Page 27 of Sins and Secrets

I take a few moments to finish my apple before heading outside. Alessio is still swimming laps as I stand at the edge of the pool and stare at the way his body moves through the water.

“See something you like?” he asks as he stops swimming to tread water. He runs his hand over his hair, slicking it back. “Get in the water, Billie.”

I stare at him for a moment, the command sending a rush of heat straight to my core. If he keeps talking to me that way, I don’t know how long I’m going to be able to hold out on begging him for sex. Between the way he looks at me and the way he bosses me around, he’s wiggling past my defenses.

I can’t let him. I have to see this through for the money. This is nothing but a stupid little crush powered by lust. Just do what he says and stop thinking about sleeping with him.

Easier said than done.

The water is cool as I jump in and swim to the surface. Alessio is still treading water, a few feet between us. He studies me with a strange look on his face before looking up at the clouds drifting across the sky.

“So, you graduated university a couple years ago,” he says, glancing back at me. “What did you study there?”

“Business. With a minor in English.”

“Why business?” He floats on his back, his eyes closed. I grab one of the inflatable loungers from the shallow end of the pool and climb onto it.

“I want to start a business someday.”

He hums and drifts across the water. “What did you plan to do for the summer? Arturo mentioned that you used to do nannying, but you weren’t interested in doing that again this summer?”

“I’m done with watching kids.” I smile to myself as I cross one leg over the other. “I love them, but it’s a lot of work. The money is good, but I would rather spend time doing something that would propel me forward in my career.”

Alessio glances at me before ducking beneath the water. He swims to the edge of the pool and pulls himself out of the water to sit on it. “Our lie is that you’re my personal assistant for the summer. Would you like to make that true? I have an internship available, and if you’re looking to get into business, this could give you a leg up.”

For a moment, I don’t know what to say to him. It’s the last offer that I was expecting from him. I didn’t think that I would spend my summer doing anything useful to my career after I did the auction. I thought that I would be spending my summer doing everything that someone else wanted me to do.

Working for Alessio would be the chance of a lifetime. The Fortuna is a well-known and popular casino. It brings in billions of dollars a year. I would hopefully get to make connections with other people in the business world while I was there.

It would be stupid to throw away an opportunity as good as that one, though being closer to Alessio is going to be a problem.

He already turns me into a horny teenager when he appears in my line of sight. Spending an entire summer working in an office and living with him is going to drive me insane.

The little crush will finally go away when I leave the mafia, though.

The job would only help me once me and Papa leave.

“I don’t want to take away an internship from someone who has earned it,” I say, though I want the internship. I don’t want to be the reason why someone else loses a job they already lined up.

“The internship hasn’t been posted yet. If you refuse, I’ll be posting it on Monday morning.”

I bite my bottom lip, trying to stuff down the nerves, before nodding. “I would love an internship.”

“Good.” Alessio stands up and grabs my towel from the lounger. “I’ve got another meeting to attend at the compound office. The chef is preparing dinner but you will be dining alone again tonight. Is the second contract signed?”

If he’s going to a meeting at the compound’s office, there is a shady business deal going on. One that I stay far away from.

I may already have enough crimes under my belt to be arrested for, but I don’t want to add any more. Especially not when I’m about to be free from the mafia.

Stay out of jail. Escape without dying.

Though it’s a short list, the tasks are hard to accomplish.

Just two months. Just two more months, and hopefully Papa will be awake and stable enough to move. Hopefully he listens to me this time when I tell him we need to move.

“Yes. I put it on the kitchen counter.” I pull myself away from my thoughts to give him a small smile. “I think I’m going to stay out here for a while longer.”

“I’ll let the chef know to come get you once dinner is ready.”

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