UNDERCOVER TWIN by Lena Diaz Read Free Book Online Page A

back,” he said, “but like I said earlier, I have conditions.”
    She darted her eyes toward the closed door, as if by sheer will she could get Waverly and Rickloff to step inside. “What conditions?”
    “First, we’re through, finished. There is no ‘us’ anymore. And there never will be.”
    “Agreed.”
    She answered so quickly Nick was taken aback. He’d been prepared to explain about his job, how he couldn’t date anyone tainted by illegal drug activity, even indirectly through a family member. He’d planned to tell her he still cared about her, that he regretted how things had turned out. But there was no point in apologizing now, not when she so obviously didn’t want a relationship with him anymore.
    That knowledge stung far more than he would have expected.
    He rested his hip against the table. “Second, you do exactly what I tell you to do at all times. I mean it. Exactly what I say. Unquestioningly. If I tell you to get down, you drop on the floor as if someone had swiped your legs out from beneath you. If I tell you to be quiet, you don’t even breathe until I tell you it’s safe. Can you do that?”
    Her eyes widened with alarm, as if she was just beginning to realize how dangerous this mission was.
    “O-okay,” she said, her voice soft, hesitant.
    “Three, you report to me and me alone. I don’t care what Rickloff or Waverly tell you. One phone call to them at the wrong place, wrong time, could get us killed—you, Lily and me.”
    “Why would you think they would ask me to call them?”
    “It’s what I’d do if I were them.”
    She nodded. “Okay. Is that all?”
    He shook his head. “No, there’s one more condition. And it’s a deal breaker. You already agreed to my other conditions. Remember that. One of those conditions was to do exactly what I tell you to do.”
    “I understand.”
    “Okay. Final condition. We’ll go to Key West together, but you’ll stay in hiding, in my hotel room with another agent watching over you, while I go to that bar to draw Gonzalez out somehow. I will figure out a way to save your sister, but I refuse to use you as bait. It’s too dangerous.”
    She raised her hands in a gesture of surprise and frustration. “How will we save Lily if I’m in hiding?”
    “Leave that to me. You have my word I’ll do everything I can to save her, but putting you in danger is not part of the plan. I meant what I said. This is the deal breaker. You agree to this or I’m out. And you already know I’m the best agent for the job or Rickloff wouldn’t have tried so hard to convince me to do this. So what’s it going to be?”
    She stared at him for a full minute, frustration and anger warring with each other across her expressive face. Even though she didn’t want to agree to his final condition, she obviously knew he was her sister’s best shot at making it out of Key West alive.
    He glanced at his watch, well aware of how urgent it was to get moving soon or there wouldn’t be a chance to help Lily at all.
    Heather let out a long breath and glared at him, obviously not happy, but resolved.
    “I guess I don’t really have a choice,” she said. She shoved out of her chair and headed to the door.
    “You made the right decision,” Nick said.
    “I hope so.” She paused in the door opening. “Because I’ve decided Lily’s best chance is with someone other than you. ”
    * * *
    N ICK AND R AFE leaned back against the desk in the SAPD squad room. They both had their legs spread, arms crossed, as if they had nothing better to do than to watch the fiasco playing out in front of them.
    Waverly and Rickloff stood on the other side of the room with the small group of agents who’d come up from Miami with Rickloff, talking to Heather. Apparently they were giving her last-minute instructions while one of the agents grabbed her suitcase that she’d gone home and packed after telling Nick she didn’t want his help. Her refusal to trust him still stung, but he