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It would probably be some time before everything was back to its original condition because Enzo refused to have workman come fix the windows. He had ordered a new TV, but the delivery driver had refused to bring it here, so Enzo had to drive to the post office and pick up the huge piece himself. It wouldn't fit in his Lamborghini, though, so he had to wait until his siblings took pity on him.
With my arms folded, I stood in the middle of the room and spun once in a circle. I didn't plan on touching or messing anything up. Getting an unvarnished glimpse into Enzo's personality was interesting without him standing by and denying half of it.
He had a passion for video games – and for work, although he wasn't working for Emilio or the Mafia anymore.
Other than that, I guess he was a born minimalist because I didn't find one memento. No photos. Nothing. That was so boring because if he had visited me at any time in the little house on the coast, he would have known exactly who he was dealing with five minutes after entering.
A little disappointed because I had not found anything new, I pushed open the adjacent door to his bedroom and was amazed. The floor was unique, as was the paneling on the walls. The furnishings might as well have come straight from a furniture store. Not a single speck of dust had settled on the dark wood.
On one wall, bookshelves stretched up to the ceiling, filled with treasures in various languages. It must have cost a fortune to custom fit the shelves to the wall. Not to mention that the area in front of them was not made of the dark tiles usually laid in a bedroom but were glass.
Enzo had a damn wine cellar built into the floor, so you were practically standing on the bottles while you marveled at the books on the shelf. And all that was separated by a slightly thicker glass plate.
I spotted plants on a side table near the huge windows. There was plenty in the rest of the room, too. Big ones, small ones, something fancy.
No wonder he neglected the rest of the house so much when he lived here in pure luxury. Somehow I had imagined that his bedroom was like that of a castle lord in medieval times. Dusty, old, run-down. With a few relics from better times and dark, heavy fabrics that blocked out the sunlight.
Wow, no prejudice at all, Dea, I thought and couldn't help laughing. At the same time, I wondered if we would ever manage to have sex in a proper bed. The cabin, Fiero's kitchen, the pool, the car, the damn floor in the living room… did he have an aversion to lying comfortably?
Still amused, I walked toward the bed, flipped back the covers, and threw myself onto the mattress for a test. It was springy. I bet the bastard was sleeping on a cloud. Maybe I should wait for him right here? Read him the riot act for continuing to leave me the other half of the house, which didn't even have half of what was available to him here.
I wouldn't have been surprised to find a whirlpool in the adjoining bathroom. It had a huge rainforest shower, at least. Another thing – my shower head barely built up enough water pressure to wash my hair properly and the water jets massaged him from three directions.
Shaking my head, I decided to let it go before discovering anything more he was keeping from me.
On my way out, I noticed a small bowl with nothing in it but two keys.
Because I was already in a fix, I took it and thought about where these keys would take me. To the predators' enclosure? No. He had them on the same ring as his car keys. The attic? As far as I knew, it didn't exist.
But the cellar. He had warned me urgently about it. Danger of collapse. But why hadn't he thrown the keys into the nearest pond and forgotten they existed?
Perhaps they also belonged to doors that were not in this house. Who could say for sure which buildings Vincenzo de Archard had access to? I wouldn't have been surprised to find master keys for every house in southern Italy.
I decided that as long as I was just worrying about it and not actually testing it out, I wouldn't find out.
So my path led me to the ominous cellar door, which – oh wonder – popped open with one of the keys without a hitch. I pushed it open, only to find myself standing in front of a staircase that led steeply downward. The steps didn't look rotten, nor did the walls look in danger of collapse. On the contrary, they were freshly plastered. I didn't see a single cobweb on the wooden beams above my head as I descended the stairs.
Danger my ass.
Irritated, I paused when I heard a strange noise. As if someone was hitting something… or kicking?
Fearing Vincenzo might return at any moment, I sprinted down the remaining stairs, only to stop abruptly when I recognized dungeons to the right and left of the narrow hallway that led to another door.
"What the hell." I muttered, wrinkling my nose at the beastly stench that suddenly hit me.
What was this? A remnant from the old days? I almost didn't believe it, because everything looked too new. Too modern.
The muffled sound continued. Although I was shivering and wrapped my arms protectively around my upper body, I took a few more steps to the next door.
It was thick. Made of metal. And again, the key fit perfectly. The door didn't even squeak when I pushed against it.
Instead, a surprised gasp escaped me as the bestial stench of feces and death hit me. My stomach turned, and heat shot through my body.
I looked for support on the wall, tried to dampen my nervousness, and thought more clearly. With trembling fingers, I groped for the light switch, and as soon as the bulb came to life, my breath finally caught.
I grimaced in disgust. In the middle of the room lay a… a man – at a guess – whose hands were tied behind his back. He repeatedly pushed his foot against a metal side table with slow movements.
I couldn't bring myself to take a step closer. Instead, I tried to block out the rasping sound of his breathing and the fact that his eyes were uselessly bulging out of their sockets. His entire face was muddy.
