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kaeda-the-wolf · 25 days

Text

Diego Jimenez x Lauren Wolffe (OFC)

Word Count; 1,522

Part 3: Burning Bridges

In which Lauren's anger reaches a boiling point and her questions get a bit better of an answer than she bargained for.

Warnings: Language, mentions of murder, slight physical altercation

Author's note: This chapter is brought to you by me wishing I was still on vacation in northern Michigan.

Also, here's an offering: A Delicate Balance - Playlist

Any gifs used in any posts for this story do not belong to me.

Lauren bursts through the front door out onto the sidewalk just as Muñoz and Nguyen are about to get into a cab, having taken the stairs down two at a time. The sky outside is still a dismal grey; the rain that had been threatening to fall since earlier had finally broken free. Ice cold needles pelt against her hair, her skin.

She's too angry to care.

Catching sight of Lauren, Brian quietly instructs his client to get in the vehicle. Muñoz wisely does as he's told, but not without a smug smirk that she wants to wipe right off his fucking face.

"Can I help you, Detective Wolffe?" Brian questions, deceptively pleasant.

Lauren doesn't even bother to attempt the same facade, choosing instead to get right to the point.

"He's one of Jimenez's guys, isn't he?"

Nguyen's face turns sour in an instant. It's not a particularly endearing expression, especially not for someone who's profession centered around keeping a cool and level head.

"Careful, Detective-"

"Well? Is he?" Lauren demands, cutting the lawyer off. She's completely indignant, not caring if she's toeing a dangerous line.

"Lauren," Brian says in a low voice, his tone sharp. It carries a warning. "Don’t go setting fires to bridges you don't need to."

His words are cryptic, or at least they are to everyone but her; she understands perfectly well what he means, but doesn't care.

A little boy is dead, and he is allowing the pathetic waste of life responsible for the boy's murder go free?

"Just answer the fucking question," she snarls.

It doesn't make sense. It doesn't fucking make sense. If this piece of shit was one of Jimenez's guys, then what was the angle of this? What purpose was there in paying the bail, cutting Muñoz loose? He was a murderer, had killed an innocent child in cold blood and it just makes no sense, especially when-

"Did you not hear what I just said," Brian bites back, cool composure slipping.

"I don't-"

"Let me rephrase, Wolffe- don't go burning bridges that you-" he pauses, dropping his voice to what is barely above a whisper under the downpour of rain, "and especially not your daughter can afford to burn."

She sees red at the mention of Ellie, and it takes all the willpower she has to contain her temper.

"Don't bring my daughter into this-"

"But that's exactly what this is about, isn't it?"

Of course it is.

"Fuck you."

Brian rolls his eyes, closing his umbrella, "How articulate, Detective."

"Answer my fucking question," Lauren nearly yells, stepping forward to grab the door of the still waiting cab as Nguyen opens it, preparing to get in. He is quicker though, barking out a quick 'good day, Detective' before wrenching the door out of her grip, slamming the door shut in her face. Impulse takes over and she slams her hand down on the top of it, cursing and sputtering. She staggers on the sidewalk for a moment, watching as the cab makes it's way further up the block only to get stuck at a light thanks to traffic.

Thinking on her feet, she hails down a cab. One pulls to a sharp stop in front of her, tires screeching on the wet pavement. Climbing in the back, she flashes her badge at the driver and instructs him to follow the cab up ahead of them. The driver does so, turning them down street after street, until they come into a warehouse district about thirty minutes later. Lauren has the driver of her cab stop just up the street away from Nguyen and Muñoz, just far enough away to not be suspicious. Grabbing a twenty dollar bill from her wallet, Lauren passes it to the driver with a quiet ‘thank you’, and then gets out. Lauren walks to the end of the sidewalk, watching as Nguyen and Muñoz step out onto the sidewalk.

Muñoz's body language is jerky; he's bouncing on the balls of his feet, hands braced together. He's smiling, happy to be out of her precinct’s holding cell.

The sight leaves a bitter taste in her mouth.

Muñoz is out, walking free, just because he's got connections?

But Lauren has connections, too.

She just had to-

“Interesting finding you here, Detective.”

She turns slowly, looking over her shoulder, and meets the dark eyes of a lone figure. Diego Jimenez himself -boss of the Jimenez Cartel, one of the biggest players in the drug trade on the East Coast- grins at her like the Cheshire cat, smiling from ear to ear. Dressed like always in dark clothes that no doubt carry a price tag that would make her cringe, he is the picture of both excess and power, regal as she's ever seen him.

“This warehouse district is one of the places you do your dirty work; I figured I might find you here. You don't seem surprised to see me.”

“No, Nguyen called, said you-”

“What the fuck is this,” Lauren hisses out.

“Detective-”

“Do you have any idea what he fucking did?”

Lauren cuts him off, reaching into her coat pocket for the photo of the boy. She’s already spent hours looking at it -at all of the crime scene photos- and it still turns her stomach. She wants it to turn his stomach too, she wants to see rage burning in his eyes.

She wants to see the side of the man that she saw when she built those bridges that Nguyen had warned her not to go burning.

“This-” Lauren holds up the photo, practically shoving it in Jimenez's face. “This is what one of your guys did and you fucking bailed him out!”

He merely leans back, still smiling, and fixes his dark eyes right on her face. Lauren grits her teeth so hard she thinks they might shatter.

“As much as I admire your passion, Detective, it's misplaced.”

“Misplaced?” Lauren seethes, yanking the photo away from him. “He beat a seven year old boy to death and you think my anger is fucking misplaced?”

It doesn't make sense. He doesn't make sense.

Jimenez was a lot of things.

Businessman. Party animal. Deviant.

The list went on.

But one thing he was not, was someone who would condone the harming of a child.

Or at least, she didn't think he would.

“I'm well aware of what Muñoz did, Detective.”

“So then you condone it?”

Jimenez opens his mouth to respond, but Lauren doesn't let him.

“And you're a liar,” she snarls, and his expression shifts.

Jimenez strikes like a cat stalking prey; still and watching in one second, and then he pounces in the next. In an instant, he's got Lauren in his claws. Her back collides with the cold, wet brick wall of the alley and she bares her teeth. Throwing her arm up, she brings an elbow down hard, attempting to break his grip. It does her little good; he merely snatches her wrist, pinning it to the wall as his other hand comes up, grabbing her by the neck just hard enough to make a point. He knows she can’t overpower him, even if she tries; while they’re fairly even in height, he’s significantly stronger.

That doesn’t stop her from trying.

“All your fucking talk-” Lauren grabs the wrist of the hand he’s got crushed against her throat, digging her nails in hard enough that she knows it should hurt. If it does, he betrays no reaction. “-about how you don't harm children, how you don't allow your men to harm children. It was all just a line of bullshit.”

“Detective-”

She releases his hand, nails going for his face instead. With ease, he yanks her forward, slamming her back into the wall.

Lauren winces, and through a wheezing breath spits out, “will my daughter be a target, next?”

She's definitely burning the bridge, but she doesn’t care.

Their deal had been made for the benefit of Ellie, built on the one shred of moral standing that Jimenez claimed he had. If he’s going to allow someone who would murder a child in his ranks, then their deal is void, built on a lie, and she’ll take whatever retaliation he dishes out in return.

“When our arrangement no longer benefits you, are you going to go after her,” Lauren continues, her heart aching at the thought, because if he did, it’d be her fault.

Ellie had suffered since she was born because of her poor choices, and she was just trying to do the best she could-

“Of course not,” Jimenez responds, and Lauren finally lets him speak. “I have no reason to.”

“Then why pay the bail?”

Jimenez breathes in deeply through his nose and then huffs out a laugh, the grin on his face nothing short of maniacal.

“I paid the bail,” he says sharply, and Lauren’s breath catches. His dark eyes are glistening, full of rage, full of promise, and she’s entranced when his voice drops lower than she’s ever heard it as he growls out, “ I paid the bail because I'm going to eviscerate him.”

@1zashreena1

#maurice compte #diego jimenez #lauren wolffe #DETECTIVE!#things get interesting in the next chapter #starting to lay the foundation of Lauren and Diego's relationship #She refers to him as Jimenez because its impersonal #that will change #I really hope Lauren's moral compass is showing #she's a good cop but she will do ANYTHING for her kid #ANYTHING #Ellie Wolffe #This is not proof read because my brain is mush #this feels like mostly word vomit #feel free to hit me up if you wanna be added onto a tag list

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