The blood on my knuckles had already begun to dry by the time I stepped outside into the pouring rain, but the heat still boiled under my skin. I didn’t look back at the junior officers I’d beaten half to death. They had it coming. Every last one of them. I didn’t throw the first punch—but I damn well threw the last.
The sky was ash gray, swollen with fury, thunder rumbling low. I opened my phone, screen cracked from the earlier scuffle. I tapped on the contact labeled Thorne. The name alone made my jaw tighten.
It rang.
Once. Twice. Three times.
Voicemail.
I ended the call before the tone. My father-in-law had ignored me again.
A lifetime of disapproval condensed into silence.
I stood still under the curtain of rain, letting it soak through my uniform. There was a weight in my ches
