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I climb out and look at the mansion and then back at him. “I get the feeling you don’t share that information with everyone. Am I right?”
“I’m trusting you since you signed the NDA. Call it a show of faith.”
“I’m touched you have such confidence in me. What’s to stop me telling the papers about this place? About the big mafia criminal I’m hanging out with?”
“Nothing at all. Shall we go in?”
“Let me bask in this for a moment.” I take a look at the immaculately trimmed bushes and lawn, the spotless drive, the pond to my right across the grass so neat it looks fake. “I could get used to this kind of thing.”
“Later.” He takes my hand. “I have things to show you. Come with me.”
He leads me up the steps to the open front door. On the top step, an elderly man in a white suit and an even older woman in an ankle length black puff sleeve shirt dress are standing together. “Good evening, Mr. Felici,” the man says. “Good to see you again. Your father has been in touch. He wishes to speak with you urgently.”
“Not now, Adrian.”
“Very good, sir.”
“Welcome back,” the woman adds. “It’s good to see you again.”
“Cassandra. Good to see you too. This is Ophelia. She’ll be staying with us for a while.”
“Cassandra has made up a room for her as you requested.”
Vincenzo turns and looks at me. “This way. Let me give you the tour.”
“Should I bring snacks?” I ask. “Or will you use one of those umbrellas and wave it about so I can tell where you are?” I’m gladdened to see both Adrian and Cassandra suppressing smiles.
Vincenzo keeps hold of my hand and I like it. A lot. I get shown the first floor complete with its own cinema room and bowling alley. The kitchen is the size you get in city restaurants and the dining room could be used for a U.N summit. There’s countless drawing rooms and a library with more books than I’ve ever seen in one place before.
Up the flowing staircase, we step out onto a broad landing lined with doors. “Mainly bedrooms on this floor,” he says. “More than enough bathrooms. Got it?”
“I think I can manage that.”
“The top floor is the staff quarters. We need not trouble ourselves with that. What I really want to show you is in the basement.”
“Is that where you keep the wolf? The ventriloquist’s doll collection? No, I’ve got it. Your beanie babies, all named and labeled. Am I getting warm?”
“Not even close.”
He takes me back downstairs until we reach a plain door behind the desk in his study. I took it for a cupboard when I first saw inside here. As he unlocks it, I realize what I’m seeing. There’s a staircase on the far side, leading down to God alone knows what.
“This is it,” he says. “I will give you a final chance to walk away. Once you know what’s down here, I cannot let you break our contract until our time together is up. Can you handle being told what to do for the next month?”
“I don’t know. Depends on what you’re going to tell me to do.”
“Everything. That’s why you would definitely be better off leaving. I will control what you eat, what you wear, what you do. It is the only way to convince those who matter that this marriage is real. You must be willing to give control of your life over to me for the duration.”
“And what happens if I don’t do what you tell me? I still get paid, right?”
“I’ll show you what happens when we reach the first room.”
“The first room?”
“Down here, there are three rooms that we will use together. One for punishment, one for pleasure, and one for rest.”
“So a restroom?”
“Perhaps I should rename it.”
