Westerham Witches and a Venetian Vendetta by Dionne Lister (top rated books of all time TXT) 📕

I spun around and looked at the door. Phew. I hadn’t been discovered yet. Time to go since I’d gotten what I’d come here for. But where had he gone after this? I cocked my head to the side. A brown, four-drawer-tall filing cabinet sat against the far wall in front of a door. Interesting. I pointed my phone at it.

Voices sounded outside. The knob on the door behind me rattled. Crap.

I turned and looked around the room. To hide or not to hide? Damn. I could make excuses about being here accidentally… maybe. But hiding? There was no way to explain that. Damn it. As the door opened, I did the only thing I could think of and made a doorway around myself.

I sucked in quick breaths as I stepped out into Angelica’s reception room. I planted my feet and bent at the waist, putting both hands on my thighs. That had been a close call. Whoever had opened that door would surely know that someone had just cast a spell in there. Crap, crap, crap, crap.

I still had my phone in my hand, and I texted Imani to tell her where I was. She would’ve seen whoever it was coming to the door. Maybe her voice was the one I heard, subtly warning me and distracting whoever was about to come in.

If I travelled back to the hotel now, it might be too obvious when I arrived in the reception room. I was stuck here for a while as I didn’t have a key to get in. Luckily, there was a chair in here. I sat and called Mum. “Hey, Mum.”

“Lily, why are you calling me?”

“Sorry to interrupt your flirt session, but can you come to Angelica’s and bring the key. I’ll explain later. I think I need to stay here for an hour or so. Maybe tell Imani where you’re going.”

She sounded frustrated. “Fine. Can you wait ten minutes? I’ll have to get Imani to bring me, or maybe I’ll give her the key.”

I slapped my head. “Oh, yeah. I forgot. Sorry. I’ll wait here for Imani while you enjoy your date.” Yikes. My mother had no magic and couldn’t travel. What a stupid thing to ask her to do. Idiot, Lily. “And be careful.”

“Thanks, sweetie.” She hung up, her voice devoid of remorse. I shook my head and smiled. We were just teasing each other. At least I hoped that’s what we were doing. I sat up straight. She wouldn’t be flirting with him for real, would she? No, don’t be silly, Lily. And what if she was? It was none of my business. My father had been dead for a long time. Talk about depressing. My mother could fraternise with whoever she wanted. I didn’t have to like it though.

I shook my head and hit the side of it with my palm. Snap out of it. Your mother deserves all the happiness in the world, and you will support her. Too right I would… or at least I’d try. And how was Will getting along? Were he and Beren learning anything about Mrs Dal Lago? Had Sarah managed to make it to the interview? Was Angelica okay? My brain was speeding along on a rollercoaster of disaster.

Squirrels. Think of squirrels.

I shut my eyes and thought about squirrels: squirrels scurrying, squirrels eating, squirrels standing on their hind legs, boofy tails twitching as they begged for food. After a while, I opened my eyes and looked at my phone. Only another five minutes and she should be here. It was weird that only six minutes ago, I’d been in Venice, and now I was in Westerham. My life was often like the Twilight Zone. It weirded me out, even though I’d been living this life for over a year. Would I ever truly get used to it?

Wanting to deplete my nervous energy, I leaned forward, dropped to the floor, and did some push-ups. Three sets of fifteen should do it, and if Imani wasn’t here when I’d finished, I could do some sit-ups. I was in the middle of those sit-ups when Imani came through her portal. She stepped on my ankle, flew forward, and hit the wall palms first. Slap.

Sharp pain shot from my ankle up my shin. “Ow!” Oops. I hadn’t thought that through.

She spun around and looked down at me as I clutched my throbbing ankle. “What. The. Hell. Are you daft?”

I looked up at her and grimaced. “Ah, yeah. Apparently I am. I forgot you’d need some room. Are you okay?”

“Yes, no thanks to you. I could’ve broken my nose.” She folded her arms. “What in the dickens were you doing anyway?”

I lurched to my feet, gently testing my weight on the sore side. It was going to be okay. Other than slight aching, no real damage had been done. I supposed if it had, Beren would be able to fix it today anyway, but still. When would I stop doing stupid things? “Sit-ups. Burning my nervous energy. You know I don’t do waiting very well.”

She shook her head. “No, you don’t.”

“So, what happened? As soon as I heard the voices outside and the doorknob, I was out of there. Who was it?”

“That Isabella woman. She came out of the door from the restaurant, and she was in a hurry. I managed to call out to her, but she wasn’t stopping for anything. I think she knew someone was in there.”

I swallowed. “Crap. There must’ve been some kind of alert system or security camera in there. Why the hell didn’t I check that first? There’s no way I can show my face there now. Is there any way we can find out if it’s a camera or something else?”

“I’m waiting for Will to call me with the outcome of the interview. If we’re lucky, they’ll come back with a warrant, and I can check that room out. If it wasn’t a camera, you’ll be safe to return. If not….”

I