Chapter Five
The drive to his place was nice and quiet. He let me sulk in silence and I cried to myself as I looked out the window, my mind buried in memories of Matt. As we got closer to the residential area - to the well-to-do section, as a matter of fact - my mind began to drift to how Kevin said Matt told him not to reveal they were together that night. I kept on wondering why Matt didn’t want me to know and what kind of secret he was really hiding. I needed to figure it out. I needed to know the truth.
We then pulled up to a large compound which, behind its walls, were three large manors. The biggest one was in the middle and I presumed that was where Giovanni actually lived whenever he was here and not out in some other city for business. I had no clue what the other buildings were. I didn’t even know why he’d need another building. Did he have so many servants they needed their own dormitory or something?
“Why so many buildings?” I just had to get it out of my system.
He slowly pulled up to the large building in the middle. “That one on the right side is purely for business. It’s an office here in the compound. The other is a utility building so that’s where all the laundry is done, all the cleaning and whatnot. I have nine servants including the driver you met the other day. They all stay there, except for Richard since he’s my personal assistant. He stays in my house.”
Wow. That’s a lot of money going in and out every day. How rich was this old guy?
As soon as he parked, a servant opened the front doors and came running down the stairs. He then opened the driver’s seat and hurried to open mine. When I stepped out I got a better look and realized this guy was probably just as old as Giovanni, around fifty if I were to make a guess.
“New protege, Master Ricci?” he asked Giovanni. I wonder what that meant.
Giovanni shook his head, “No, she’s a special guest. Please refer to her as Ma’am Lily from now on. Lily, this is Richard. If you ever need anything during your stay here, just ask him.”
Bang!
The front doors of the house slammed open and to my surprise I saw two men, built like bouncers, leading a woman down the steps. She looked even younger than me, probably as young as Stephanie, and she seemed completely out of her mind. She couldn’t walk properly, she seemed totally drunk and wasted and she didn’t even have her clothes on right. She looked like she was raped or something.
“What the fuck is this?” Giovanni demanded. His voice was so deep, authoritative and commanding. I kind of jolted when I heard him.
One of the bouncers gave a worried look. “S-she was going all nuts, sir. She w-was knocking everything down and she broke your treadmill sir. We were planning to take her to the club so she could be… uh… treated.”
The bouncer looked at me when he said that last line. Maybe he was lying or using some kind of parlance he hoped I wouldn’t catch.
“Take her then,” Giovanni instructed. He appeared anxious to get the girl out of my sight quickly. What did he and the others do to this girl? Was he responsible? “Hurry up, I don’t want to insult our guest.”
The two guys quickly got out of our way, carrying the wasted girl in their arms. I saw Richard hurry to assist them but then he changed his mind and rushed up the front stairs to open the doors for us.
“Sorry about that,” Giovanni excused as he led me into his home. “We have parties here sometimes and it can get pretty wild.”
Oh, okay, that was justifiable. I knew I got wasted every now and then and I probably looked exactly like her whenever Matt would drive me home.
However, when we got inside it didn’t look like there was a party. It looked cold, to be honest. Everything was this sleek black leather or glass. It looked like no one had been in here for days and the only way I figured it was cleaned was because I was introduced to Richard.
Were they partying in a basement or something?
“Come,” Giovanni then beckoned me passed a cozy living room with a fireplace and up a flight of stairs. I looked up and saw there was a wide hallway on the second floor and there were at least four different doors. “Let me take you to the room you can stay in. Uh, Richard, please prepare a meal and some coffee for us. Bring it to my room, Lily and I will dine there.”
“Yes sir,” Richard answered and headed off to the kitchens.
I quickly followed Giovanni up the stairs and he took me to the room closest to what I presumed was his own room. He opened the door and I saw it was a pristine, all-white guest room. There was a large, queen-sized bed with a gorgeous duvet and oakwood furniture. There was even a large television mounted on the wall.
“You can rest here for the night,” he told me. “But please, join in my room for dinner. I would really like to talk to you and get to know you more. I am starting to see why Matt decided to be with you, why he fell in love with you.”
“Really?” I asked.
“Yes… you’re an absolutely marvelous woman,” he answered. “You’re beautiful, you know how to dress to impress and you also seem quite smart and capable. All that is superficial, however, and I am dying to meet the real woman underneath.”
I had nothing to say to that. I could just feel my cheeks flush red and I suddenly felt sheepish in front of him. “I-I don’t know, t-thank you for such kind words though.”
He gave me a warm smile and held my chin with his fingers. I thought he was going to lean in and suddenly kiss me. “Do not fret, child. Daddy is here for you. Go, rest, you might want to take a shower. I will ask Richard if he can procure something comfortable for you to wear.”
“You have an extra shirt?” I asked him. “You’re much bigger than I am so one of your shirts will be like a dress for me. That’ll be all I need.”
He laughed and nodded. “A shirt it is then. I’ll have Richard leave it on your bed later. Just knock on my door when you’re ready. I will be inside, waiting. I’ll probably take a shower myself.”
“Okay then,” I said as I watched him saunter to his room. I walked into mine, closed the door, and exhaled.
“Whew…” I whispered to myself. “What the fuck am I doing here?”
I just shook my head, took off my clothes, and headed to the bathroom to take a shower.