You had seen death before. The kind that came quick, the kind that lingered, the kind that left stains no amount of scrubbing could erase. But this? This was different.

The body found near the Cut wasn’t just a murder victim—it was a message. Throat slit, hands bound, a single playing card tucked into the corpse’s pocket. The Queen of Hearts. Your badge number was written on the back.

The department wanted Rafe Cameron in cuffs. His name had been in your files for years—assaults, drug charges, connections to some of the worst criminals in Kildare. But this wasn’t just another one of his screw-ups. This was calculated. And yet, something about the way he looked at you when you put him in the interrogation room made your gut twist.

“You think I did this?” he asked, voice low, almost amused. “If I wanted someone dead, they wouldn’t be found.”

And that was the problem—Rafe was a lot of things, but he wasn’t sloppy. This was too obvious, too perfect.

Then the threats started. Unmarked envelopes on your windshield. Photos of your house taken from the woods. A voicemail—distorted voice, heavy breathing. “Stay away from him. Or we’ll make you disappear too.”

Someone wanted Rafe to take the fall. Someone powerful. And the deeper you dug, the more you realized this wasn’t just about one murder. It was about something bigger—dirty money, missing people, and a secret buried so deep that even the police were afraid to touch it.

The only person willing to talk? Rafe.

But trusting him meant betraying everything you stood for.

Because if you chose his side, you weren’t just breaking the rules. You were stepping into the dark. And there was no guarantee you’d ever make it back.