Prologue
Officer Aaron Ward sighed in frustration as he closed another case file. He rubbed his eyes, which were gritty with exhaustion, and decided he was going to need another cup of coffee—or seven.
For a few months he had suspected that something not quite aboveboard was going on in North Carolina’s Kings Mountain Police Department, where he worked. He had started poking around as inconspicuously as he could. Paying attention to what certain officers were—or weren’t—doing, and taking a closer look at the ones he thought might be involved in suspicious activities.
Of course, he couldn’t do this during normal work hours because he had his actual job to do, plus he didn’t want anyone to know what he was doing yet. So, he’d been putting in extra hours, staying at the station long into the night when he should have been home sleeping. Hence the need for more coffee.
He knew he would need to take this up the chain of command eventually, but he wanted to gather more concrete evidence first. He couldn’t request a meeting with his captain or the chief of police and only present his own opinions and suspicions. He had sworn an oath to serve and protect the community of Kings Mountain, and he intended to do that, even from other officers who didn’t take that oath as seriously as he did.
He was getting close to gathering enough evidence. There was a group of officers that he suspected were corrupt—taking bribes, withholding important investigative information, andbullying witnesses, among a laundry list of other shady things. He needed to make sure that he knew which officers were involved and in what capacity.
He saved the most recent case file he’d looked at to a folder on his computer and decided to call it a night. He’d have to be back at the station in just a few hours, and he was going to need some rest if he was going to be able to work a full day and then put in more hours afterward again. Plus, he got to work with Bailey tomorrow. She was new to the force but she was a good officer and he enjoyed working with her. There were other feelings there too that he refused to acknowledge, especially while he was her superior.
He powered down his computer, turned off the lamp on his desk, and walked toward the parking lot, his mind still running through the information he’d found. He was about halfway across the lot when he heard the sound of another car door shutting. He didn’t think much of it; it was a police station, after all, and people were around at all hours of the day and night. But when he looked in the direction of the sound, he saw that there were several men approaching him quickly.
Warning bells went off in his mind. This wasn’t normal. He continued walking to his car, hoping that if he didn’t engage them, they would continue on without bothering him.
No such luck.
He squinted as the men got closer, trying to make out who they were.
“Hello, Ward,” one of them sneered.
Ziegler.
“Hey, guys. What brings you here at this hour?” Aaron asked.
Ziegler laughed humorlessly. “We could ask you the same thing.”
Aaron shrugged. “Just finishing up some work.”
Ziegler moved closer, getting in Aaron’s face and pinning him against his car. His cronies—Moore, Benning, and Lee—flanked him. “Yeah, that’s why we’re here, snitch.”
Aaron’s stomach dropped. So he’d been right. These guys were crooked.
“We know you’ve been keeping tabs on us and doing your own little investigation.” Ziegler poked a finger hard into Aaron’s chest. “You’re not as sneaky as you think you are.”
Ziegler pulled his arm back and slammed it into Aaron’s gut. He doubled over in pain, gasping for air. “And just so you know,” Ziegler spat, “we have eyes on your precious Bailey right now. She’s at home, reading a book. And we could take her out in a second if you don’t get out of town, and pretend none of this ever happened. You understand?”
Before he could reply, Moore jerked Aaron back upright and Ziegler hit him again, this time in the jaw, knocking him to the ground. All bets were off as soon as he went down. Before Aaron could attempt to regain his footing, Benning started kicking him in the chest while Moore jammed his boot repeatedly in his back.
Aaron tried to fight back, but once the other men joined in, he knew there was no way he could win. Ziegler, not to be left out of their fun, focused on his face and head. The more they beat him, the more he wondered if he’d even survive. Pain was radiating throughout his entire body and he was pretty sure they broke some ribs, among other things. His last thought before everything went black was that he had to get Bailey away from these men, before she got hurt too.
Chapter One
Six Years Later
Bailey Masters smiled to herself as she rounded the corner, and the small town of Kings Mountain came into view. Finally. After all this time, she was back home again.
It felt like a lifetime since she had left Kings Mountain and, in some ways, it had been. Her life here had been so different from the one she’d led before, sometimes it was hard to remember that she had lived here, worked here, and made a name for herself here when she had been a rookie cop.
She could still remember the first day she stepped into the station, that flood of pride and excitement that hit her like a ton of bricks. She had wanted to be a cop for as long as she could remember, arresting her toys and reading them their rights before she put them in a little makeshift prison made from her toy box when she was a kid. It had always been in her blood, and she had been determined to make it as soon as she found out it was a career option for her.
But that had been before—before she’d been kicked out and moved across the country, before she had faced up to the fact that the man she had idolized—and almost loved, too—had turned his back on her and made it clear what he really thought of her.
Sometimes, she struggled even thinking about him. She grimaced as she drove down into the town, through the familiar streets she had called home for so long. How long had it been?Six years? Just over that now. There had been a time when she was sure she would never get back, but the relief of finally having returned to her hometown wasn’t going to be ruined by the memories of the man who had thrown her out of it in the first place.
Aaron.
