Broken Saint by E.M. Gayle

20

Rock

"What's so critical that I had to come in right now?" I'd barely cleared the door to my boss's office when I came up short. He was not alone. My entire team had been called in, plus some of the brass above us. "Did something happen with the case?"

"Have a seat, Rock."

My already bad mood turned downright poisonous. I hadn't wanted to leave Nova the way we did. Something had felt off and I swore I could feel her pulling away. Now I was certain I'd just walked into some sort of ambush or at the very least something on this case had gone wrong. I could feel the bad news coming.

"What's going on?"

"We're pulling you off this case."

"Excuse me?" If this was a joke, I wasn't finding it funny.

"We've gotten formal complaints about how this case is being handled and we have to make some changes to the team. Charlie is going to lead the rest of this investigation."

"What the hell kind of complaints? First, the judge is obviously biased and keeps rejecting all our requests, and now this? Is everyone in fucking Anthony Cullotta's back pocket?"

"Careful, Reed. I could have your badge for this whole situation. And someone—that someone being you—needs to look at his own fucking glass house, before he starts throwing bullshit around."

Some of the team looked away from him, while others looked as pissed as he felt.

"I'm getting close to those diamonds. I can feel it. We just need a little more time."

"Maybe so. But you are out of time, and the team is going to proceed without you. You were reported to the Bureau as having a sexual relationship with one of our suspects. Now there's an internal investigation. Do you realize how much is at stake if they find you crossed the line? Months of work for nothing. What the hell were you thinking?"

"Nova is not a suspect. She's a developing informant."

"You can't justify this shit. She is, at minimum, a person of interest in this case and has been since you discovered who she was. You were supposed to develop her as an asset, not fuck her."

I nearly exploded right then. The anger that pulsed through me beat red-hot and violent. I clenched my fists and ground my back teeth together to keep it all in check. There was something about this whole operation that seemed off. How could anyone at the Bureau possibly know about me and Nova?

"This is bullshit. We must be getting close, considering the heat that is coming down on this. You know how this works. These fuckers are connected. They are practically operating by the playbook at this point. They are circling the wagons to keep us out, and you're going to let that happen if you don't let me keep pushing the envelope."

"Maybe so. But the decision has been made. The case will be no good if the prosecution refuses to go forward because you didn't follow the rules. We can't afford mistakes like that."

"You might as well take my gun and my badge, then. If your intention is to bench me every time a case gets too hot, we might as well give up now." I reached for my badge. "Here. Take it." I tossed it onto the desk.

He shook his head. "Fuck you, Reed. I'm not touching that. Put it back in your pocket and shut the hell up. Sometimes we win some, and sometimes we lose some. You know how this works. The odds are always against us, but when roadblocks like this happen, we need to regroup and come at it a different way. No one is giving up. Especially not you."

I didn't want to read anything into his words, but my instincts were still giving me shit all around. I looked around at the faces of my team and tried to find an answer. I'd handpicked each and every one of them. They weren't just competent, they were the best. They could handle this investigation without me if need be. Except for the connection I had with Nova. None of them could replicate that work, and there certainly wasn't time for a new informant...

I slowly turned back to my boss. "You’re working with someone else. Someone with insider information." It was the only thing that made sense. How else could they know how deep mine and Nova's relationship went. "Well, the fucking joke was on him. I wasn't just fucking her for information.” That had never been my intention or my goal. On paper she didn't make sense. A mafia princess hiding in plain sight. In reality, she was so much more than the information they had gathered.

She shared a lot of herself with the world through her work and her social media, but the real woman, she was guarded and distrustful. She shared what she could, but the part of her past that had to do with her family she kept locked up tight. It seemed like no one could get in. I also hadn't pushed. I'd been careful not to cross that line. Although maybe, in hindsight, I should have. Then maybe I'd understand what the hell was going on.

"You're off the case, Reed. I can't share anymore details with you." My boss's words were curt and easy to read. I'd hit the nail on the head, but he was in no position to confirm.

It had to be someone close to Nova. Someone she confided in. That was a short list, but I could work my way through it.

I turned and stalked toward the door. My anger was still as high as ever, but now I had something more important to focus on.

"Don't forget the badge."

"Keep it," I flung the words over my shoulder without looking back.

"Don't be an asshole, Reed. No case is worth throwing away your career."

Maybe not. But one woman was worth risking it. It was time I came clean with her and hoped she'd not only forgive me, but help me.

Seconds after I slammed the door, my phone went off with a text. I pulled it from my pants and swiped to open it.

"Way to make a scene, fucker. But what am I supposed to do with the badge?"

"Not my problem." I texted back. Well, it was, but whatever. Semantics.

"Just find those fucking diamonds, okay? And don't talk to anyone but me about anything. Got it? And for Christ's sake delete this text. This conversation didn't happen."

I semi grinned down at my phone before tucking it back into my pocket. For a minute, he'd had me going, but like me, he suspected some in the bureau couldn’t be trusted. However, the pressure to get this case wrapped up was still on. It was time to bring Nova in on this case and see if she could help.