“Absolutely the fuck not. You don’t even know why I’m here. You don’t even know me.” She shifts so her leg is tucked under her butt and she’s facing me.
“Then enlighten me.” I shrug, but inside, I want to know everything. We haven’t even kissed, and yet I’m so smitten I’d do just about anything she tells me to. Except this.
“You first.” Her eyebrow arches.
A chuckle leaves me even though it’s not funny. “I walked right into that one.”
“You sure did. I’m already in this. I know too much, and if Cano finds out, which I assume he hasn’t already, then you will be in more shit than I will be. So fill me in.”
I push off the ground, forcing the momentum to carry me in the swing. I can’t tell her everything, obviously. I need to keep my undercover identity intact, but I did talk to Oscar about streamlining the system. Using the bouncers is a terrible plan, so maybe pulling in Nova would help. We could use the dancers somehow and keep Oscar—and me, for that matter—distant from it all. But I’ll have to throw her a bone.
“My goal from the beginning was the artifacts. I hate the drugs. They are tied to a lot of needless death, and I hate even having half a hand in any of it. But it was a necessary evil in order to get to this point in Oscar’s operation. His right-hand man—”
“Nico.” She scoffs.
I nod. “Nico isn’t on top of things like he needs to be, so I finally got a shot. I can’t screw it up. I literally get one opportunity to take charge within the artifacts side of the operation. If I fuck it up …” We both know I wouldn’t get fired. I’d get thrown into the ocean for my wrongs. Nova would too, for that matter.
“By proxy, I’d be”—she makes aschnicksound while drawing her thumb across her neck—“too.”
“If I’m alive, I won’t let that happen, but that ‘if’ is very big.”
“I’m willing to risk it.”
“God, you are so reckless.” My head shakes back and forth as the swing slows down.
“Thank you!” Her bubbly tone doesn’t match the subject matter, but it is adorable as hell.
“That wasn’t a compliment,” I grumble, hiding my smirk to the best of my ability.
“Yes, it was. Just because you intended it as an insult doesn’t mean I took it as such.”
“Tit for tat, Nova. Why are you here?” I deflect. If I let her, she’ll burrow her way into my head, and I’ll take this … relationship … entirely too far.
Silence greets my question, but I get the feeling she’s trying to figure out how much to tell me. It seems we have far too much in common in that respect.
“My brother. It’s not what you think. He didn’t owe Cano any money, at least not yet. I lucked out in that, I guess. He died. Overdose from drugs Cano sold him. My brother had a promising career as an architect before things started to fall apart. I noticed a change but not how bad it truly was. When you took me to the MET, it brought back memories. One of the last good ones with him.”
“I’m sorry,” I whisper.
“I’m not. It reminded me of my mission.”
“Which is?”
We stare at each other. I can see the wheels turning in her head. Whatever she’s about to tell me is going to be huge. And probably the most truthful thing she’s told me to date.
“To get close to Cano.”
Nova leaves it at that, but I can read between the lines. It’s incredibly foolish for her to tell me if I was really working forthe man. I could easily turn her over as a traitor and watch the bloodshed.
But I’m not really Chris Roth.
I’m Adam Morrison, and Nova’s lucky I have a white knight complex.
“You’re really putting me in a hard position, you know?” I ask her.
“Not yet I’m not.”
“Be serious. This entire conversation could get us both killed.”
