Chapter 12
LUCY
Soren sleeps for most of the night, and I’m grateful for the sleep, but clearly all the extra sleep for him has pissed him off royally.
He wakes both Kida and I up screaming angrily, and at first it’s just reflex to grab him, but the events of the last few days come crashing down and I have to bite back a groan.
I glance around, looking for some sort of clock, but see nothing.
“You’re probably good now,” Kida mutters groggily, rolling over in the bed and burrowing into the pillow. She’s back asleep in seconds, while I pull up the shirt I’m wearing and bring him to my breast. Soren latches on angrily, suckling hard enough to make me wince.
I press my head back against the headboard, closing my eyes tiredly, while absently stroking a finger over Soren’s hair.
I was really hoping this was all a bad dream and I’d wake back up in my apartment.
I’m only on my maternity leave for a couple more weeks, and I want to spend all the time I can with Soren before I have to leave him at the daycare I lined up as soon as I found out I was pregnant.
I try not to cry at the thought of all those plans going down the drain. Even if whatever the hell is going on now is resolved, that doesn’t mean I get to go back to my regular life. My job. Our home. There are so many unknowns right now it’s overwhelming to think about them all.
I open my eyes and look down at Soren, whose eyes are closed as he happily gets his fill. I smile at him and then look around the room. With everything going on, I didn’t have time to really take it all in. And seeing it with the sun starting to shine in through the windows, I’m in awe.
The room is huge. Like, two of my apartments huge, and that’s just the main area.
The room is long, with fancy-looking furniture elegantly arranged around it to incorporate a sitting area, a decently sized desk positioned in front of a stone hearth, and even a couple of built-in floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, complete with a rolling ladder.
The ceiling is intricately carved out in a gothic style, complete with a black chandelier dripping in diamonds.
The door out of the room is large, with some sort of carving in it, and what I have to imagine is real wood.
I’m surprised we can even open them; they look so heavy.
To the left of that is another smaller table with a couple books that look old and more for decoration than reading.
A large window, complete with window seat and some kind of carving in the wood around it, boasts along most of the same wall the bed is pressed against, and only stops a good six feet away.
I look to the other side and see two doors, one that I know leads to the closet and the other to the bathroom. The floors are a dark marble, and I have to assume that just this room alone probably cost a quarter of a million dollars.
I guess crime does pay.
This room alone is fit for a king, and it makes me wonder what the other rooms in this place are like.
I really want to find out. Mostly because I need to know possible ways out, but also, well, I’ve always wondered how the rich live.
I work in a bookstore, and you have to wonder if the descriptions you read in books are accurate in real life.
This room feels like it belongs in some kind of fantasy romance book, and the dragon prince is about to swoop in and change into some gorgeous man.
Add in wings, and I’d be living out the fantasies of millions of women around the world.
I shake my head and smile slightly. Yeah, there goes my imagination again. Living in a fake world in my head isn’t going to help any of this. I need to remember that this might look pretty, but it’s hiding dark secrets that few in the outside world will ever know.
I look down at Soren and watch as he pulls away, clearly having had his fill. I smile at him, lowering my shirt before positioning him to burp.
I never knew if I’d be a good mother, but Soren’s made it easy. Sure, it’s still frustrating, draining, and utterly maddening at times, but then he smiles at me and it makes it worth it.
Well, except for the blowouts. Those are fucking nasty and I could definitely live without them.
And I probably won’t be able to con Kida into changing and bathing him after another one like I did the last time.
She didn’t speak to me for two days after that disaster.
Still, worth it. I only had to worry about the laundry at least.
That was the one time we figured out that me eating fish was a bad idea.
Once Soren burps, he lets out a loud sigh of contentment, and I smile.
Alright, time to change him and see what they gave us for clothes.
Then I’m getting up and getting out of this room.
It’s quiet, and maybe our guard has fallen asleep.
I’m also starving. Despite all the food Kida and Zeno brought back last night, I didn’t have much of an appetite for it, so Kida ate most of it, while the two of us talked. Now, I’m ravenous.
I ease out of bed, leaving Soren on the bed in case I’m still not steady, and while my knees shake just a little bit, I’m feeling much steadier than I did yesterday. Good progress. Picking up Soren, I carry him into the bathroom after grabbing some supplies, and I gape at what I see.
Holy shit. This place is just as stunning as the main room.
Where the other room seemed to really like the gothic look, this was a much more modern-looking bathroom, though it still had some gothic elements.
The room is covered in dark swirling marble tile, but the gothic architecture covers the ceiling, and another two of those chandeliers also dangle in here.
The vanity is one long piece with two inset sinks, a long rectangle mirror spreads across it, and across the room is a toilet, a separate tub and a shower.
The shower is a mixture of glass and tile, with dual fancy showerheads coming from either end and a long bench along the wall.
The tub is large, deep, and has a large ledge around. It looks like a dream.
When I look on the other side of the bathroom door I see another door that when I open it leads into a huge walk-in closet.
I step inside, and gawk at it. It’s just as long as the bathroom, though narrower, and boasts shelves, drawers, and racks all around the room, other than a vanity with a large mirror at the far end.
In the center of it is a small island full of drawers, and a large rectangular ottoman that could double as a bed for someone.
The racks have suits hanging from them, and some of the shelves and drawers look to be full. Guess Massimo doesn’t have enough clothes to fill this place. Not that I’m surprised. This place would take forever to fill if you were just one person.
I step back out and look down at Soren. “We’re not in Kansas anymore, are we?
” I murmur as I shut the bathroom door behind us.
It doesn’t take me long to get him changed and dressed, then I focus on getting myself cleaned up and finding some clothes that fit me in the small pile that Sofia left for us.
I eventually settle on some black yoga pants, an oversized dark gray shirt, and a new nursing bra with the tags still on it.
I blink at that, but I don’t question it.
I don’t want to wear my old one, and I need something or I’ll be leaking all over the place.
When I’m dressed, I find a pair of black flats and slip them on my feet.
They fit, but I try to remind myself they probably checked my sizes when they were getting me all cleaned up in the first place.
Dressed and freshened up, I pull my damp hair back into a simple braid, and grab the baby sling that’s hanging on the back of the door and get Soren settled in.
When I leave the bathroom, Kida is still fast asleep, the blankets up over her face and only her dark hair peeking out on the pillow.
I roll my eyes and head for the door. Kida’s always been the one of the two of us who can sleep through anything if she’s tired enough.
Clearly, this is one of those times. And heaven help you if you wake her up before she’s ready. She’s a bitch with a capital B.
I quietly turn the knob, poking my head out to look around.
I nearly jump when I see the man standing against the wall just on the other side of the door.
He looks at me in surprise, but then he gives me a quick nod, before turning his attention back to the phone in his hand.
“Oh, um, hello,” I whisper as I quietly shut the door behind me.
“Good morning, signora,” the man murmurs back with a thick Italian accent.
He’s an older man, maybe in his mid-fifties, with mostly still dark hair, gray along his temples, wearing a simple black suit, and kind dark eyes.
If I saw him on the street I would think he was a businessman.
The difference is the obvious gun in the sling at his waist when he shifts and his suit coat opens a bit more.
He looks at the swaddle and a soft smile pulls at his lips. “You are both hungry, yes?”
“Oh, um, I am, but he’s good now,” I say awkwardly. “I was hoping I could get something to eat from the kitchen if you could direct me.”
He nods. “Just down the hall, take two rights, and then down the stairs and another right. You will find your way to the kitchen. Your sister, she is still sleeping?” I nod. “I shall direct her to you if she wakes then,” he promises.
“Oh, ah, thank you.” I take a hesitant step forward, almost half expecting him to stop me, but he just smiles at me and then looks back at his phone.
I keep walking, and when I glance over my shoulder, he’s still in the same position, seemingly absorbed in whatever he’s looking at, but I get the sense that he’s all too aware of where I am and how fast it would take to get to me.