Anti-Hero | Tim Bradford

Chapter Eight - Promising

Tim had experienced many awful things in his life but none would be considered worse than this. The moment he had found his wife again, she had been snatched from his grasp leaving him helpless to aid her once more. If he had believed in a god he would have thought that he was being punished for some past sin.

But he wasn't.

No matter how much he blamed himself at this moment there was nothing he could do but wait. The paramedic in the back of the ambulance told him that she would most likely be fine, that on first inspection there seemed like there would be minimal damages. Tim had wanted to believe them, but with every hour that Morgan's surgery  dragged on Tim believed them less and less.

The idea that he had come so close to getting her back almost killed him, and had he not had the chance that she may return to him, he felt like he would've died then and there. He had waited this long, he could wait for her for these last few hours, no matter how torturous they felt. She would return to him soon enough, he had enough hope to believe in that.

——

Professionalism was normally one of Sargent Grey's areas of expertise. The man had decades of experience with the public and felons alike who pushed the lines of crime and morality alike. But as he stood across from Regina Diaz he could not help that every fibre of his being wanted to bring down every article of the law on this woman, and he was determined that she would never breathe a lick of fresh air again.

He was furious as to what she had done to the department, and to his officers. The damage she had caused was unfixable, and the Bradfords, as well as everyone in the Mid-Wilshire Division would be forever changed because of her. And yet, she sat tall and arrogant despite the cuffs keeping her attached to the table. The maroon scrubs she wore did not seem to deter her confidence at all. Grey clenched his jaw, before taking a seat opposite the woman who had caused so much grief.

"So where should we begin?"  Grey flipped the file he held open and thumbed through the pages, trying to not show any weakness for Diaz to exploit. "The very apparent drug operation that me and my officers caught you in, red-handed may I add? Or how about the contant threatening of my officer's well being for the last two years? Or how about the assault with a deadly weapon charge for that same officer you have been threatening?"

Regina smiled, "Hmmm... They're all good options, but maybe we should start within your department instead. After all, I couldn't do all this without a little help."

——

It had been a while since Tim had watched his wife sleep. In the early days of their marriage, when work took a mental toll on him, he would stay awake far into the early hours of the morning, watching her chest rise and fall as the room was gently lit from the rising sun peaking through the curtains. It had relieved some of his anxieties, knowing that she was there and she was alive, and now, even after all this time and torment, he found the same comfort yet again.