Page 3 of Stalked By Raiden

River’s jaw works, but he doesn’t argue. That tells me everything. He’s hated that badge since the day they handed him a suspension and called it justice.

“We were damn good artists in college.”

A slow grin tugs at one corner of his mouth. “I remember.”

“We took the licensing exams so we could work to pay tuition. I kept my license current the whole time I sat in the DA’s office.”

River raises an eyebrow at that. I don’t have an answer for him. Some part of me always knew I’d need it.

“We make the shop successful. And then it becomes a front,” I explain.

River goes completely still, and a dangerous look enters his dark brown eyes. I can tell that he understands what I’m trying to say even before I finish.

“We find the predators the law can’t touch.” I let the words settle between us. “We make damn sure they never hurt anyone again.”

For several seconds, only distant traffic fills the silence. River doesn’t laugh and doesn’t question whether I am serious.

“You’ve thought this through,” he finally says. His tone even and thoughtful.

“For years,” I admit.

With that new information, his gaze sharpens. “Who’s first?” he asks.

He already knows the answer. There’s one name I’ve carried since I was sixteen years old. Since a gang shooting took my brother, and the man who ordered it walked out of a courtroom a free man. I spent my whole adult life believing I’d get him with the law.

No hesitation. No doubt. “Drake Krane.”

River’s expression turns murderous. “Yeah. I thought so too,” he says, and that’s all the acknowledgment I need.

“We bring those motherfuckers down,” I say quietly. “Starting with Drake.”

He doesn’t ask for details. Instead, he looks back across the street toward the school. “When do we start?”

A smile I hadn’t felt in years finally surfaces. “I was hoping you’d ask.”

He rolls the keys across his knuckles. “We’ll need Roman and Royal. The four of us again.”

“The four of us,” I agreed, thinking back to how well the four of us worked together in college.

River and I met first. We shared a class with Royal and Roman, and we’ve been friends ever since.

Royal comes from a family whose name opens doors all over this city, and a father he’d rather not owe anything to. He’s also the most gifted man with a keyboard I’ve ever met, not that he advertises it. Roman came home from the Navy a year ago with the look of a man who left something unfinished overseas. Neither of them will ask me for details before they say yes. Life pulled the four of us in different directions, but we’ve always stood by one another. The time is now.

We’ve all spent years cursing the same broken system. Now, we can finally do something about it. For the first time in a long time, I feel something other than anger.

Hope.

Not for the system. That ship has sailed. But for what comes next.

The justice system fired me.

It has no idea what it just created.

Chapter One

Raiden

The view from my apartment window has become as familiar as a tattoo machine in my hand.