“The fuck you want, Hennessy?”

“The truth. I know you were in her house. I know you made sure the girl was there. Valentina Noble might think I’m stupid, but we both know that isn’t the case. I see through both your bullshit.”

“Not sure why you’re even worried about it. The girl is home safe.”

“And I can close my case really fucking quick if it was really D-Rock who tossed that brick through the window.” Hennessy pushed off the Jeep and walked toward me.

“You’re a detective. It shouldn’t be that difficult to figure it out.”

“It wasn’t D-Rock. It was the FNDs, wasn’t it? I don’t buy the breaking up with the boyfriend story, even though the girl would be better off it that were true.”

The good detective knew exactly who my biggest rival was, so it wasn’t much of a leap. He nodded down at the wound that had soaked through both the bandage and my shirt and the blood that dripped down onto my jeans.

“You start a war?” he asked.

“I don’t start anything. I’m more of a finisher.”

“Bullshit. You’ve started your fair share these last few years. Isn’t it getting old yet, Rix? Or is it really that good to be king?”

“Maybe you should give it a try. Walk on the dark side and see how it feels.”

“I’m not built that way, and we both know it.”

“You never know until you try.”

“Cut the shit. You know you’ve got no shot at something real with Valentina. You’re gonna end up hurting her.”

The laugh that escaped sounded rusty, even to my ears. “That’s what you really tracked me down to say, isn’t it? To appeal to the noble side I don’t have? To get me to walk away from her by telling me it’s better for her?”

Hennessy crossed his arms over his chest. “You know I’m right. And we both know whatever noble side you might have isn’t missing completely, just buried deep.”

“I’m not walking away. No way in hell.”

“So you’re gonna drag her into the shitstorm you call a life?”

I glared at him. “If she’s willing. God knows I can protect her.”

Hennessy dropped his arms, hands clenching into fists, and I wondered if he was going to swing at me.

“Hope you’re sure about that.”

“I’d bet my life on it.” I stepped up to him, so our chests were only inches apart. “So you can drop your fascination with her right now. She’s under my protection, and if it comes down to her or me, I’ll lay down to keep her safe. You get that?” I touched my hand to my side and lifted my blood-covered palm. “I bled to save her girl, but I’d die for her.”

Hennessy stepped back. “You love her.”

His words hit me like another bullet to the body. But this was a welcome blow. My brain might not have gotten to the word first, but that’s exactly what I felt for her.

“Goddamned right I do.”

“Then I guess I really was fighting a losing battle.”

I shrugged off the comment as a surge of energy roared through me. What did that mean? My future was a dark and winding road, and the exits off the path I’d taken were few and far between. But I would make it work. I would find a way to have her in my life and keep her safe.

“I’d say I’m sorry, but we both know I’m not.”

Hennessy shrugged, but I could tell losing his shot at Valentina bothered the hell out of him. He didn’t dwell on it, though.

“You got any information for me? On my brother?”

“You bowing out gracefully?”

“Depends on what you’ve got.”

Did I want to tell him what I’d learned? I was already bleeding from one hole in my body tonight.

“Look, man. I think you should drop this one. Let the dicks in Internal Affairs figure out what happened. You don’t want to go digging here.”

Green eyes drilled into mine. “You know something, and you’re gonna fucking tell me.”

“Nothing but the word of a tweaker who’d been hanging around the warehouse before the bust went down.”

“So fucking tell me what he said.”

“You don’t want to hear it.”

Hennessy’s entire body tensed as if he was bracing for a blow. “Just fucking tell me.”

“He said he heard someone answer to the name Hennessy in that same warehouse the day before it went down. Had heard the name on the street a few days before too. It’s not looking good.”

“I don’t fucking believe it.”

I cleared my throat. “He had a wire, man. He says he recorded it.”

Hennessy surged forward and grabbed a handful of my T-shirt. “Where the fuck is it? I want it right the fuck now.”

The only reason I didn’t put him on his ass for touching me was the pained expression on his face. Finding out your blood was dirty was no picnic.

“Don’t have it. But I can try to track it down for you. Chances are, the recording’s already in someone’s case file somewhere. You might have a way faster time finding it than me. Then again, if you find it and it’s what I think it is, you’ve got exactly the proof you don’t want.”

“Fuck off. He wasn’t dirty. I don’t believe it.”

I untwisted his hand from my shirt and stepped back. “Then find the tape. Someone in the cop shop has to have it.”

We stared at each other for long moments before Hennessy backed away toward his Jeep.

“This isn’t over, Rix. Not by a long shot.”

“I didn’t figure it was.”

“Keep looking.”

“Stop sniffing around my woman.”

“Keep her safe and happy then.”

“Don’t fucking need to tell me that.”

“Later, Rix.”

“Detective.”

THE GRAZE ON MY SIDE kept bleeding, and I wasn’t about to bring the blood that colored my world into Valentina’s bed. A visit to an old friend, a retired ER doc in a subdivision near Lake Pontchartrain, fixed me up.

He raised his eyebrows plenty, but he didn’t ask questions. We’d met when his kid had gotten tangled up in the wrong crowd—my kind of crowd—and he’d been desperate to get him back on the straight and narrow. I’d run my own version of Scared Straight and the kid had nearly pissed himself. This life was hard, and some middle-class kid who had plenty of other options for his future and parents who gave a shit didn’t have any business getting involved.