You feel alone. I abandon someone else."

"You panic. I prove I'm loyal."

"And somehow everyone else in my life becomes disposable."

Violet's eyes filled with tears.

"I never asked you to see me that way."

"Maybe not."

"Then why punish me?"

"This isn't punishment."

"It feels like it."

"Boundaries usually do when you've never had them."

Violet stared at him.

Then slowly nodded.

"You really love her."

Kevin looked toward the interrogation room window.

"Yes."

"Even though she ended it?"

"Yes."

"Even if she never comes back?"

"Yes."

Violet gave a broken laugh.

"Then I guess I finally lost."

"There was never supposed to be a winner."

She wiped her eyes.

"Tell Michelle I'm sorry."

"You can tell her yourself someday if she wants to hear it."

That night, Kevin went to East Pier wearing a police wire beneath his shirt.

The engagement ring sat in his coat pocket.

Police units surrounded the area from a distance.

Midnight arrived.

Nothing.

12:03.

12:06.

Then Kevin's phone rang.

Unknown number.

"Mercer."

A laugh came through the speaker.

"Doctor."

"Where are you?"

"Close enough."

"You wanted the ring."

"I wanted to know if you'd bring it."

"Why?"

"Because that's what all this was about, wasn't it?"

"No."

"You were going to marry her."

"Yes."

"But when it mattered, you picked the other one."

Kevin closed his eyes.

"Yes."

Mercer went silent.

"That's not the answer I expected."

"It's the truth."

"Does she know?"

"She knows everything."

"And she still left you?"

"Yes."

Mercer laughed.

"Then I won."

"No."

"You lost her."

"Because of me, not you."

Silence.

"You strapped a bomb to her," Kevin continued.

"You almost killed her."

"But you broke her first."

Kevin flinched.

Mercer heard it.

"That hurt, didn't it?"

"Yes."

"Good."

"You want me to hate myself?"

"I want you to understand what it feels like to lose years because of somebody else's decision."

Kevin suddenly understood.

"Prison."

Mercer laughed softly.

"Smart man."

"You think I stole fifteen years from you."

"You did."

"You killed a man."

"Your report buried me."

"The evidence buried you."

"Same thing."

"No."

Kevin heard movement behind a stack of shipping containers.

Cole's voice whispered through the earpiece.

"Keep him talking."

"Mercer," Kevin said.

"You wanted me here."

"I wanted you alone."

"I am."

"Liar."

A gunshot cracked through the pier.

Kevin dropped instinctively.

Police shouted.

Footsteps thundered across the concrete.

Another shot.

"Kevin, stay down!" Cole yelled.

Kevin pressed himself behind a barrier.

Then he saw Mercer running toward the water.

Officers closed in from both sides.

"Stop! Police!"

Mercer raised his gun.

For one terrible second, Kevin thought he was going to shoot.

Instead, Mercer turned the weapon toward himself.

"No!" Kevin shouted.

Cole tackled him before he could pull the trigger.

The gun skidded across the ground.

Three officers pinned Mercer down.

It was over.

Kevin remained on the concrete, breathing hard.

Cole walked toward him.

"You okay?"

"Yeah."

"You sure?"

"No."

Cole laughed once.

"At least you're learning."

Hours later, Mercer was formally charged.

Kidnapping.

Attempted murder.

Unlawful possession of explosives.

Threats.

And several other offenses connected to Michelle's abduction.

Kevin drove to the hospital after sunrise.

He didn't go upstairs.

He sat in the parking lot and sent Michelle one message.

Mercer is in custody. He can't hurt you again.

He stared at the screen.

Then added nothing else.

No I miss you.

No please forgive me.

No can I see you.

Just the information she deserved to know.

Five minutes later, his phone vibrated.

Michelle replied.

Thank you for telling me.

Four words.

Nothing more.

Kevin smiled sadly.

A month ago, he would have asked what those words meant.

Whether she still cared.

Whether there was hope.

Now he simply typed one final response.

Take care of yourself, Michelle.

He placed the phone down.

For the first time, Kevin understood regret was not a price you paid to earn forgiveness.

Sometimes regret was simply the truth you carried after forgiveness was no longer yours to ask for.