Badge of Honor (The Town of Pearl 9)

“Enough to turn the other way and allow some murderous thugs to take her out. Any indication of his payoff and why Frankie set her up as well as the other undercover cops and agents?” Mace asked.

“Storm believes that Maxwell had some heavy shit over Frankie. There were some debts he owed and some drugs he cashed in on that weren’t his,” Galvin informed them.

“When did Ortega figure out that Lauren and her sisters were the beneficiaries of the shares in that company?” Orin asked Galvin.

“That information was leaked when Ortega began to look into identifying the shareholder he wanted to buy out. There was a connection to Stephan, and Stephan’s cousin Thor mentioned that the shareholders with the higher amount of shares weren’t Stephan or Dmitri but family members of a man killed during a home invasion. Apparently that’s when Ortega put it together right along the same time the Tenth Street gang bust was going on,” Galvin told them.

“I want to see Frankie,” Lauren stated, interrupting the conversation.

“What?” Harper asked.

“Fuck no. You’re not going near him, Lauren,” Mace raised his voice at her.

“You can’t tell me what I can and can’t do,” she replied.

“The hell we can’t,” Orin said.

She raised her own voice. “Is this how the whole guardianship and ménage works? You all fuck me and then take over my life and take all my rights away from me? You think I’m going to stand here and do as you say and not have any opinion or control over my destiny?”

Mace grabbed her hand and pulled her close.

“First of all we all didn’t just fuck you, we made love to you and marked you our woman.”

“That means our responsibility, our priority,” Orin told her.

“This is not a power trip or a control game. This is real. The threat against your life still stands until we can make the Tenth Street gang’s attention move onto something else. Until we know for certain that you’re safe and secure, you’re not leaving Pearl,” Galvin told her.

“You’re not leaving this house,” Gus added.

“You’re not alone, Lauren. Remember we’ve got your back, and we’re a team,” Harper reminded her.

Mace cupped her cheeks and held her gaze.

“I can understand your shock. To believe that your partner set you up and wasn’t the man, the partner you thought he was and relied on is fucked up. But our sources are the best. It’s true. He set you up, and tried to help get you killed. He’s not the man you thought he was. But we’re not him. We’re in this for the long haul, and will give our lives for you, Lauren. Our lives.”

Her eyes filled with tears as Galvin watched her hug Mace and bury her face in the crook of his neck and shoulder.

“I just can’t believe Frankie would do that to me. I’m sorry about my reaction,” she told them.

Mace caressed her back and Orin joined him rubbing his hand along her shoulder.

“It’s understandable. The best thing we can do now is go over the information we have and go over what you know and what happened from the time the agents asked you to go undercover until the night the Frankie set you up,” Orin said.

“Okay. Let’s go over it. Maybe there were signs, indicators that might help,” she said and Mace walked her over to the kitchen and pulled a chair out for her to sit in. They all gathered around and Galvin felt a mix of emotions. He was touched by how they all were here together and ready to protect Lauren with their lives, and he was scared that they all seemed to find happiness, but some assholes could have the power and the ability to take that happiness away and end Lauren’s life. Galvin needed to ensure that never happened.

* * * *

Orin was having a hard time listening to Lauren describe what she had gone through and how the agents and detectives working the case engaged her.

“It was strange because Frankie didn’t want me to go undercover. He had fought me on it and them, but seeing what Aces and his crew did to the other agents and detectives angered me. I had gone undercover before when I was a rookie. It wasn’t as dangerous as this situation but I felt confident I could handle it.”

“Who was present in that room besides you, Frankie, and your commander?” Galvin asked and she rambled off the names.

“Do you think one of them could also be involved?” she asked with concern.

“Dmitri and Storm found out that there were some corrupt cops involved that night you and Frankie raided the Tenth Street gang at the crack house,” Orin told her.

“It had been weeks since Aces and his brothers disappeared and were in hiding from the cops. When Frankie got that call from his informant, Jasper, he seemed desperate to act fast and before the commander and Hercules and his team could get there to back us up.”