Chapter 10: Sarah's Suspicions
Chapter 10: Sarah's Suspicions
Despite her exhausting, back-to-back shift schedule, Paramedic Sarah Chen couldn't shake the dark, haunting nature of the Hollywood Hills dispatch. Seasoned, veteran first responders usually dropped their stabilized trauma patients off at the bustling ER doors and immediately moved on to the next chaotic radio call without a second thought, compartmentalizing the horror to survive the job. But the sheer, calculated, intimate cruelty of this specific incident plagued her waking hours, infecting her dreams with the image of that cleanly severed steel wire.
Unable to sleep, she decided to visit Bridget on her rare day off, trading her dark blue uniform for a comfortable sweater and jeans. She brought a small, cheerful bouquet of bright yellow sunflowers to break up the depressing, monochromatic visual of the intensive care unit. When she walked in, she found Bridget staring blankly at the ceiling, her eyes hollow and defeated.
"He's literally monetizing your pain, Bridget," Sarah told her gently but with an uncompromising, fierce firmness. She pulled out her personal iPad, loading Tyler's public profiles to show Bridget the harsh, undeniable reality. The screen displayed millions of views, trending hashtags bearing Bridget's name, and the thousands of dollars actively generating on Tyler’s latest public Creator Fund dashboard.
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"Look at this," Sarah insisted, scrolling through the comments of fans sending their hard-earned money to Tyler's "recovery fund." "He's playing the devastated, heartbroken victim on camera while you're physically trapped in this bed, unable to feel your legs. He is using the sympathy of strangers to pay off his debts. Detective Hayes has the wire, but Tyler is a snake. We need to catch him in a lie. We need to stop him before his massive ego convinces him he can get away with hurting anyone else for clout."
Bridget stared at the screen, watching her husband squeeze out fake tears for the lens. A deep, dormant anger finally began to spark in her chest, replacing the suffocating despair. She looked up at Sarah and nodded slowly. "What do we need to do?"
