Page 5 of Steal My Heart

She shakes her head. “I don’t like Laurie because she’s a status whore.”

“Al,” I warn.

“Besides, I can think of a million things I’d rather do than listen to pretentious bullshitters spewing pretentious bullshit.”

I raise an eyebrow. “Isn’t that a bit redundant?”

“Pretentious bullshitters don’t think so,” she says, missing my point.

“I’ll take that as a no on the invite. What are your plans this evening?”

“Oh, nothing. Just gonna chill here.” She twirls a strand of her newly dyed jet-black hair around her finger. When I became my sister’s guardian, I quickly learned to pick my battles, and this one wasn’t worth it. With all of Al’s phases, I’m hoping the goth girl look disappears as quickly as it arrived.

“Alright, then. Your bodyguard is around if you need anything,” I tell her.

“I’m almost an adult, and yet I have a babysitter,” she grumbles, crossing her arms.

“‘Almost an adult’ means you’re still a minor,” I inform her. “I’ll be back later.”

“I would say have fun, but you don’t know how,” she calls after me.

Ignoring my sister’s barb, I track down her bodyguard. He’s seated in the kitchen, chatting with Maks.

“You ready, boss?” Maks, my bodyguard and only friend, asks with a hint of a Ukrainian accent. The man earned hisU.S. citizenship through military service, and he earned my trust through working security at my restaurant.

“One moment,” I answer, turning my attention to Al’s bodyguard. “Does Alessandra have a new boyfriend I don’t know about?” My sister was acting ‘sus,’ as she would call it. Oh, and that hair twirl? A classic tell Al’s nervous about something.

“Not that I know of, but?—”

“Find out and bring me his name.” I cut him off. “Unless you want to wind up like Al’s last bodyguard…” Who mysteriously “disappeared” after I discovered Al was skipping school and hanging out with some troublemakers on Bourbon Street.

“Yes, boss.” He gulps.

“Ready,” I tell Maks, and we enter my private garage. It was a logistical nightmare securing the apartment building and shared tenant garage, so I wound up buying everyone out, along with the buildings on either side.

“Al’s security detail is proving to be the most dangerous job in the family,” Maks jokes.

“How hard can it be to watch over a teenage girl?” I lament.

“Have you met your sister?” Maks opens the back passenger door for me, holding up a masquerade mask in one hand, an envelope in the other.

“Pretentious bullshit,” I mutter, agreeing with Al’s assessment. The cash goes inside my suit jacket pocket; the mask gets flung onto the seat beside me as I climb in.

My phone buzzes, and I grab it from my pocket, reading the message from Laurie.

I’m so sorry I won’t be able to make it tonight. Something came up at work…

There goes my leverage. My phone likewise gets flung onto the seat.

“Let’s see that society page smile,” Maks encourages as he slides behind the wheel.

I snarl at him in the rearview.

“Maybe wave at the cameras instead,” he advises.

Remi

Always mindful of my surroundings—which happens to be a filthy alleyway—I glance right, then left. All clear, and I lift the hemline of my gown as I take an exaggerated step over a rain puddle…orwhateverliquid that is.