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But she had only just high-stepped her way into the precinct before she heard her name, with her brand new title, spoken out loud for the first time. “ Detective Ross ?”

It was music to her ears many years in the making. She smiled at the husky white man heading toward her. “Yes, I’m Detective Ross.”

“I’m Detective Carter. We’re partners. Let’s go.”

Roni knew detective work was just that fast-paced and unpredictable, but this was her first day. Could she at least sign in? “I’ll sign in and be right with you.”

Carter stopped walking and looked at her. “I said let’s go!”

He spoke to her as if she was a dog, not a colleague. And that was all it took for Roni. Her temper flared as she looked him up and down as if he had some nerve. He wasn’t even her supervisor, what was his problem? “I’ll sign in and be right with you,” she said firmly, and then she made her way to the squad room.

She knew her new partner was going to think she was an asshole from way back, but that was his problem. This was the first day of her new career. She was determined to dot every I and cross every T and nobody was going to rush her or bully her into doing anything other than that. This was still a job with protocol. And protocol dictated that she sign in. She signed in.

When she made it outside, Carter was sitting in his unmarked detective’s car as if he was royally pissed with her. His round, jowly face had even turned beet-red. But at least he had waited on her.

But as soon as she got in his car, and before she could close the door good, he was speeding away. She looked at him with a check you out look on her face. If his behavior was any indication of their partnership , she knew she was doomed to be the lone wolf she usually ended up being. Which she hated being. She loved the comradery of being cops in it together. But she never was the type to go along to get along. And that was what it usually took.

They didn’t talk. Not even a how long have you been a cop , or how do feel about your new position nothing talk. Until they arrived at a rundown apartment complex in the worst part of town.

He turned and looked at her. “I know you’ve heard of Bruce and Gabe. They call them BG around the department.”

She nodded. “I don’t personally know them. But I have a friend that mentioned them to me.”

“That’s who’s on the case. BG. So don’t go telling them how to do their job. They hate that with a passion. They’re legendary for a reason. And they know, like I know, that a lot of great cops were up for that detective vacancy that thanks to your rich boyfriend you just filled.”

Roni’s heart dropped. She knew they would think that was all there was to her: that she was some whore who slept her way to the top. That she was some slut that slung it around to Brax for favors. They were already underestimating her. But that was their problem. She didn’t like it one bit, but she learned long ago to never fight against people’s perceptions of her. She could show them who she was better than she could ever tell them. She was going to show them.

But Roni’s silence allowed Carter to keep on yapping as if she was bending the knee and would be at his beck and call too. “You just keep your pretty little stupid mouth shut and watch and learn. I’m the boss. I talk for both of us. You say nothing because everybody knows you have nothing useful to say anyway. So just keep that trap of yours button up. Understood?”

Roni frowned. She knew she had to get this character straight and get him straight right now. “What do you think I am? A fucking rookie?”

“I think you’re an unqualified diversity hire,” said Carter, “which is worse.”

Now Roni was pissed. “ I’m unqualified? Me ? You must have me mixed up with your ass if you think I’m unqualified. I’ve been a cop for nearly a decade, what are you talking about? And I spent all of that time with the NYPD bitch. Which means I know what I’m doing. Which means you don’t have to tell me how to comport myself like I’m some underling to you ever. As if diversity means unqualified when your ass knows it usually means overqualified but never given the access to get ahead. So boy bye. You can get the fuck out of my face with that bullshit!”

She could tell Carter never expected that kind of fire to come from what he called her pretty little stupid mouth . It took several seconds of him picking his pride off the floor before he responded.

But before he spoke, he smiled. Then he nodded. “They said you were a handful. I was just seeing who I was dealing with. But good. You can hold your own. I respect that.” Then he pointed his beefy pink finger at her. “But call me a bitch again and we got a problem. Fair?”

Roni chuckled and then nodded. “That’s fair,” she said.

And then they were about to get out of the car. But Carter stopped and looked at her. “But I’m not kidding about BG. The public thinks they’re legendary because of their case success rates. The criminals know they’re legendary for an entirely different reason. And it ain’t never by the book reasons either. Just be aware of that.”

Roni knew that detectives, especially those in Robbery/Homicide, could be assholes extraordinaire. But rep or no rep, they weren’t manhandling her.

But when they took the rickety elevator to the fourth floor and knocked on the door of apartment 813, and Bruce of the infamous Bruce and Gabe dynamic duo opened the door and gave her a hard look over, she had the feeling she was about to be initiated. She was about to be tried by fire. If she wasn’t careful, and if she ceded even an inch of her self-worth to any of them in that apartment, she was going to be hung out to dry. She could feel it.

“Who’s this?” Bruce asked Carter.

“Veronica Ross. Brand new detective. Today’s her first day. I was the unlucky bastard to draw the short stick.”

Bruce grinned. “They must hate your guts putting you with a diversity hire,” he said to Carter.

But Roni answered for Carter. “He’s not so bad,” she said to Bruce’s shock. “He’s no worse than all the other white guys that got their positions because they were guys and white. I’m used to it.”

Bruce’s grin was gone. “You got jokes I see.”

“You got bullshit I see,” Roni shot back.

Bruce gave her a hard look, and Roni matched his look. So much so that it was Bruce that backed down from the ledge and then he opened the door further. And allowed her and Carter to walk on in.

When they walked in and Roni saw that they had a suspect in that apartment that they had already beaten up pretty badly, a part of her wanted to turn around and walk back out. She hated that part of the job. But she was a detective now. She was in the big leagues now. Roughing up the bad guys to get intel on the even worse guys went with the territory. She stayed where she was, steeled herself, and watched the dynamic duo earn their rep.

By the time she and Carter left that apartment, blood was everywhere and the suspect was nearly unconscious. But BG got out of him that one name they needed to move their case along. To once again live up to the hype. Roni and Carter had to clean up their mess and take the suspect to the hospital.

Carter was celebrating when they got back in his car. “Did you see how they took his arrogant ass and cut him down to size? Did you see that? It was textbook, man. The best interrogation I’ve ever seen. And they want us with them on other assignments too? They want us, Ross, when they could pick any other detectives to accompany them. But they want us. Your first day and already we’re moving on up! You’re my good luck charm, Ross. That’s what you are.”

Roni smiled, although she knew that lucky charm business was nonsense. But she also knew that BG had serious clout in Victorville and if they liked you, moving up the ranks was all but guaranteed.

But the way they went about it, nearly killing somebody no matter how despicable he was, didn’t sit right with her. Not that she was some innocent. She’d roughed up plenty of rotten fish in her day to get intel on the sharks too. She knew this was how the game was played. And she knew if she expected to stay on the field, she had to play it too. That was why she was smiling. That was why she was agreeing with Carter. If she played it just right, then one day she would be in BG’s shoes and could call the shots herself. Then one day she could kick all the BG types off of the police force and clear the whole place of their stench. What she learned, after that shooting in New York, was that if she expected to remain in the profession she loved, she had to play the long game. The ends had to justify the means for her. And she had to accept that getting to that end was by its very nature going to be a bitch.

When they arrived at the precinct, and while Carter was bragging to their colleagues about their excellent morning, Roni was in the bathroom in one of the stalls, bent over the toilet throwing up.