Page 30 of 10,000 Hours With A Rich Menace

Jeffie laughed. “Well, he calls me his soul mate, so please don’t get all weirded out.”

I screwed my face up and she laughed.

“Not like that… me and Menace have been through a lot together… all of us have, and I’ve been the constant in his life. The one who never left, and the one he has always had. He’s a big brother to me… best friend, and I’ll deny it if you tell him, a soul mate in a way. I believe our paths were supposed to cross because he needs me.”

“Wow. How am I, as his future wife, supposed to fill such shoes?” I snickered, and Jeffie became serious.

“This is a business arrangement in a way. You marry him to help him with his problem, and he’ll keep your people alive, although he really wants to kill them. You have to know that what your father and friend did is a death sentence… that man has done worse for less, and the fact that he has agreed to keep them alive because of you is really big. I know this is an arranged marriage, but don’t think of it like that… get to know him.”

“Okay.”

You know how the most outrageous things happen to someone, and you joke and say that would happen to me because wild thingsalwayshappened to you? That would be me in this moment. Crazy things always happen to me, and I always just roll with the punches, and make the best out of them.

Things could be worse, like me choking on my blood in that warehouse. Marrying a billionaire couldn’t be that bad… right?

When Jeffie showedme that the chair had heat, and it reclined back, I was dead to the world. Drool spilled out of my mouth when I felt the car jerk and go over what seemed like a huge pothole. I jumped up, thinking Jeffie had betrayed me and I was going to meet my maker. There were men in suits with a mirror on a long pole sticking it under the truck, and then nodding for him to proceed.

“Relax, he has security monitors on the floor, so when the truck goes over to get to the main gate, if there is anything on the car, it will more than likely fall off, and it scans to let him know who is entering the property. They are there to do a sweep under the car as well.”

“Does someone want to kill him? Who does all of this for a home?”

She smiled. “He’s Menace Caselli… a name that is very powerful. There’s a lot of people that want his position and he makes sure that they can never get it, and his family is protected.”

“Family?”

“He has sisters and a brother.” Jeffie looked at her watch. “I’m not sure when you’ll meet them… they don’t come around much.”

“That’s sad.”

Her phone sounded, and she quickly picked it up and jumped into work mode. I admired how she could keep everything together without a strand of hair being loose.

As we inched closer to the gates, the driver put the window down and waited a second before he quickly punched the number in and looked into the camera that moved in his direction. Soon as the camera verified who he was, he pulled up and lowered Jeffie’s window down, and she repeated the same process with the phone tucked between her ear and shoulder.

Soon as she was verified, the iron clad gates opened, allowing us access into what looked like trees. Each tree along the winding gravel road had a light that illuminated near the root of the tree. It was an overcast day, so the sun wasn’t out, and it appeared darker, even for it being in the afternoon. We drove for a mile before we wrapped around a turnabout, and the house in question came into view.

My breath was caught in my throat when I took in the home in front of us. Forget home, this looked like it could be a college campus or something. It was so massive and black.

Very dark.

Every inch of this home with its sleek glass balcony, slate exterior and black gloss material screamed luxury. We pulled onto the Nantucket pavers that were perfectly layered.

On the ride up from the gate, I felt my ears pop and looked at the driver and Jeffie to see if they felt the same thing. Now, I knew why my ears had popped. We were surrounded by forest; however, this home was elevated on a cliff, far away from everything and everybody.

Talk about isolation.

The lush greenery made the harsh lines of this modern mansion soften. It was a give and take, and I think both elements, the home being slate, concrete and mostly glass, along with the greenery that surrounded it, complimented each other.

“This…this is where I’m going to live?”

Jeffie smiled as the driver opened the door for her. “Yes… not too shabby, huh?”

I didn’t move from the seat as I watched her easily walk around the front of the truck and look through the windshield. The door on my side opened and I stepped out, not knowing what to do or say.

This was normal for Jeffie because she had probably been here over a dozen times. She picked up her phone again and gestured for me to follow her through the wide glass door. Soon as we walked in, we stepped through another door, and I jumped when a mist fell down onto her from the glass doorway.

“It’s a sanitizing mist… kills germs.”

I walked through and felt the cold mist sprinkle over my clothes as I walked further into the foyer. There were no family pictures on the wall, just massive pieces of art and statues. The textured walls, dramatic modern chandelier and the floating staircase didn’t disappoint.

---