Chapter 1.

Teagan POV.

Looking at the memorial photo on the wall, I feel nothing. Not even twelve years later. If anything, it has been eighteen years ago since I lost him, the same day I lost my mom.

My mom was killed in the line of duty. She was a beat cop, and she loved her job. She was gunned down. It was a wrong place at the wrong time scenario. That day, I lost both my parents. My dad was a renowned FBI agent. The day she died, he was never the same again.

I was seven at the time. I remember being woken by a loud crash and a roar filled with pain; I hid in my closet until my dad found me. He was crying. He told me mommy was with the angels and she wasn’t coming back. I cried, refused to eat, I became a shell. My father, well, he forgot he had a daughter who needed him.

He was too consumed with his work to even notice how bad things were getting, or how his young daughter had to fend for herself. Cooking and cleaning because he was too busy. He never hurt me physically, but the emotional scars were there. He told me he couldn’t look at me because I reminded him of her. My mom.

She would have been devastated to see what he became. He started bringing his work home; he drank and then he started bringing random women into the house. I was forgotten about.

The morning of my thirteenth birthday, that’s when he seemed happy. He wished me happy birthday and apologised for not being there for me, that things going forward were going to be better. He even showed me affection and told me he loved me before he left for work. I was so happy that day when I went to school.

That afternoon when I came home, I baked a cake and waited for him to come home. The usual time for him to come home came and went. My dad didn’t come back. I cried, knowing he had forgotten about me yet again. I vowed then and there I would never shed another tear for him or any man. A vow even to this day I have kept.

That night the doorbell rang, and I opened the door to see agents standing on the porch looking sad. My dad’s boss sobbed, telling me he was sorry, that my daddy was killed in the line of duty. I didn’t cry; I was taken to the local police station. Placed in the temporary care of the state until my aunt Rita, my mom’s sister and her husband Corey came to get me.

They told me they wanted to take me after my mom passed away, but my dad cut them off and refused. I only wish he would have sent me away.

When I moved in with them, we lived in my Corey’s hometown of Jackson, Tennessee. My life was better, filled with love and laughter. Even though I think of my parents, I don’t shed tears for them.

I decided to follow in my mom’s footsteps and I climbed the ranks and graduated early, being head hunted by RICO. I was never told what got my father killed; I bet it had to do with whatever he was working on twelve years ago. I was never allowed in the basement, where he kept his work. It was locked tighter than fort Knox.

I love working for RICO; I have been busting crooks left and right and about ten months ago; I was working on a case that took a year to bring the criminals down. I had them and the promotion in the bag. The promotion to make me the head of the department. But I was betrayed by my then boyfriend Joshua Langton.

The cheeky bastard made the arrest the day before it was due to go down and took the full credit for the bust. I was fuming. The promotion and the big office, which should have been mine, went to that slimy fucker.

All because his daddy is the damn senator of the state. Talk about being seriously fucked over, but the ultimate humiliation came when I walked into his office and found Josh fucking his secretary over the desk.

I filmed it, of course, keyed the bastard’s car, filled his gas tank with sugar. I went back to my apartment and cut up his fancy designer suits and dragged them through dog shit. Placed all his belongings in a pile and had a bonfire.

The beauty of it was, he couldn’t do shit about it, or so I thought. He benched me and so for the last ten months; I have been his personal slave. Stuck behind a desk when I should be out in the field. I can’t do anything about it because he is my boss. Smug bastard.

“Mulholland, in my office now!” Speak of the devil and he shall appear. I give one last look at my father’s smiling face and head into the devil’s lair.

“You hollered. What do you want, Langton?” I ask, folding my arms over my chest and looking at him like I’m bored. He smirks at me as he leans forward and looks me up and down, biting on his bottom lip. Vile!

“I have decided that you need to redeem yourself after the stunt you pulled.” I scoff. He should be lucky I didn’t cut his balls off and shove them down his damn throat.

“Oh really, well how can I refuse?” I say with a roll of my eyes. My southern drawl coming out thick. His eyes looking at my white blouse. He shifts in his chair and I watch his every move.

“I want you undercover. This department has been working for twenty-five years to bring down an organisation. And you, Tea, are perfect for what we need to make this bust. Just think about it. You do this for me. You get what was taken from you,” he says, as he leans back in his executive chair with his hands behind his head as he watches me. Does he listen to himself when he talks?

“Oh really? And what was taken from me?” I ask as I straighten up.

“Your career, you do this and successfully bag them, you will be above me. How I always liked you, taking what you wanted with your hand around my throat.” I pull a face at him and his vile mind. As if I would let his rancid dick anywhere near me again. The man is a walking STD.

“Who is the target?” I ask, ignoring the other shit he is spewing.

“The Moretti’s. This department needs these guys brought in. Everything you need to know is in these files. You will be deep undercover with him and his organisation. You will be on official assignment. You have full clearance and authority to do what is needed to bring them down.” I scoff at him and shake my head slowly. Wow, as if I would fall for that twice.

“If I do this, this is my case. You don’t pull that shit you did ten months ago or I swear to god I will bury you alive.” I smile sweetly at him and he pales. Yes, asshole, I am not playing and he knows it. “So, I will need multiple assignments …”

“You will be on work, residential, and Personal Contact assignments. Look Tea, what I did was shitty and I apologise, I promise I won’t interfere and all the credit goes to you. I just need you to do your job, get close to him, a happy man slips his secrets. Besides, women are the most dangerous creatures there are. You will be perfect for this. Your assets alone are what will get this job bagged and tagged.” He says with a smirk on his face as his eyes roam my body. I fight the gag.

“Assets?”

“Yes, assets. You know what I’m talking about. You have what I don’t.” I chuckle at his brazenness.

“Yes, I have brain cells and not a ragging list of STDs. So what will I be doing to get close to the target and the organisation?” I ask, and he licks his lips. I swear this a sexual harassment suit waiting to happen. But daddy will always make it go away.

“You, my dear, sweet Teagan, will be working in his club. Well, specifically his sex club. You see, out of the other women in the department, you have what it takes and what is needed for this to succeed. You have the brains and, of course, the tits, and ass.” I feel like I’m going to throw up in my mouth. He can’t be fucking serious? It is taking everything in me right now not to shoot him in his dick.

“What? Why me?” in a total of thirty agents, only four of us are women, me included. He isn’t joking. Oh, hell no!

“Well, Sanderson is on maternity leave, Jones is injured and Smith, well, she is too old. So you need to take one for the team and get the job done.” Oh, the boy has gone and lost his mind. Bless his heart. He is courting death.

“If I refuse your very attractive offer?”

“Then you are stuck pushing papers for the rest of your career. So, what will it be sweet-cheeks?” I am so wanting to punch him.

I smirk at him and bat my lashes at him. “Bring it on, sugar.” I say. He smiles and stands buttoning his jacket and moves around the desk to stand in front of me. He picks up the files on his desk and hands them to me.

“Excellent choice, now Tea, don’t let me down and you have my word. All the credit will go to you. You check in once a month, unless your cover has been blown. Just think, if you pull this off. You will be my boss and I would love nothing more than to be your bitch.” He chuckles and I glare at him before I turn on my heels and storm out of his office. Prick!