by Mia Taylor
“She’s still under!”
“For three years? I think someone’s blowing smoke up your ass, Detective.”
Rhett’s back was so tense, he thought he was going to snap. He loathed that Charlotte spoke his worst fears aloud, that she was in his head, addressing the very thoughts that he’d been trying to ignore for months.
“What part of ‘I don’t want to talk about this’ was so hard to understand?”
“Whatever, Lewis. One day, you’ll realize that Mia has been playing you for years and you’ll kick yourself for letting yourself become this shadow of the man you once were.”
He whipped his head around to stare at her in shock.
“I’m still the same man I was,” he hissed. “So what if I’ve taken some time to process what happened?”
“You’re drowning in it,” Char clipped back. “The Rhett Lewis I knew would have gotten over it by now.”
“What the hell do you know about anything like this?” he snarled. “Your longest relationship has been with alcohol.”
A cold smile formed on Charlotte’s lips as she steered the car into a parking lot.
“And it hasn’t left me holed up in a disgusting apartment once,” she retorted. Parking the car, she sighed and turned to him. He could see she was renegotiating her strategy, switching from friend Charlotte to compassionate Detective Pinkerton.
“I don’t know how to get through to you, Rhett,” she told him, the fight gone from her voice. “I’ve tried every way I know.”
“I don’t need you to get through to me,” he bit back but even his initial anger was dissipating. Charlotte cared about him, probably more than anyone else in the world. She was at her wits’ end.
And I’m not making it any easier for her.
“I’m not going to get off your ass until you’re right again,” she told him quietly. “No matter how much you try to push me away.”
Their eyes met and slowly, Rhett exhaled.
“I know. Thank you.”
For a moment, Rhett forgot about his misery, about the devastating blow that had come to him through a lawyer. He and Mia had been married for five years, apart for two and a half and divorced for six months. By proportion, they’d been apart longer than they’d been together.
So why did it still hurt so much? What he’d said to Charlotte was true; he hadn’t expected Mia to come home.
I wonder if it would be easier if she’d just died.
The thought sent chills of guilt through him. Of course he didn’t want her to be dead. He just wanted to stop missing her so damned much.
Even if I never really knew her.
“Come on, Lewis,” Char said, pulling the keys from the ignition. “Let’s get you fed and intoxicated.”
He nodded slowly and followed his partner toward the bar. It was only then that he realized where they were.
“Aw, man, Char…”
“What?”
“A bear bar?”
She paused and gave him a wry smile.
“Well, I wouldn’t want you to forget where you come from, would I? You missed the last sleuth meeting and I highly doubt you were out hunting on the night of the full.”
He grunted as she continued toward the back entrance and sighed.
She’s been keeping tabs on me in her own way. I wonder if Mia ever bothered to see what I was up to, even on social media.
He wasn’t in the mood to deal with his shifter brothers but his desire to argue was even less.
Maybe this is just what I need, he reasoned, hurrying to catch up with Charlotte. At least this is one thing that Mia could never take from me.
But that was because Mia had never known the truth about him in the first place.
Chapter Two
An Offer She Can’t Refuse
A shadow fell over Charlotte’s desk but she didn’t bother to look up. She was far too consumed with her work to entertain whichever jackass was trying to block the annoying fluorescent light above her. It wouldn’t be the first time one of the guys thought that standing over her was some form of intimidation.
As if I can be intimidated.
“Pinkerton.”
The sound of her sergeant’s voice caused her to rethink her decision and she looked up apologetically, a wry smile on her full lips.
“Sorry, Sarge. What’s going on?” she asked sheepishly, brushing a strand of silken black hair out of her eyes.
“I need a word with you.”
She sat back in her chair casually and folded her arms across her ample bosom, barely hidden under a white button-down shirt which was very flattering to her complexion.
“Word away,” she replied. “You have my attention.”
“In my office.”
Charlotte peered at him in surprise as he sauntered back to his office and the squad “oohed” at her as if she was being hauled off to the principal’s office.
“I bet this is about Lewis,” Hammerstein chortled and Charlotte punched him in the arm when she passed him.
“Ow!”
“Shut up about my partner,” she hissed and Hammerstein snickered again. Charlotte followed her superior inside the cramped room he called a workspace and flopped unceremoniously into a chair.
“What’s up?” she asked almost impatiently. Since Rhett had been on leave, she’d had twice the amount of work, even with Hammerstein as her useless temporary partner. It pained her that she was wasting time having a chat.
Sergeant Kramer raised an eyebrow at her.
“Please, have a seat,” he said sarcastically and she grinned at him.
“I thought we were beyond all those formalities,” she replied sweetly. She leaned forward, willing him to crack a smile.
Instead of answering her, Kramer punched the intercom on his phone.
“Send her in,” he intoned and Charlotte’s beam faded slightly.
“What’s going on?” she demanded, suddenly realizing that there might be trouble she hadn’t foreseen after all. “Is something wrong?”
Shit. Is this about Lewis after all?
Kramer sighed and sat down at his desk.
“Intelligence is here,” he explained. “I’ll have them explain it to you.”
Charlotte’s eyes narrowed as she tried to make sense of what she was being told.
“Am I in trouble?” she asked bluntly although she couldn’t understand why Intelligence would be brought in if that was the case. Internal Affairs, maybe. Intelligence, not so much.
Kramer chuckled dryly.
“No, nothing like that,” he assured her. “This is about a case.”
“Oh.” That certainly made more sense. Charlotte didn’t have a blemish on her nine-year service record. Not a complaint, not a charge. She’d never been suspended or even accused of misconduct.
And that’s a feat and a half for the CPD.
There was a knock at the door and Kramer called out to grant entry.
Sergeant Colleen Kelly appeared and Charlotte felt her back tense.
What the hell is this?
“Detective Pinkerton,” Kelly said cordially, extending her hand. Charlotte rose and accepted it reluctantly.
“Sergeant Kelly. To what do I owe this pleasure?” She didn’t bother with pleasantries she wasn’t feeling. Why should she? Kelly didn’t inspire anything but bad memories of Mia.
Charlotte wasn’t sure that anything that was about to transpire would be pleasurable and she waited expectantly for Kelly to speak.
Come on. Out with it.
The graceful blonde slid into the seat at Charlotte’s side and offered her a brief smile.
“I have a proposition for you,” she explained. “But before I get into it, I should warn you, it might be a little bit personal.”
Charlotte’s brow furrowed and she almost laughed.
“I can pretty much guarantee that you’re wrong,” Charlotte replied. “There’s not much going on in my personal life.”
Kelly and Kramer exchanged a l
ook before Charlotte’s sergeant cleared his throat.
“It, indirectly, involves your partner,” Kramer explained. Charlotte lost her amusement and sat up in her seat.
Ah, there is it.
“He’s going through a rough time,” Charlotte started. “He just needs some time to sort out what happened but I saw him and he’s coming back in a couple days. He’s doing much better.”
“Lewis can have all the time he needs,” Kramer interjected. “He’s not in any sort of trouble.”
“Oh.”
Charlotte’s eyes danced between the two superior officers and waited, her confusion mounting.
“You’re going to need to elaborate,” she encouraged, trying to keep the exasperation out of her voice, and Kelly nodded.
“Yes, of course.” After a quick pause, she met Charlotte’s eyes again.
“As you are probably aware,” Kelly began, “Mia Lewis went undercover over three years ago.”
A pang of annoyance and ire shot through Charlotte as she thought about Rhett’s ex. From the first day Charlotte had met the woman, she’d known that Mia was no good for her partner.
She and Rhett had climbed through the academy together after being raised in the same sleuth. Charlotte hadn’t even wanted to be a cop but somehow, Rhett had sold her on the idea and it had grown on her.
Or maybe it was just the idea of being with Rhett that appealed to me.
Whatever the reason, Charlotte knew she owed her career to Rhett, however indirectly, and the protectiveness she felt toward him was unsurpassed.
They’re right—this is personal.
“I have no idea what the hell Mia Lewis—or should I say, Mia Avery—is doing these days.”
“Well, she is undercover,” Kelly explained. “Deeply.”
“That’s great. What does it have to do with me?” Charlotte snapped, feeling like she was about to get upset.
“You knew Mia quite well, didn’t you?” Kelly asked and Charlotte scoffed, shaking her head vehemently.
“No,” she denied. “I don’t know her at all, really.”
To her surprise, Kelly’s face lit up. “That’s good,” she exclaimed and shot Sergeant Kramer a happy look. “Then maybe this isn’t as personal as I thought.”
“I’m really not following,” Charlotte informed her but the desire to flee the room was becoming overwhelming.
“What I’m about to tell you stays in this room, obviously.”
“That depends on what you’re about to tell me,” Charlotte told her. “If this affects my partner—”
“Detective Lewis and Mia are divorced, aren’t they?”
“Yes…”
“No children, as I recall.”
“Thank God,” Charlotte conceded. The idea of Mia being a mother was twice as terrifying as it had been envisioning her as a wife.
If there had been children, I’d have to wait until Mia died before ever having my partner back.
“Then this matter really doesn’t have anything to do with Lewis.”
“If that’s true, I can probably keep my mouth shut about what you’re going to say,” Charlotte agreed, her curiosity piqued.
“Mia went undercover just under three years ago to gather intel on the Susi crime family. Are you familiar with them?”
Charlotte scoffed lightly. “Isn’t everyone in Chicago?” she asked, rolling her eyes. “Of course.”
“Well, Mia took her gig very seriously,” Kelly explained, darting her eyes toward Kramer, who seemed to be zoning out into another thought.
Charlotte’s eyes became slits, the underlying meaning of her words caught instantly in the detective’s head.
“How seriously?” she demanded. “What did she do?”
Kelly had the decency to look embarrassed.
“Let’s just say she went a little off script and worked her way in very tightly with the Susis—closer than any operative in the CPD has ever gotten.”
Charlotte blinked and stared at the female sergeant. “How did she manage that?”
God, why did I ask that? I don’t want to know what she did when she was married to Rhett.
But it was like a train wreck of terrible news and Charlotte couldn’t look away.
Kelly cleared her throat and looked uncomfortably at her hands.
“I am only telling you this because it is important, not so that you think less of a fellow officer.”
“I didn’t think that was possible until right now,” Charlotte mused tightly. “Who is she sleeping with?”
Kelly seemed surprised that Charlotte had put it together so quickly.
“Theo Susi, the don’s son.”
“Of course. Go big or go home, I guess.”
And we all know she was never going home. I wonder if she’d intended to seduce Susi all along. It certainly makes sense why she didn’t reach out to Rhett now, doesn’t it?
“I cannot stress how important it is that you do not tell your partner,” Kelly said, shattering Charlotte’s reverie.
“I wouldn’t,” Charlotte muttered. “He’s been through enough without knowing that his wife was hooking for the police department.”
Kelly and Kramer scowled at her.
“We never asked her to do that,” Kelly snapped.
“You never stopped her either, did you?”
A silence met her accusation and Charlotte chewed on the insides of her cheeks to keep from barking at them any more.
She’s an adult. She knows what she’s doing.
“We need that information,” Kelly finally said, breaking the thickness in the room. “And for your information, we did warn her. I didn’t feel good about what she was doing but she hasn’t raised a red flag, not once.”
The Mia that Charlotte knew wouldn’t have heeded any kind of warning or reason. She prided herself on being a reckless brat who wouldn’t be controlled.
And that is likely to be her undoing.
“Well, that’s a wonderful story,” Charlotte muttered sarcastically. “What does it have to do with me?”
“As you may also know,” Kelly continued, “sometimes detectives get in too deep and have a hard time keeping their cover and their real lives separate.”
Charlotte snorted. “Mia never had a real life. She didn’t go home once.”
“That’s even worse,” Kelly sighed. “She lost touch with reality.”
“So what? She’s gone rogue now? Is that what you’re saying?” Charlotte wished Kelly would get to the point. She was sick of hearing Mia’s name. The woman was a ghost who haunted her every day, even though she’d been physically gone for years.
It’s bad enough that I have to listen to Rhett griping about her but now this?
Not that Charlotte fully understood what “this” was.
Kelly’s brow furrowed and she cocked her head to the side.
“Not exactly,” she answered in response to Charlotte’s query. “We’re still in contact with her but the information seems to have slowed to a drip.”
“Okay…”
“Like I said, the intel she has collected up until the past couple months has been solid but lately…”
Kelly trailed off and shrugged her shoulders.
“So pull her out if she’s not doing her job.” The more Charlotte sat there, the less she understood what she was doing there.
“It’s not that simple.”
“Sounds simple enough to me. She’s not doing her job, move her. Isn’t that protocol?”
“You need to understand that the information she’s provided us has been very useful over the years. It’s led to a number of busts in everything from human trafficking to petty drug dealing.”
“But not anymore,” Charlotte countered. “Now she’s useless.”
“Mia is in a unique position right now to help us… if we can be sure she’s still with us.”
Charlotte’s eyebrows shot up as she began to get an inkling of what she was doing there.
“Wait, what are
you asking me to do?” Charlotte asked, a prickle of apprehension shooting through her.
“You can say no,” Sergeant Kramer interjected and Kelly gave him a withering stare which seemed to shut him up.
“Of course you can say no,” she agreed pleasantly but Char didn’t miss the edge in her voice. “But if you do, you’ll be setting this department back years. The progress we’ve made would stagnate, the—”
“Okay, enough with the hard sell,” Kramer barked. “I feel like you’re going to throw in a free week at your time share.”
Kelly glared at him but Charlotte was in agreement.
“Why don’t you ask me so I can say no?” Charlotte grunted, unsure of what to make of this. Kelly sighed and tore her gaze from Kramer to look back at Charlotte.
“We want you to go in and keep an eye on Mia, set her on the straight and narrow.”
Charlotte laughed shortly but there was no humor in the noise. She’d suspected as much.
“You just said Mia hasn’t been on the straight and narrow in a long time. If she’s flipped on you, what good is it going to do throwing me in there?”
Are they trying to get me killed?
The operative word, of course, was “trying”. That would be a Herculean task, given her shifting abilities. She gave her boss a wary look. There was a reason that bears weren’t ever put to undercover work. When cornered, the beast would surely erupt and that would mean bad news for everyone involved.
We can’t risk exposing our secrets to the mortals. Why isn’t he arguing?
“Like I said, you can say no,” Kramer mumbled but he avoided her eyes.
He doesn’t want to fight with Kelly. He doesn’t want to give her a reason to be suspicious.
“You won’t be deep under,” Kelly explained quickly, sensing that she was about to lose her bid. “You’ll have an apartment, of course, but you’ll only be there to remind Mia that she’s still being watched.”
“And what if she’s completely loyal to the Susis now?” Charlotte cried, her voice raising an octave. “You’re sending me on a suicide mission!”
“Mia is still very much in contact with us. Selling you out would mean selling herself out,” Kelly insisted. “It wouldn’t make any sense.”
“If she feels threatened, she might not care,” Charlotte shot back.
“Why don’t you go in there and feel out the situation before you make any decisions. If you’re uncomfortable, we can call the whole thing off and I’ll bring in someone else.”