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She giggled as if I had asked a ridiculous question, “The main gate will always be locked, and you will always have to be granted access through. The front door is heavily guarded so there is no need for a key.”
“Okay.” I said slowly.
“Okay,” she repeated, standing up. “Let’s go meet my little angels. Just to warn you, they may take a little time to warm to you. They are like that. But they are sweethearts really. Just be sure to set firm boundaries,” she smiled as if it was no problem at all, but I could tell from her tone that she was slightly anxious. Great. This wasn’t the most hopeful of beginnings.
We made our way through the 40-room mansion as she pointed out the different areas of the house to me. It was overwhelming. They had a bowling alley, cinema and their own mini club/bar on the bottom floor, as well as three living areas, Cecilia’s office, the kitchen and the dining room. On the second floor were the children’s living quarters to the left and their mother’s to the right. They each had their own wing of the house. And the entire top floor was reserved for Giovanni. We paused at the bottom of the cream stairs that led up to his floor and I couldn’t stop my heart from racing a little at the thought of him up there.
“He is not here. He is taking care of business. He is a very busy man, and you will find that he is rarely around the house.” Her tone seemed off, so I didn’t respond but instead followed her into the children’s wing. There were many doors turning off the long corridor. A games room, a playroom, an education room and they each have a bedroom with an adjoining bathroom connecting the two. We headed towards the games room where an enormously built man in a black suit was standing rigid at the door.
“Olivia, this is Marco,” she introduced the bodyguard to me, and I couldn’t help but feel intimidated as he nodded his head once in my direction, his face passive. Cecilia knocked on the door of the games room and pushed it open slowly.
“Sani! Raya! I have someone here to meet you,” she announced. I stepped inside and saw the back of a young boy with a mop of black curls sitting forward in a huge racing chair, eyes glued to the 46-inch flat screen on the wall as he tapped violently at the remote in his hand. A little girl with white, blonde curls was sitting in the window seat on an iPad watching some kids' YouTube videos. Neither of them looked up from what they were doing. “Right, I will leave you to get acquainted,” Cecilia said with a clap of her hands as she backed out of the room. Oh. Right. Straight in at the deep end. Okay.
I strolled towards the little girl first and glanced over her shoulder to see what had her so engrossed.
“Oh, I love Barbie. Is this your favourite show?” I attempted to interact with her, but she kept her brown eyes cast down and shook her head. I bent down to her level and watched the screen for a little while, pretending to be interested. “My name is Olivia. What’s yours?”
Silence.
“Non le piacciono gli estranei,” the little boy spoke without taking his eyes off the screen. I stood up and walked over to the chair.
“Can you speak English, Sani?” I asked softly.
“Si.”
“Do you mind telling me what you said? My Italian is a little rusty. I was hoping you could teach me and in return I could teach you both some English.”
“I said she doesn’t like strangers. And I do not need your help. I can speak English good,” he replied coldly. Okay, this was going to be harder than I anticipated, but I was always up for a challenge.
“Wow. Your English is very good. I am from England. Have you ever been?”
He shrugged his shoulders and carried on shooting at the zombies on the screen. I don’t know much about video games, but I am pretty sure this was very inappropriate for a child of his age. I picked up the case,Zombie Apocalypse.18+. Ah brilliant.
“OK well, I think ten more minutes on the game and iPad and then we will go outside for some fresh air,” I tried to keep my voice friendly but with an air of authority.
“Why?” Sani quizzed as he shot a grotesque zombie between the eyes.
“Because it is a beautiful day and I think we can have some fun in the sunshine. What do you say?”
“No. We do not go outside.”
I frowned and placed my hand on my hip. “OK. What do you do then?”
“We do this,” he said, refusing to look up from the screen. He hasn’t even looked my way once to see who he was talking to. I can’t believe that to be true. He must be exaggerating.
“Well, your English is very good, so you must have had some lessons. Can Soraya speak English too?” I glanced over at the little girl, who was sucking at her finger as she concentrated on the screen on her lap.
“I am a genius. I just know it,” he replied nonchalantly. I couldn’t help the smile that tugged at the corners of my lips. He seemed a lot like his older brother. Arrogant as hell. “And Raya won’t talk. Not to you.”
I sighed, feeling exhausted already. Today was going to be a long day.
∞∞∞
Giovanni
“Dimitri wants another favour,” my zio, and boss of our empire, said calmly as he walked over to the floor-length window that overlooked his estate in Verona.
I rolled my eyes behind his back as I flicked open my Zippo before closing it again. The sound of the metal clicking each time was keeping my mind from swaying to unwanted thoughts of that girl in my house right now. I could not allow myself to be distracted when in the presence of Salvatore Buccini. He would not hesitate to punish such recklessness.
