Page 163 of The Bonus

“Ahem.”

I clear my throat as I try to clear my mind of its pornographic thoughts.

“Lucia.” He smiles as he bends and hugs her. “You look lovely.” He straightens the ruffles on her dress.

Dominic gets out of the car and Gabriel smiles down at him. “Hello, Dominic.”

Dominic fakes a smile but doesn’t offer his hand or a hug or anything. “Hi.”

Fuck’s sake, kid…be nice.

“Please…come inside.” Gabriel gestures to the house and we follow him up the stairs. We walk through the huge double front doors and are instantly hit in the face with opulence.

The foyer has a double timber staircase, and the floor is black and white marble tiles laid in a pattern. “Wow…this is….” I grip my handbag with white-knuckle force. “Nice.”

“It’s okay.” He walks us through to the oversized kitchen and living area and my mouth nearly falls open. The kitchen is the size of a restaurant and all white marble, and the living area has oversized white couches and a white rug.

How do they keep all this white stuff clean?

“Woooah,” Lucia gasps as she runs to the back glass concertina doors. “Is that a boat?”

“Holy…” Dom gasps.

I peer out to see an infinity pool overlooking a flawless mountain view, there’s black-and-white striped deck chairs lined up alongside of it and a swim-up bar.

What the hell?

“There is a boat,” Dominic cries.

I look past the pool to see a lake with a floating rowboat tied up to the pier.

My horrified eyes meet Gabriel’s and he winces, knowing exactly what I’m thinking. “The boat on the lake is overkill, I must admit.” He shrugs.

“Can we go look? Can we go look?” Lucia bounces on the spot.

“Can we, Mom?” Dominic chimes in.

“Is it safe out there?” I ask.

“Sure.” Gabriel opens the glass doors and the kids go running out into the back garden.

I look over to the left of the property and see a house, smoke is coming out of the chimney. “Is someone living there?” I ask.

“Mark.”

“Mark Mark?” My eyes widen in surprise. “Your driver from New York Mark?”

Gabriel chuckles. “Yes, Mark Mark.”

“Oh…”

“He was looking forward to getting out of New York and wanted to start over with me.”

“Oh…” I shrug. “I can’t believe…”

“That I moved here?”

The smell of his aftershave wafts around me, and I hold my breath so I don’t know how good he smells, it’s a pity that I already do.

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