Chapter 1
CELESTIA
If there was one thing anyone needed to know about me, it was that I liked my routine and I liked things done right.
Every morning, I woke up as soon as my first alarm went off. By the time my phone blared with my second alarm, exactly ten minutes later, I was finished with my shower and starting on my skincare routine. Fifteen minutes later, I was dressed and eating breakfast while watching the morning news.
“There was yet another burglary in the Bronx last night, bringing the count up to fifteen in the past two months. The NYPD have yet to do anything about it. Naturally, the people of Bronx are very unhappy about this. With no action from the NYPD, many people have decided to take things into their own hands.”
“They make it sound so easy,” I grumbled under my breath and shoved a spoonful of granola into my mouth.
“There has been a lot of talk lately about other areas that the NYPD have been underperforming and, in a lot of cases, just falling short. Many people think that there need to be some big differences. What’s the point of having law enforcement if they can’t keep us safe?”
Unable to handle any more of the bullshit coming out of this news anchor’s mouth, I switched the channel to another news programme. People loved to shit on us, but we were severely understaffed and overworked, and it felt like this job got harder and harder with each passing day. They often forgot that we were humans, just like them, and we were truly doing our best.
When I couldn’t take any more of the irritating news anchor, I switched the channel and settled on a little more pleasant news. Well, not pleasant exactly, but at least they weren’t slandering the NYPD.
Unfortunately, early morning work calls happened so often that they might as well be included in my morning routine.
With a sigh, I accepted the call and pressed my phone to my ear.
“Yes, Sergeant?”
“Good morning, Detective. I apologise for calling you this early, but I need you on the scene.”
“On it.” I quickly helped myself to another spoonful of granola and a big gulp of coffee before I grabbed my keys and my jacket, already heading toward the door. “What’s going on?”
“We received an anonymous tip-off that there’s a big drug exchange going on. I’ve already got units heading to the scene as we speak. They’re instructed not to do anything until you or Detective Walsh reach the scene.”
I locked my door and rushed down the hallway, opting to take the stairs instead of the elevator since it was only a few floors.
“Have you already called Walsh?”
“He said he’d pick you up. ETA 2 minutes.”
“Okay, thanks, Sergeant.”
“One more thing, Detective.”
“Yes?”
“Be careful.”
-
My partner of the past seven years, Detective Lloyd Walsh, was already waiting outside my apartment building when I got outside. Lloyd and I went way back. So, way back that I knew his wife before he met her, and I was even a Best Woman–the only Best Woman–at their wedding.
Lloyd went to the same high school, but we weren’t really friends. He was a jock, and I was more interested in the library. We went to different colleges but then ran into each other in the police academy, where we very quickly became friends. We helped each other and looked out for each other, graduated together, worked together in the same teams and two years ago, we even made Detective together. When I told Lloyd that I was interested in switching over to the Narcotics team early last year, he made the switch with me, and we were partners once again.
As soon as I slipped into the passenger seat, Lloyd put his foot on the gas.
“What took you so long, princess?” He teased. The nickname was from the police academy. You make a fuss once that the uniforms provided were unflattering on the female body, and you get Lloyd calling you a princess for the rest of your life.
“I got the call from Sarge literally five minutes ago. I couldn’t be any quicker if I tried.”
“Did you give you the context?”
“No. Just that we were tipped off about some big exchange.”
“I don’t have anything either,” he murmured. “Just the address.”
“You got your vest on?”
He nodded. “You?”
“I forgot to grab mine when I was rushing out.”
“I’ve got a spare on in the back. Grab it and put it on.”
“Yes, princess,” I teased right back, but I reached into the backseat and grabbed the bulletproof vest.
It didn’t take long to arrive at the address Sarge had given Lloyd, and just like he said, there were units waiting for us. They were ready and waiting, and we jumped right into action.
When the broke down the front door to the seemingly abandoned warehouse, Lloyd and I were the first ones in. We kept our backs to each other as we spread out and canvassed the first room.
“Clear,” I called out.
“Clear,” he replied a moment later.
“This way.”
I kicked down the door at the side of the room and rushed forward with Lloyd and the rest of the crew at my heels. We went through several more rooms like that, declaring them clear before moving onto the next one. It felt like we were going in circles.
“You think the tip-off was wrong?” Lloyd asked me.
“I don’t know, but it’s looking like it.”
“Let’s finish canvassing the rest of the rooms and then call it a morning. I could do with a coffee and a donut.”
“Let’s be honest, the coffee is a ruse. You just want a donut.”
“Don’t tell Stacy,” he grinned, referring to his wife.
“I won’t if you get me a donut as well.”
“You drive a hard bargain, princess, but it’s a deal.”
“This way!”
We surged toward the sounds of the voice, and we had our weapons raised and ready. When we rushed into the room and discovered the huge drug exchange that we had been tipped off about, I could hardly believe it.
Lloyd and I had worked several crime scenes before, far too many to count or remember. They ranged from small to exponentially massive and far too much for just us two to manage, but this was far beyond anything either of us had seen before.
“What the fuck?” Lloyd cursed under his breath, sounding confused.
I didn’t blame him. I was confused as well.
Instead of the big drug exchange with drug warlords like we were expecting, it appeared that we had walked in on an intimate poker game among friends. Except, there were stacks of bills on the table, and there was a barely translucent cloud of smoke hovering in the air above them from all the pot they were smoking.
Bloody hell. It had just turned 8 in the morning and they were drinking and smoking away like the night was still young!
There were five men in total, sat around a large, round table. Other than the abundance of cash, poker chips and playing cards, it was also littered with alcohol and rolls and sachets of drugs and other substances.
My eyes fell on one man in particular. His full head of dark brown hair, almost black in lighting was to me, but I immediate who knew it was. His back was to me, but I recognised his posture, the way his baby hairs curled at the back of his neck, the tattooed bird that peeked out from the back of his shirt and his bulging muscles in the too-small shirt.
Why wasn’t I surprised to see that Khoas Kyro was in the centre of this?
I couldn’t even escape him when I switched over to Narcotics.
“Everybody put your hands up!” I yelled, my gun raised.
None of the men seemed shocked or scared at a literal SWAT team breaking up their poker party as they put down their drinks and their drugs and their playing card. Well, all exception one.
Khaos chuckled lowly, but didn’t comply like the other men. Instead, I watched as he reached for his beer and took a long drink from it.
“I said put your hands up!” I yelled again. “I will not repeat myself a third time!”
Never one to make it easy, Khoas rose from his chair and turned around. He leisurely held his hands up like the others, but his eyes held heat as they trailed down my body, taking his sweet time to check me out. Even though I was dressed for work and wearing a bulky, bulletproof vest, his gaze left behind a hot trail on my skin.
Khaos Kyro, part of the sinister trio and youngest of the Kyro brothers who ran the Kyro Cartel, was the bane of my existence and a right pain in my ass.
That last part was only figuratively, but Khaos would make it happen for real if given the chance. I only knew that because he loved to tell me that every time he saw me.
“It’s been a long time since we last saw each other, Detective Brown. I was beginning to think you’d quit your job,” he grinned at me. “How was Cancun?”
My eyes widened before I could stop myself. How did Khaos know that I got back a few jobs from a two-week family holiday to Cancun?
“Don’t fall for it,” Lloyd hissed under his breath.
“Okay everybody. We’re going to take you all down to the station for some questioning. If you’ve got nothing to hide, we’ll let you go,” I said, reaching for my handcuffs. Lloyd and some members of the SWAT team took the other guys, leaving me Khaos.
“We’re only having some fun, Detective,” Khaos drawled lazily as I cuffed his wrists together behind his back.
I knew better than to trust a word that came out of Khaos’ mouth.
My eyes lingered on the table. “Looks like a little more than fun to me,” I snorted.
“The pot is medicinal, I swear.”
“And the other drugs?”
“Not mine,” he grinned.
I rolled my eyes. “It’s never yours, is it, Khaos?”
“I’m a good boy. We both know that.”
I ignored the heated flush that ran down my body at his comment, and I guided him toward the door we came through. The entire ride down to the police station, I kept my eyes upfront because when it came to Khaos Kyro, I didn’t trust myself either.
-
Layla Knight
09.10.2024
