Sweet Seduction Shield(44)

"The greater good," I said, starting the swing in motion again. "Fuck the greater good. This is my daughter and my lives we're talking about. Your life. Abi having to go on living without you coming home at night. The greater fucking good is an excuse for all the shit cops do in the name of the law."

"Law ain't got nothin' to do with it, Marie. Justice has."

I sighed. There was that word again.

"Justice is not the law. They are two different things entirely."

I wanted to remain angry at Pierce. I was still angry. I am still angry. But I was also beginning to see things from his point of view. This wasn't going to stop. Now more so than ever, I was aware of that fact. They'd been talking about an accomplice in the kitchen just now, a contact that McLaren’s goon had roped into the trap at our flat. Another player. There were people who would help the drug lord, even though he was still behind bars. People who owed him something.

I should know, I'd seen the debts all written in black and white, in a leather bound notebook, which I had stolen over five years ago. Hell, I could even go dig it up and read through the names and know exactly who was helping out the tattooed freak.

No, this wasn't going to stop and it could potentially get worse now. More accomplices or acquaintances called in to pay back a debt. Next time the outcome might be different. Next time Ben might not make it back. Adam could be killed as well. Abi? She works for ASI too, could she be next?

This was bigger than just Daisy and me now. I knew this. Pierce had known it from the start. The moment I came under McLaren's attention again, Pierce knew other's would be at risk as well. Those obligated to protect us. Those just doing their job.

"You OK?" Ben asked, in his gruff, low voice.

I shook my head. No, I was not OK. I had serious doubts about ever being OK again. But could I change it? Could I change the future by taking a further risk with our lives? Did I have a choice?

This was not going to stop, it was going to get worse. And people, I was quickly becoming to care for, could die.

I wanted to talk to Daisy about it. To get her opinion, to ask her what she wanted to do. But she is only five years old. I'm the adult. It was up to me to make this decision. A decision I did not want to make, but I had to, in order to save more than just one person in the end.

"I need to talk to Pierce," I said, noting my voice sounded scratchy and a little too scared.

"Good call," Ben said gruffly, and turned on his heel heading back to the house. I wasn't sure if I should follow him. But I didn't think my legs would carry me right now.

I sat and waited, swinging on my swing. I wondered who else was watching. Eric at ASI? Those two names Ben mentioned doing perimeter checks? The women from inside the house? They seemed capable of eavesdropping. Hell, I'd led the charge on the eavesdropping front when we were outside the kitchen before. It didn't matter, this was going to be purely professional. Me talking to a cop, who was just doing his job.

Pierce walked out of the house, down the steps on the deck, and across the lawn towards me. He looked tired, worn down. Wary. And could that be regretful? Yeah, I think that's what I saw. A whole lot of wish-I'd-played-this-differently streaming across his handsome face.

"Hey," he said, when he came within talking distance. "You wanted to see me?"

I nodded, still swinging, staring right up into those gorgeous brown eyes that seemed to go on forever. I blinked and looked away, clearing my throat. Great way to start the professional conversation.

"I know you were just doing your job," I said, and he moved closer, then surprised me by sitting down on the grass at my feet.

What a strange thing to do.

"It's my job to protect you, Marie," he said, stretching his legs out in front of him and resting back on straight arms. "I failed. I'm sorry."

That wasn't what I wanted an apology for. But if he couldn't work that out, then I wasn't going to be the one to educate him.

I took a deep breath in and stared up at the blue sky. Clouds skittered across it, breaking up the monotony, creating a canvas of interesting shapes and shadows.

"You want the ledger," I said, and heard Pierce suck in a deep breath.

"It's a ledger?" he asked. "What of?"

"Every single business transaction, every single extortion he enacted, every single favour owed him, from the ten years prior to Rick's death."

Silence. I tipped my head down and looked at him. He was breathing a little quickly, staring at the ground, thinking it all through.

"Names, dates and amounts?" he asked, not looking up.

"Yes, as well as what 'jobs' he got them to do in payment. The descriptions are sometimes quite elaborate. Some even have pictures attached."