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

Her knees bent, and the mattress squeaked as she rested her hands on it and slowly lowered herself to the floor. Once she knelt, it wasn’t long before her eyes peered under the bed, and our gazes met.

The game was up.

She smiled a grandmotherly smile—should I trust it or not? Hmm, she’d smashed me in the head and could’ve killed me. If I trusted her, I was an even bigger idiot than I gave myself credit for. “Why did you hit me? You could’ve killed me.”

“I know. I’m sorry. I must protect my family. My daughter, she is an idiot. I told her not to marry him, but she didn’t listen. The only good thing to come from that marriage was my grandson. Now, get out from there. If I stay here much longer, I will not be able to get up.”

Like I cared. Maybe I should push her over and run. But could I really do that to an elderly lady? She wasn’t threatening me right now, which made hurting her impossible. Injuring a defenceless-looking person went against everything I stood for. Yes, she’d assaulted me earlier, but if her intent had been to kill me, I’d already be dead. At least, that’s what I told myself. “What if I don’t want to get up? And what happens now? If you kill me or Angelica, you’ll be hunted down by the PIB. You might be trying to save your family, but not only will whoever killed Mr Dal Lago go to jail, you will too for kidnapping me.”

She started laughing. Her chuckle quickly billowed to hysterics. She guffawed as tears streamed down her cheeks. What the hell? This was the moment I should’ve picked to slide out from under the bed and run, but even though she was incapacitated, she blocked the way. I sighed. This was not going to plan. How unusual.

Dust tickled my nose, and I sneezed.

“Salute.”

I figured that meant bless you. “Grazie.” Look at me, being all Italian and stuff.

At least Isabella had stopped laughing. Staying here would solve nothing, so I supposed it was time to get out from under here and reassess the situation. Angelica couldn’t save herself, so it was up to me. “All right. I’ll come out.”

She smiled. “Good girl.” Isabella stood and moved out of my way.

I slid out and got to my feet. Dust coated my front. I patted myself down, sending motes into the air, which made me sneeze again. Angelica, however, slept on. My forehead tightened. “What did Francesco do to her?”

Isabella blinked at me and shook her head. “You really are stupid. I like you, but you are not very smart.” God, if smashing someone over the head was what she did to people she liked….

“Excuse me?” So much for being a nice old lady. If she kept this up, I would push her over.

Angelica groaned. I snapped my head around. Her head lolled to one side, and her eyes moved behind her lids. Isabella’s magic tingled my scalp. I looked at her. A needle appeared in her hand. She stepped up to the bed and leaned down to stick it in Angelica’s arm.

I grabbed Isabella’s arm. “No! I can’t let you do that.”

She strained against my hold, the needle inching closer to Angelica’s arm. “I want her sleeping.”

“I don’t.” My voice came out in a pant. Damn, she was strong. I tried to draw magic. A trickle came through. I willed the needle part of the syringe onto the hallway floor. She’d have no idea where it was, and the closer I tried to send it, the more likely it was to disappear with the way the magic was blinking in and out.

Just as the metal tip pierced her skin, the needle disappeared. I let go of Isabella, and she fell forward onto Angelica. The old lady awkwardly righted herself and turned to face me, her lips pinched with anger. “You don’t understand. She doesn’t know who put her here. This is for her own safety. If she sees me, I’ll have to kill both of you.”

My mouth dropped open. And I’d thought she was kind of nice. Was it crazy of me to be just a little hurt? I thought she liked me. “You’re going to kill me?”

“Of course. As you said, I hit you and kidnapped you. I don’t want to go to jail. Once my family is safe, I will make sure Angelica is returned alive. You shouldn’t have asked so many questions. Francesco never listens. It’s not his fault though. My daughter never listens either. If she had, none of this would’ve happened.”

“Right, so everything is everyone else’s fault?”

She regarded me with a look of complete righteousness. “Of course. I always have to fix everything. Who do you think made the ’otel a success? Who do you think looked after Francesco when Elena was off with one of her men and Antonio drank himself stupid? I am not a young woman anymore. I am tired, and I want to enjoy the years I have left. I’ve given up more than enough for this family.”

“What did you have to give up?” Maybe if she thought I cared, she’d decide not to kill me? Not that I was going to let her. The only problem was my reluctance to hurt her. If she tried to kill me, though, I guessed I’d have to get over myself. I resisted the urge to look at Angelica to see how she was. I hoped she wouldn’t groan again and remind Isabella that she needed sedating.

“My brilliant career, not that women are encouraged as artists, but I could’ve started late. If my grandson hadn’t needed me so much… if his father wasn’t such an idiot.” She blew out a breath and waved her hand around. “When I was young, my paintings were shown in a gallery once, and then I started glass-blowing. Why don’t I show you?” Her