Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 92254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
The older woman smiles at me. She’s standing at the top of the staircase with poofy, dyed red hair and a casual outfit of slacks and a navy button-down. “Feel free to look around. It’s your house, after all.”
“Aren’t there renovations? Arsen said something about off-limits areas?”
She waves that off and beckons for me to follow. “Don’t kick down any locked doors and you’ll be fine. Are you hungry, dear? We haven’t had a woman in the house in quite some time.”
That grabs my curiosity. I want to keep exploring, but I don’t know anything about this place or about Arsen himself, and I realize this woman might be able to tell me a thing or two. “How long have you, uh, lived here?”
“Worked here,” she corrects. “I’m Maud, head of house services. You’ll meet the rest of the staff over the next few days, I’m sure.” She leads me into a spacious and recently redone kitchen. I don’t know why I found the place so creepy last night. Right now, it’s downright inviting. A big fireplace crackles, and antique tiles outline the gorgeous original mantel.
Maud sits me down and serves me breakfast. It’s way too much. Strawberry pancakes, French toast, cereal, toast, bacon, and a corn muffin. Plus rich, dark coffee, which is really my focus.
“You said there haven’t been women here in a while?”
“Arsen’s a very private man. If he has girlfriends, we don’t know about them.” Maud lingers for a moment, smiling down at me. “Everything’s okay?”
“Everything’s great. Thank you so much?”
“My pleasure, dear. It’s the job. If you need anything at all, come find me. Don’t be shy about it.” Then she walks off and leaves me alone in the kitchen as I try to dig into the literal feast she put in front of me.
I don’t manage to eat even half of what she made, but everything’s incredible, especially the French toast. I slurp coffee and lean back in a padded breakfast nook overlooking a backyard practically bursting with flowers. Sunlight slants beautifully through old, thick glass, and I feel like a different person.
I’m at peace. Or at least my head’s quiet for once. Normally, I’d be cleaning up from breakfast and doing laundry or washing dishes or whatever needed to be done back home right about now while also getting myself mentally prepared for another long night shift at the club. Except now I don’t work there, and apparently, I have staff to do all my other chores. Which leaves me with no responsibilities for the first time… ever, probably.
I keep trying to make sense of everything as I sneak away from the kitchen and start wandering the house. A few hours slip past in a blur. I’m in my element, exploring the place like it’s a deep, dark jungle. Room after room passes and I poke my head into them all. A parlor, a gaming room, another kitchen. Sitting rooms, a living room, even a full movie theater. There are strange little hallways with empty rooms, and odd little staircases that lead to attic storage spaces. The whole building is like a maze littered with odd turns and corners.
It’s like heaven for a person like me. I’m lost instantly, and I love it.
Somehow, this is supposed to be my house. I’m Arsen’s wife and the mother of his child. Only problem is, I don’t know him at all. When I asked what he does for a living, he said something about computer chips.
But that’s clearly bullshit.
He kills people. I watched it happen. Except there’s no way he’s just some common hitman. That probably earns decent money, but not this kind of wealth.
Not secluded mansion kind of money.
So it’s something else then. I have ideas and guesses. Organized crime, obviously, but how deep? And how far up the chain of command?
My head’s buzzing with possibilities when I walk down a narrow hallway. It ends with a heavy door, and for the first time since coming here, I can’t get through.
“Locked?” I say to myself, trying the handle again. I lean my shoulder into it, but it doesn’t budge. I listen for anything on the other side and there’s only silence. I smell something earthy and oddly organic, but I can’t figure out what it is. I kneel down and stare at the gap between the bottom and the floor, and there are only shadows on the other side.
“Lose something?”
I slam my head on the door and groan. “Shit,” I say, rolling onto my butt.
Arsen’s standing at the other end of the hall. He’s got a strange, intense look on his face. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You can’t sneak up on me like that.” I rub my forehead and push myself to my feet.
“I didn’t realize you were going to start licking the floor.”
“I wasn’t licking anything.”