Page 136 of Lethal Obsession

“You know what?” I close my piano decisively. “You’re absolutely right, Seline. I will meet you at Los Italianos in”—I check my watch—“twenty minutes.”

“Très bien!” She claps her hands excitedly in the background. “And I will order for you. I know the best things,” she says imperiously.

“Fine.” I smile as I strip off my practice clothes and pull on white shorts and a floaty chiffon top. “I’m on my way.”

Less than five minutes later, I knock on the dragons’ door. Teresa opens it, and I explain where I’m headed.

“Sounds good.” She ducks inside for a brief conversation with Julia, then closes the door behind her. She smiles as she opens the outer door to the alleyway. “I love Los Italianos. I swear I’ve put on two kilos in ice cream since I got this job.”

“I know, right?” I roll my eyes. “I literally have to ration myself.” We head down the cobblestoned alleyway together.

Grinning, she says, “I’m impressed that you managed to tear yourself away from that secure room.”

I color. “I do have a life,” I say primly.

“Sure, if you count piano practice and tarot reading.”

“I thought you weren’t supposed to be spying on me.”

“It’s quite literally my job, Ofelia.” She gives me an amused look. “Although I will admit that apart from that one week on the missing list, you make it easy for us.”

“I am sorry about that,” I say as we cross through the plaza before the final downhill slope that leads to the main town. “I know it must have been stressful for you.”

“I wouldn’t call it stressful, exactly.” The joking note leaves Teresa’s voice. “But your friend is dangerous—or rather, the life he lives is dangerous. I hope you understand that.”

I laugh hollowly. “Danger finds families like mine, Teresa, no matter how well we understand it.”

“Then you should at least start taking self-defense lessons.”

I look at her, startled.

“You don’t want to feel helpless for the rest of your life, do you?” She meets my eyes as we walk. “You will always have security, Ofelia. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t learn how to defend yourself, too.”

“I would love that.”

She gives me a rather surprised look. “You would?”

“Absolutely. I asked if I could learn once, years ago, when Papa Mikhail was still alive, but he just laughed at me. When Bryce and Luis started training Mickey, I was so jealous. But by then I was serious about piano, and so I was worried about hurting my hands. Which is crazy when you think about it, since Mickey uses his hands too, on his laptop. It hasn’t stopped him from practicing jujitsu almost as many hours per day as he codes.”

“Then it’s settled.” Teresa grins at me. “Starting tomorrow, your ass is mine, Borovsky.”

“Wow.” I roll my eyes. “So much respect.”

“Wait until I start throwing you to the floor.” Her phone rings. To be continued, she mouths as she answers it. “Hello?” She frowns. “Hello?” Holding the phone out in front of her, she squints at the bars on the top of the screen.

“Reception is terrible down here,” I say as her screen goes blank. “Just wait until we’re at Los Italianos, then you can take it out onto the main road. It’s clearer there.”

“It’s from a hidden number,” Teresa says, frowning at the phone as we approach the heladería. She rolls her eyes. “It’d better not be your boyfriend,” she says dryly, “getting all upset because he’s missing his daily smut call.”

“Teresa!” I slap her arm.

“What?” She laughs. “Are you going to try to tell me that isn’t what you two are doing, locked up for hours in that steamy little room? Oh, wow. You should see how red you’ve gone.”

I’m laughing despite myself. It’s so much fun to have female security guards. I can never remember laughing like this with Bryce and Luis, certainly not about anything to do with men.

“Here we are.” I push open the heavy glass door of the heladería. Seline waves from her seat to my left, in the corner.

“That looks gorgeous.” I look at the single scoop of gelato with a mint leaf carefully arranged atop it set in my place. “But I’m pretty sure I’m going to need another three scoops.”