(Warning: there will be mentions of psychical abuse in this chapter)
⋆° დ ༄ ADDICTED
chapter four. now is always temporary.
"And...and so this brother comes across the yard, he's all skeezed out on crystal or something and he says...and he says, 'chicken pot pie'. Like I'm supposed to know what that is. Right?" Justin says, as he, Erin and Hank are having dinner at a restaurant, "So my boy looks at him, points back at the block and he says, 'that way'. It did not matter what this cat was on, he just doubles back to where he came from, lickety split. You know what I'm saying?" then he starts cutting into his steak.
"Hey, J, listen, I got some news. Um...I had to pull some strings, but I got you in at the CTA" Hank says. Justin looks between his pops and Erin and says, "That's where...that's where city workers send their loser relatives"
"It's a job. And it'll help you get back on your feet" Erin says, taking a bite of her food.
"You know, you sound more and more like him everyday, right?"
"You start monday" Hank says. Justin sighs and says, "Yeah, pop. Sure. And where's LeLe by the way, she's supposed to be here"
"I texted her and she said she couldn't make it" Erin tells him. Justin scoffs and says, "What? She knows how much I wanted her here. She wouldn't just not come"
Hank's phone starts ringing and he says, "Excuse me. I got to take this" then he gets up from the table and leaves. Justin folds his arms over his chest and says, "Strange how things worked out, huh?"
"How's that?" Erin asks.
"When we took you three in, you guys were the problem. And now you're the golden girls, and I'm the prodigal son. Then he took Lola in..."
"Because her dad died. Anyways, here we are, Justin. And now you have a second chance. So don't piss on it. And I don't know what's going on between you and Riley, but it needs to stop"
Justin rolls his eyes and says, "Whatever" when Hank walks back over to them.
"We gotta roll" Hank says, then pats Justin on his arm, "I'm sorry, kid"
Then the two make their way out of the restaurant.
🌟🌟🌟
After texting Erin back that she couldn't make it to dinner. Riley looks into the mirror in her apartment, that's shattered and tears staining her face. She rolls down the sleeves of her shirt, not wanting to see the bruising anymore and bandages her cut up hand from the glass.
Riley leaves the bathroom to hear knocking at her door and she sighs, ignoring it and continues to her bedroom. As the knocks became more persistent, the voice says, "LeLe, it's me"
Riley then walks to the door and wipes the tears away and opens the door and says, "Hey, J, what's up?"
"I wanted to see you. You didn't come to dinner"
"I know. Sorry, I uh, had other plans I couldn't break"
"Can I come in?"
"Not tonight, J. I'm tired"
Justin looks down at the girls hand, who notices and quickly hides it under her sleeve and says, "What happened to your hand?"
"Nothing. I was cooking and cut my hand by accident"
Justin raises an eyebrow and says, "You can't cook"
Riley scoffs and says, "I don't have time for this. Leave, Justin. Now"
"LeLe, I'm sorry, I-" Riley cuts the brunette off and says, "I don't care, okay?" then she slams the door in his face, then turns to slide down to the floor on her butt and brings her knees to her chest and starts crying again.
🌟🌟🌟
Riley walks onto the unit and goes to sit at her desk, drinking a Red Bull, when Hank says, "Dean Masters was a hotshot artist in his 20's. Work dried up, picked up a drug habit. He's suspected of not only being a fence but also for forging paintings"
"What was that thing Intelligence had on him?" Antonio asks.
"A stolen Klimt, never resurfaced" Erin answers.
"What the hell's a klimt?" Adam questions.
"An artist"
"Named Klimt?"
"Yeah"
"That's a funny name, right? Or am I alone on this? Klimt, say it out loud"
"It's kinda funny, yeah" Jake says, taking a sip of his coffee and Erin gives him a look.
"So this whole 'they're gonna kill me' thing that Masters was going on about was either about the stolen painting or something else" Voight says.
"Or he was just tripping and talking nonsense" Jay suggests, "I mean, did you see his pupils? He was gakked out of his mind"
"We got a known suspect who took his own life rather than face something heavy duty. We pursue the case"
Al walks onto the unit with a girl who was found at the house with Masters and Hank says, "Erin, you take this one"
Erin walks over to the girl and asks, "How you feeling?"
"Like hell" the woman says.
"Yeah. Let's get a cup of coffee" Erin says, then brings them into the break room.
Riley gets up from her desk and heads to the locker room. Jake notices something wrong with his friend, and decides to follow after her and says, "Hey, Ri. You okay?"
Riley quickly wipes her eyes and turns around and says, "I'm great, why?"
"You just don't seem like yourself"
"I'm fine. So mind your business" Riley says, walking into the locker room. Jake puts his arms up in defense and says, "Alright, sorry"
~~~
After talking with a girl named Nadia, who was one of Master's favorite girls, Erin walks onto the unit from the roll up and sees her sister sitting at her desk, and notices her bandaged hand and an unopened can of red Bull and says, "Ri, what happened to your hand?"
"I cut it by accident"
Erin sits on the edge of her sister's desk and says, "Are you gonna tell me the real reason?"
"What is with everyone? I'm fine, alright?" Riley says, getting up from her desk and walking down the back staircase. Erin scoffs and follows after her sister and says, "Riley Marie Lindsay. Stop running away"
"I'm not running away, Erin. I just want everyone to leave me alone"
"Well, we're not because we care about you"
"Well, does it look like I care? Cause I don't"
Erin grabs her older sister's arm to turn her around, when she flinches and says, "Ow"
"Ow? Why'd you say ow? What's wrong with your arm?"
"Nothing. Just leave me alone, Erin" Riley says, quickly walking through the roll up and out to the police parking lot.
~~~
After raiding Master's house, the team falls upon a hidden room in the basement where fake money stamps were, that he made fake money with.
"I mean, that is some serious talent, man" Adam says, looking over the money stamps with everyone, "He's a failed artist?"
"Yup" Erin says.
"It's funny, the things people end up doing when they can't do what they really want"
Jay leans over to Erin and whispers, "Hey, where's Riley?"
"I think she's in the bathroom" Erin whispers back.
"Alright, this is agent Joe Hill" Hank annonces, walking onto the unit with a secret service agent, "Secret Service, Chicago Field Office. We go back a-ways"
Jake goes in for a handshake with the man and says, "Where's your earpiece and your sunglasses?"
"That's only when Obama's in town" Hill says. Riley walks onto the bullpen from the bathroom when Erin says, "Does this mean we're handing the case over?"
"No, technically I can't get involved unless there's actual counterfeit currency found, but Hank just thought I could help"
"Oh" Erin says, giving the man a handshake.
"Now, I thought, uh, counterfeiters were using high end printers nowadays," Jay says, looking at the stamp, as Riley goes to stand next to her sister, picking at the ends of her sweatshirt.
"Well, there's digital tech that'll print a pretty good five or 10 and then you pass it off at Walgreens buying dollar items. That's what we call 'baby laundering'. Using plates, this is old school. Takes some real work" Hill states.
"There's three steps, the plates, the paper, and the printer. Guess who we're looking for now?" Hank says. Jin walks over to the group looking at his phone, squeezing a stress doll and says, "Now, the hooker who kicked Ruzek in the nuts" as Adam shakes his head in disappointment.
"Wait, what?" Riley says, in shock.
"Nothing. It's nothing. Carry on please" Adam says.
"How did she characterize her interaction with Dean Masters?" Jin asks Erin. Erin shrugs and says, "Went to his place once"
"45 text messages between him and her over the last two weeks" Jin says, and Erin immediately walks away to talk with Nadia.
Hank looks at Riley, who looks back at him and nods his head towards his office. As Hank closes the door behind him, he says, "So, is there anything you want to tell me?"
"No" the brunette says, picking at the ends of her sweatshirt.
"Erin came to me"
"Hank there's nothing to tell and she should really mind her own business"
"Riley..."
Riley scoffs and says, "If there was something to tell you. I'd tell you. But there isn't, okay? Is there anything else"
"No"
"Okay" The detective says, opening the door to leave.
~~~
"PODs found a match to the delivery van with the jesus fish on the back" Jin says, showing the team the footage he found.
"Hmm" Erin hums.
"You know, the symbol is actually called 'ichthys', but..."
"Jin"
"Fine, you know what? Keep calling it a jesus fish. Knock yourself out" Jim says, typing on the laptop, "I also found something else"
"Tabernacle?" Jay asks.
"Yeah, this van's registered to the Tabernacle of Divinity. It's a storefront church on 63rd and Cal. They use it to deliver meals to the elderly"
"That's Pastor Mike's place. An ex-GD" Antonio says, "Supposedly underwent a jailhouse conversion a few years back. Guess it didn't take"
"Alright, I'll show Nadia a line up of this guy and his associates. If she picks anybody out, I'll get a warrant" Erin says, walking away.
🌟🌟🌟
After raiding the Tabernacle of Divinity. The team meets out back where the guests of honor are being put into the back of cars, when Jay says, "No plates. No paper. No sign of any printing operation"
"We really think Pastor Mike has the skills for counterfeiting?" Riley asks.
🌟🌟🌟
Riley is in the locker room putting water on her face when Jay walks in and says, "Hey"
Riley turns the sink off, as Jay hands her, her towel from her locker and says, "Hey"
"You good?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" Riley asks, walking to her locker and hanging the towel on the hook.
"Because you don't seem well"
"I'm fine, Jay. Okay?"
"I'm your partner. You should be able to tell me anything"
"Oh, really? Do you tell me everything?"
"I would like to think so"
"Yeah, I doubt it" The brunette says, closing her locker and leaving to head back onto the bullpen.
Antonio leaves Hank's office with Secret Service agent Joe Hill and says,"Alright, Pastor Mike was contracted by this man.." then he tapes a picture onto the board, "Glenn Ward. Now, Ward has done federal time in Leavenworth for counterfeiting. But how Ward and his printing crew hooked up with Dean Masters and Noel Harris is anybody's guess. And why the two of them are both dead now? Who knows?"
"Pastor Mike didn't say why Ward wanted them dead?" Jake asks.
"He didn't ask"
"It could be any reason. Somebody wanted a bigger cut, threatened to snitch, banged somebody's girlfriend" Erin says.
"Any one of those scenarios"
"One of Ward's aliases is Denis Diderot" Hill says.
"A counterfeiter and a fan of french literature. Can't wait to meet him" Al says.
"Hey, Sarg" Adam says, as he walks onto the bullpen from the tech room, "Jin just did a name check against new leases on commercial property rentals. He got a hit" then he hands Voight the file, "A foreclosed chemical building on Cicero"
"Alright, unless anyone's opposed to overtime, let's go find our printer" Hank says, as the team get up from their desks to head to their lockers to get vested up.
~~~
Erin walks onto the unit to see Justin looking around and says, "Hey. What are you doing here?"
"Just to talk to Pop. Hey, uhm, have you been able to talk to LeLe? She's been ignoring my calls and texts and she shut the door on me the other night after I asked her about her hand. I just want to make sure she's alright"
"I tried. Hell, half the team has but she won't talk to any of us. Not even me. Something serious is going on. I've never seen her act like this before"
"I know. Me either"
"So, uh, you're seriously crushing on Ri, huh?" Erin asks, crossing her arms over each other.
"Since high school"
"And you know she's in a relationship, right?"
Justin scoffs and says, "Unfortunately"
Erin laughs and says, "Hank should be in his office" then she guides Justin to his father's office, "Look who I found loitering at the top of the stairs
"Is everything alright?"
"Yeah. It's all good, pop"
"What's up?" Hank asks, and Erin takes that as her sign to leave.
"So this is where you hand out commands to your crew, huh?"
"This is it" Hank says, grabbing his vest from the coat rack, "About to roll out actually"
"Cool. Hey, uh, I actually wanted to talk to you about a couple things real quick, Pop"
"Okay" Hank says, turning around so his son could help him put on his vest.
"First thing, uhm, something's going on with LeLe, and it's concerning me because before she closed the door on me the other night, I saw some bruising on her arm underneath her sweatshirt"
"What?" Hank asks, turning around.
"Yeah, I mean, it could be from falling but she's not clumsy, pop"
"Alright, I'll talk to her again. What's the second thing?"
"I got a chance to get in on the ground floor of a business that my buddy's putting together"
"Mhmm" Hank hums.
"I mean there's no ceiling on how profitable this could get"
"What is it?"
"Recycling, refurbishing cell phones. My buddy's got a whole new business model though. He's coming at it from a whole new angle. You know, I feel like this could really set me up, Pop. I feel like it could be a good thing"
"How much?"
"Ten grand. But I can get it back to you in a month. Two months max"
"What makes you think I got 10 grand laying around?"
"I know you got side income"
"What's that supposed to mean"
"I'm not a kid anymore, dad. I know you do things your way. I even heard things when I was inside about you charging street taxes"
"You heard wrong" Hank says, holstering his gun.
"Alright, then what about mom's life insurance? I know you still got some of that in the bank. Aren't I entitled to a piece of that?"
"Justin, most of that was used for your legal fees. Look, I'll tell you what. You put six months under your vest at CTA.."
"I need the money now. Not six months from now!" Justin says, his voice getting a little angrier then a few minutes ago, "In six months the deal is dead"
"Danny Morrissey at CTA. He's expecting your call" Hank says, before leaving his office.
🌟🌟🌟
Jay and Riley slowly walk to the front of a building with their guns drawn and Jay takes out his walkie and says, "Quiet out front"
Hank and Antonio check out the back where there is a truck parked out back with Ward's things in it ready to go and Hank says over his walkie, "We got eyes in there yet?"
"Not yet" Al says, as he and Adam tried to get a visual from inside the warehouse, "Alright, we're up. Counterfeit central"
"Alright, we're going in" Hank says, as he, Antonio, Erin, Riley, Jake and Jay stand at the door to go inside the building. Jay kicks in the door and yells, "Chicago PD!"
The counterfeiters start shooting at the intelligence unit, who fire back.
After quite the gun war and getting Ward into custody along with the other counterfeiters. They set them down on the ground in the building where there are stacks on top of stacks on top of stacks of fake money laying around.
"George, 5021 emergency. Shots fired by police and at the police. Roll an Ambo to 1356 south 13th street. Notify the dicks in the crime lab, plainclothes officers are at the scene" Jay says into the radio, as Antonio, Erin, Jake and Riley look at all the fake money.
"To bad it ain't real" Dawson says. Adam gets on top of the fake money pile and says, "Wait, Riley. Get a picture of me for my album cover"
"You're an idiot" Riley chuckles, taking out her cell phone to take a picture of him while the others laugh.
"Call Agent hill, tell him we found the mother load" Hank says.
"Yeah, we do all the work, Secret service comes in and takes all the credit" Antonio says.
"You want your face on the front page of the paper?" Hank says, taking out his ringing cell phone, "Voight"
🌟🌟🌟
Riley slowly takes off her vest and puts it into her locker, then looks over at Jake who is doing the same, then she sighs, closing her locker and walks over to the man and says, "I'm, uh, sorry about before. I didn't mean to lash out on you. I've just been having a rough few days"
"It's okay. I get it. But if you ever wanna talk, you know I got you"
"Thanks Jake. I appreciate that" Riley says, "Have a good night" then she walks away.
🌟🌟🌟
Justin walks down the hall of Riley's apartment building to get to her place when he sees the door open. He narrows his eyes, opening the door and shouts, "LeLe?"
As Justin walks further in, he looks around the place and is shocked to see it's trashed, pillows torn up, glass smashed everywhere and he starts shouting, "LeLe!" the he starts searching the whole apartment for his best friend.
As he walks into the girls room, he can hear faint sniffling, then he turns on the lights and sees Riley curled up in a ball in the corner of the room. Justin rushes over to her side and says, "LeLe, what happened?"
Riley slowly lifts up her head to reveal her face, which is covered in bruises, along with her arms and stomach.
"Jesus, who the hell did this?" Justin says, anger lacing in his voice.
"What are you doing here, J?" Riley asks, tears streaming down her black and purple discolored face.
"I wanted to check on you. You've been ignoring me for the last few days"
"Because I knew you would be angry if you saw me like this"
"Of course I am. No one's aloud to touch you! You hear me? I'm calling pop"
"No J, don't please" Riley begs.
"LeLe, come on.." Justin pleads, "Let me call Erin then or Lola"
"No, Justin. Swear. They can't know"
"Well, you can't dodge them until the bruising clears up. There's no way that's possible"
"Riley!" a voice says, from the front door.
"Is that who did this to you? Your boyfriend?" Justin questions, narrowing his eyes at the girl. Riley stays still, she freezes in place when she hears his voice.
"Riley! Answer me, now!"
Justin stands up and Riley catches his arm and says, "Justin, what are you doing?"
"Just let me handle it"
Sebastian walks into the room and says, "What the hell are you doing here, criminal?"
"Criminal huh? You like hitting women?" Justin questions, his blood boiling as he steps towards the drunk man.
"She had it coming!"
"She did?" Justin shouts, pushing back on the man's chest, "You don't hit woman, and you especially don't hit LeLe. You understand me?!"
"LeLe, huh" Sebastian chuckles, "Is that your little nickname for her? Wanna know my little nickname for her? It's bitch" he spats out, looking at the bruised girl in the corner of the room, "Slut, whatever comes to mind"
"What did you just say?!"
"You heard me! She's not the same girl you knew in high school man"
Justin punches Sebastian straight in the face, who falls to the ground because he's been drinking heavily, then Justin gets on top of him and starts punching him, over and over and over again. Blood covering his knuckles. Riley gets up and shouts, "Justin, stop! You're gonna kill him!"
"Good, he deserves it! No one touches you and gets away with it" Justin says, still punching Sebastian over and over. Riley takes a step back, putting a hand over her heart, as her breathing becomes rapidly faster by the minute.
To be continued...
a/n;
Wowza! Intense chapter! 🤭 next chapter is about to be a lot crazier!
how far is to far in this situation?
Also, Riley and Adam becoming a bropt? What do we think about that?