All Grade Pulaski wanted was a quiet life, a few low-profile murders to clean up after, and his hometown in the rear view as he headed back to LA. Simple, attainable goals. All he had to do was keep his nose down and everyone else's hands clean...as far as the law was concerned...and he'd been able to show Sweeny his heels sooner rather than later.

Problem was that Grade's 'thing' with local mob boss Clay Traynor-currently somewhere between a one-night stand and a bad idea-was a lot of things, but it wasn't quiet or simple.

For example, Judge Charity Parker was the last person in Sweeny who needed to know Grade's name. Yet here he was in her basement after midnight, cleaning up a mess that could derail a couple of political careers in one fell swoop. All because Clay owed Judge Parker a favor... or three.Grade should have known better than to go along with it. Amateurs always made a job messy, and politicians didn't have a grateful bone in their bodies. Now the only chance he had of seeing LA again meant he had to break his professional code of conduct.

He needed to get his client caught.