with a high-profile unit like ESU was what she’d truly wanted to do. Of course, her dad would never have had that conversation with her brother. Brian was a detective in Manhattan. He was the perfect cop who never once caused trouble. He was the shining example, and she was still trying to keep up, trying to make her parents see her as something more than the girl who hadn’t wanted to wear flouncy dresses and play the part of pretty daughter.
Yet she’d married the man her mother had set her up with.
Hadn’t that been a mistake. “I quit.”
Joel stopped and turned her way. He took a deep breath and nodded. “I think that’s the first mature decision you’ve made. We can talk about this at home tonight. There are many things you can do that don’t involve NYPD. It’s time to start a family. It’s time for you to come home.”
He didn’t understand her at all, but he was right about one thing. She wouldn’t go anywhere with the NYPD, and she wasn’t over what had happened to her partner. It was time to go somewhere different. Maybe Chicago or LA. Boston was close enough that she could see her family.
Or maybe somewhere farther. A place where no one cared that she came from a long-celebrated line of NYPD cops.
Where no one cared that she’d been the one who disappointed them all.
She placed her shield and gun on his desk. “You can give these to Stephens since you’re such good friends.”
Cool gray eyes rolled. He truly was a gorgeous man, but now she could see the coldness behind those good looks. He was more mannequin than man. “You know I don’t like Stephens. I’m simply smart enough to pick my fights carefully. But I do think it’s a good idea you don’t see him again. You lose your temper so easily.”
She hadn’t lost her temper nearly enough. “I’m also quitting you, Joel. I’ll be out of the apartment before you get home.”
She wouldn’t take much. They’d been married for four years and she couldn’t think of a thing they’d bought together that she wanted to keep. Any memento of him would be a reminder of how she’d lost herself. How she’d settled because her mom had convinced her life couldn’t be complete without a marriage and kids.
She’d wanted both, but she’d also wanted a partner, someone who would back her up, who cared about her career as much as he cared about his.
Like Benjy’s wife had. Her partner’s wife had been endlessly supportive—even when Benjy died. She hadn’t blamed Roxie. She’d held her hand as they’d watched the coffin be lowered.
He adored you, Roxie. He wanted you to be happy. I don’t think you’re happy, honey.
She wasn’t. Maybe she never had been.
“I should have known you would behave like a child,” her soon-to-be ex-husband said. “I’ll talk to you when you’ve taken the time to cool off.”
She walked out because she wasn’t planning on talking to him again. It was odd. She’d spent the last year worried that her marriage would end, and now all she felt was an odd sense of relief.
It was over. Her career. Her marriage. Any shot at being the daughter her parents had wanted. The last part sparked a sense of sorrow, but she couldn’t let that hold her back anymore.
“Roxanne!” Joel shouted her name, finally showing a crack in his calm composure.
But she didn’t look back. She got on the elevator and hit the button for the ground floor. Rock bottom. That was where she was going, and it was a freeing idea.
But still, her gut twisted as she thought about finding a new job. Joel’s influence went far and wide. Quitting with a bad review and no real references might make the larger city PDs hard to get on.
As the elevator made its way down and she could feel her cell phone vibrating, a thought crossed her mind. She’d recently met a small-town sheriff. Armie LaVigne. They’d met at a conference and he’d talked about making the transition from New Orleans PD to some weird town in Southern Louisiana. Pappy Lon or something like that.
She’d liked him. He was smart and seemed interested in real community policing.
Maybe he could give her some advice. New Orleans would be a change of pace, and Sheriff LaVigne likely still had contacts there.
Yes, another big city. She didn’t want too much change, after all.
chapter one
PAPILLON, LOUISIANA
Present day
Roxanne King stared at the man who’d called her out