Deep (The Deep Duet 1)

finally, and doing what she’d always dreamed of. Bringing her father’s murderer to justice for the pain and devastation he’d caused.

The idea that she was failing at something she’d spent so much of her life dreaming about was disturbing.

“Hey, lady. You gettin’ out or what?” The cabbie’s voice broke into her thoughts, and Diana scrambled to pull some money out of her pocket. Even that made her think of Rafe since it was no doubt some of the money he’d given her.

That went for the clothes she was wearing and the shoes on her feet. All provided by Rafe. She thrust the money over the seat to the cabbie and climbed out, suddenly wanting nothing more than to strip it all off. To be free and clear of any reminder of why she was here. But she couldn’t do that. He’d be back any minute, and she needed to be there so she didn’t have to answer any questions about where she’d been. The whole thing was a delicate balancing act of lies, and she was suddenly exhausted from the performance. But giving up now would mean giving up on justice for her father.

He deserved better than that.

But what about what you deserve? Wouldn’t he have wanted more for you than this?

It startled her to realize that her father probably wouldn’t have wanted her to move on. He’d been big on vendettas. She’d seen his scathing temper in action more than a few times. He’d have been proud of her for dedicating her life to evening a score.

Which didn’t make her feel any better.

She’d deliberately given the cabbie an address down the street from Rafe’s building. If anyone asked around, there would be no record of a cab dropping off a woman at his building. But as she walked down the street, she wished she’d picked a closer drop-off point. A man walking in the opposite direction slowed down and gave a wolf whistle as she passed.

When she didn’t respond, she heard the muttered “Bitch,” but she didn’t stop walking.

Then she heard the footsteps.

She slowed, and the footsteps slowed as well. When she sped up, they matched pace. Furious, she spun around to confront the guy and then… faced an empty street. There was no one there except for the homeless man she’d just passed, and he hadn’t moved.

“Damn it. Now I’m just getting paranoid.”

But she knew from experience that being paranoid could sometimes save your life.

She hurried the rest of the way, breathing a sigh of relief when Rafe’s building loomed ahead. Her skin was still prickling like someone was watching, but at this point she couldn’t tell what was real and what was in her head. But she kept her eyes open and alert as she entered the building and rode the elevator up to Rafe’s floor.

“Rafe? Hello?”

No answer. Mentally she cheered because it meant she still had time. Even though Charisse had said to expect it to take hours, there was nothing wrong with giving it a go now. Maybe she’d get lucky and it would work right away. Then she’d have the answers she needed and could put all this needless speculation to rest.

Diana wasted no time, heading straight for Rafe’s office. She pressed the painting and waited as the panel slid open. Then she placed the decoder over the keypad on the safe. With one eye on the door, she watched as numbers flashed across the screen.

It’s running through combinations, she realized with fascination. The decoder was literally going to try every combination possible until it found the right one. No wonder it could take hours.

Her shoulders sagged. It was too risky to try this now. Rafe could come home at any minute, and she’d have no reasonable explanation for why she was in his office. So it would make more sense to wait until he had another call for a job. His security work usually took him away from the apartment for hours at a time.

Or she could make the time. Her gut knotted up at the thought. Rafe had knocked over the glass of wine that she’d laced last time. But that didn’t mean she couldn’t try again. Maybe she’d hide it in food this time. He’d never know. Then she’d have all the time she needed.

And this could finally be over.

But could she do it? Diana took the decoder off and closed the panel hiding the safe. She wasn’t sure she had too many other alternatives outside of waiting for him to leave on his own. Considering how weird his schedule was, it could be days or weeks until he was called out on another job. That wasn’t that long in the grand scheme of things, but it was still longer than necessary.

She’d been here for weeks and was only getting more and more comfortable. It was time she got serious again.

chapter fourteen

Diana used her phone and checked Rafe’s location. He was almost home. The real question was whether or not she could go through with it. She glanced down at the pill in her hand. What the hell was wrong with her? She’d come this far. This pill, it wasn’t supposed to hurt him… much. It was like sodium pentothal. She ignored the fact that most governments considered its use torture. And this… she’d been told that these pills might have side effects similar to MDMA. Could she use it on him?

It would just get her the truth. Get her what she needed, and then she could go before she sank in even deeper with him.

You’re an idiot for letting him get so close.

Shit. She was an idiot. She didn’t have to be told twice. With every touch of his, or glance, or caress, her armor slipped.

Without even trying, he’d found the chinks. The man he pretended to be had slid in under her skin, making a home there, infesting her brain, making it impossible to think straight.