The Wrath Walker (The Wrath Series Book 1) by Matthew Newson (moboreader txt) 📕

retiring and moving on to bigger and better things. I have been hearing some good things about you.”

“Me? Like what?”

“Yes you, and things like, this kid has an eye for detail like no other, and that your score was one of the highest in the precinct on the detective exam. I asked our boss if you could be assigned to me. I think we’d be unstoppable together. What do you think?”

I pumped his hand up and down in our handshake. “Yeah! Yes, I’m honored that would be great.”

“Okay, I just need one thing, kid.”

“Yes, anything,” I said like an overexcited child.

“I’m going to need my hand back.”

I quickly released Ron’s hand, and felt like the biggest idiot in the world. “Yes sir, I’m sorry about that.”

I felt like I had received a little bit of hope on one of the worst days of my life. Lizzie not being able to stand next to me when they lowered my father’s casket into the ground was extremely hard, but we both knew why she couldn’t be by my side.

I took two weeks to settle my father’s affairs, and Lizzie helped me while I tried to manage my grieving heart. As soon as everything was done, I tossed myself back into work to distract my mind from the pain of the loss.

“Welcome back, kid, are you ready for the big leagues?” Ron said as I walked in the door on my first day as a detective.

“Yes sir,” I happily responded.

“Good, now let’s get to work.”

I always knew there was an element of organized crime in the city of Black Castle, but I had no idea as to how deep or far it ran. Ron went over a massive case he had worked on for over a year against the Ricci family. That apparently wasn’t the only Italian mob family in the city. There was also the Amara family, but Ron assured me they were too small to be of any real threat. He also said after we took down the Riccis, we would go after the Amaras.

So, we went to work.

Over the next two years, we dismantled practically the entire Ricci family crime ring. We shut down their illegal gambling and sports betting operations, which accounted for the majority of their empire. They didn’t like that, and they even tried to kill Ron and myself a few times. They put a bomb on his car, and the thing didn’t even go off. They did an old-fashioned, drive-by shooting on me, but I was able to hide behind a car for protection. Ron and I wouldn’t be intimidated, and he kept after the Riccis. Ron taught me so much about being a detective in that first year, and when he started asking me to do little favors for him, I didn’t mind. I would mail packages for him from time-to-time. He said they were care packages for his elderly mother. I’d even drop off a deposit or two for him at his bank on my way home from the extra side jobs all cops do to help make ends meet.

I had worked harder in those two years than I had in my life, and it caused Lizzie and I to drift apart. The worst part of all is I didn’t see how Ron was using me to help him take out the competition for the Amaras. As we shut down an area of illegal business for the Riccis, the Amaras quietly came and restored it under their authority, so they could reap the benefits. I was blind to my problems with Lizzie and the other criminal activity because I looked to Ron as a surrogate father who could do no wrong. I believed whatever he told me to think about a situation. One time he asked if I would help him on a side job that consisted of bodyguard work for some businessmen who were a little rattled by what was going on in the streets. The Riccis lashed out from our work costing them their hold on the city. I told him sure, but Lizzie warned me that it didn’t seem right. I told her she had to be mistaken, and that Ron was one of the best cops on the force.

That evening when I showed up, Ron, a number of low-level Amaras, and some random Black Castle citizens were arrested when the FBI raided the Amara’s secret and illegal poker game. I, too, was arrested that night in connection with Ron and the Amara family, and brought in for questioning.

Apparently, the packages Ron had me send were not care packages to his elderly mother, and the deposits turned out to be extra money the Amaras paid Ron for his services in aiding them in dismantling the Ricci’s organization. The FBI had pictures of me sending the packages and dropping off the deposits, and several pictures of Ron performing many other illegal activities. I was mortified at what I saw. Part of me still was.

I was immediately suspended pending the investigation, but I knew at that moment my career was over. The looks all of my fellow officers gave me are still burned in my mind. Lizzie posted my bond, and I was placed under house arrest until the trial. The night Lizzie bailed me out of jail, she ended our relationship.

As we stepped outside of the jail, she turned to me with tears in her eyes. “How could you do this to us?”

I was beyond ashamed of myself, and still in shock over what Ron had been doing. “I’m sorry, Lizzie. I had no idea what Ron was doing. You have to believe me.”

“Well, I don’t. I don’t believe you. I told you so many times, and you brushed me off every time like I didn’t even matter.” Her eyes filled with tears. “I can’t do this anymore.”

“Lizzie, please don’t do this to me, not now. I love you.”

“It’s not just this, but it’s everything from the past two years. I’m sorry,