Divided (Unguarded #2) - Ivy Stone Page 0,71

answered your phone the first time I called,” he replies, his tone sharp.

“I was gonna call back after talking shit through with Ali. I did just find out I’m having a kid, Mase.”

“Yeah, I get that, and I know you need to wrap your head around this, but I really need you here right now. Can you get here soon?”

I glance over to Ali, who’s again staring out into the night like it holds all the answers to our problems. My jaw ticks. Work is the last place I wanna be right now but when Mason calls you better answer.

“Better be fucking important,” I mumble, not bothering to try and hide my annoyance.

“It is.”

Mason hangs up the phone like he normally does, without a goodbye. I shove the phone back in my pocket and turn to Ali. “They need me at the precinct.”

She tucks her hair behind her ear. “It’s okay. Go do what you’ve gotta do. I get it. Just… come home to me, okay?”

Her words squeeze my heart. Good and bad. This job, it’s got so much to do with the rift between us, the one that’s always been there, separating us, just not separating us enough. I don’t have a chance to respond before Ali’s back is facing me, her small round ass on display in her tight jeans as she walks to the door leading back into the apartment building. The door shuts with a loud thud and I wince. This was not how I wanted this conversation to end. But progress is progress. And tonight, I’ll be going home to my woman.

The familiar street comes into view as I pull into the curb out the front of the precinct. I step out with the scowl on my face I’ve been wearing for the past twenty minutes since I left Ali’s loft.

I breathe in the disarray that greets me the moment I shuffle inside the place that’s always felt like home, the one place I belong. Except now, that’s not true. Because wherever Ali is, that’s where I belong. Some of the tension of the night leaves and I nod acknowledging a few of the officers as I make my way to the back where our squad room is located. Our unit has its own place in the precinct and sometimes behind those doors, it feels like a different world. Outside of those walls, there’s no trust or loyalty. We all stand behind the shield, but some are dipped in blood, not honor. Mason’s disgruntled voice bellows through the room as I twist the door handle open. “No. Shit could turn sideways fast. Bad idea.”

“What’s a bad idea?” I ask and three sets of concerned eyes belonging to my colleagues turn my way. I walk over to my desk and fall into my chair.

Cassidy turns back to Mason. “But boss—”

“It’s not happening.”

“What’s not happening?” I ask again. Frustration building in my tone.

Trey butts in, his expression hesitant and I understand why. No one wants to be on the receiving end of Mason’s wrath.

Trey tilts his head to the side, his face contorts causing the lines around his eyes to bunch. “Might not be a good idea, but it will move things along faster.”

I throw my hands up, the last of my patience gone, along with Trey’s words. “Will someone tell me what the fuck’s going on?”

Trey and Cassidy turn toward each other and Mason looks me directly in the eyes and mentions a name that makes my blood boil. “Lucio Marino. We found him…” his features darken, “…well, kind of.”

Fury reignites, the longing to end the motherfucker who stood by and watched a fifteen-year-old Ali have her innocence stolen from her. Who beat on her, was the whole reason she became addicted to Oxy and put her to work in a strip club, underage. He and his father stole so much from me and so much from her. Pieces of her she may never get back. Her dignity, self-worth, and one thing she’ll never have again—a childhood.

I ball my hands into fists on my desk. “What do you mean kind of?”

Anger surges through me like lightening. I want to kill that bastard, slowly and fucking painfully.

Mase shifts on his feet and crosses his arms over his chest. “One of Trey’s CI’s rang after you left my place a few hours ago. He gave us intel thanks to each of you putting the word out about Marino on the street with your criminal informants. The CI is