Page 129 of Steal My Heart

“It’s more practical to teach her strokes,” Alessandra argues.

“I don’t recall putting you in charge.”

“Who the hell put you in charge?” she counters.

“I’ll be over here if anyone needs me,” I mutter, plopping my behind in the lounge chair.

Maks toes the edge of the deep end and without hesitation, jumps. To my amazement, he rises to the surface vertically, takesa breath through his mouth, and ducks back under. This goes on for five minutes, by the buzzing of Alessandra’s stop watch.

“Should I let him drown?” she muses when he doesn’t come back up for air.

“Alessandra, no!” I hop out of the lounge chair.

“I’m kidding,” she says, diving with a knife strapped to her thigh. She cuts his ankle and wrist restraints, and they both surface, with Maks taking deep, controlled breaths.

“Cool demonstration. Bye.” I take off running inside the house.

Nola’s on top of the counter, and I chastise her, “Nola, you know Corinne doesn’t like you up there.”

She rises on her hind legs and uses her paw to open the cabinet where her treats are now hidden.

“Alright, you found them. Now what?”

Nola takes a swipe at the jar, and it falls out of the cabinet, shattering on the counter.

Hopping down, she daintily nibbles a treat, giving me a look.

“I’m sorry you had to use the toilet like us barbaric humans!”

“Not again.” Corinne appears from the pantry.

“Sorry about that. I’ll clean it up.”

“No, ma’am, you will not,” she says matter-of-factly.

Guess I won’t. “Do you know where Angelo is?”

“In the cellar.”

“The cellar? Where’s the cellar?” I thought I’d snooped every square inch of this mansion.

“Through the pantry, but you need a key.” She pats her pocket.

I swore off my thievery way too early.

Distracting her, I easily lift the key from her pocket and wait until she’s gone before unlocking the door and walking down into the dark, dank space. Nola’s hot on my heels, and I make aShhh motion with my finger and mouth. Ahead, there’s a steel door with a red light peeking out beneath it.

My heart in my throat, I’m regretting being such a nosy person. Because what if Alessandra wasn’t joking, and this is where she keeps the bodies?

Turning to run back up the stairs, a hand grabs my ankle, and I scream bloody murder.

“Remi, what are you doing?” Angelo asks in a bemused tone. “And of course, Nola is in the middle of it.”

“What are you doing?” I counter, righting myself and dusting off my dress. “Besides giving an innocent woman a heart attack.”

“An innocentsnoopingwoman? Come on,” he says, opening the steel door and scooping up Nola in his arms.

A red light bulb casts a harsh glare on the room, and I blurt out, “I don’t need to know all your family’s secrets.”