Page 16 of Prince of Storms
In an instant, I realized I’d been taken—and taken hard. I knew the house would be large. Six bedrooms, several sitting rooms, a full-on library, all of which he’d bought stuff to equip? It would be a long-ass couple of days of cleaning, but the pay wasinsane.
Now, as the house swelled to fill my view, the single-story affair spreading out farther to the left and right with every foot closer, I stared and wondered if I was being underpaid. The house I’d imagined cleaning could have fit into that place a dozen times over. It wasmassive!
The house was all smooth curves, spires, and turrets, despite being only one story high. I figured the ceilings had to be huge. There was no other way about it. It looked almost like it was some sort of mountain palace somewhere in the Himalayas. There were definitely touches of Asian culture in it, though I couldn’t be specific. It was beautiful.
I followed the driveway between the two ends of the house, as Ty had instructed, not taking the other road that led somewhere off to the far side. The house, as I realized, was like a U shape, or perhaps more accurately, C-shaped, with the driveway running between the two ends. On the interior, the road split and ran around the perimeter. I went right and stopped under the giant overhang that reached out from the entryway to cover a section of the driveway.
Tor was waiting for me on the front steps, but I didn’t immediately get out. I almost thought about driving away. I’d been fucking conned. There was no way around it. The mansion would takeweeksto clean. Months, even. I wouldn’t have a day off until Christmas.
“Ah, Mia, I’m glad you came,” Tor said, coming around to the driver's side as I slowly cracked the door open.
“Yeah,” I said, still in a bit of a daze. “This is a big house, Tor.”
He laughed. “It’s not as bad as it seems, trust me. It’ll be fine.”
Oddly enough, I felt like Icouldtrust him. I wasn’t sure why. I barely knew the man, but something about him was trustworthy.
“Come on, let me show you around,” he said, holding on to the car door while extending a hand toward me.
I didn’tneedhis help to get out of my car, but I took it anyway, feeling the now familiar surge of electricity shoot through my hand and the rest of my body. I worked to calm myself, reminding all relevant parts of me that I would be spending a lot of time in proximity to him. I couldn’t turn into a dripping horndog every time he looked at me or made physical contact.
“This is going to take me forever to clean,” I muttered in horrified awe as he led me through the front door. The hallway beyond seemed to stretch forever, and when we reached the first intersection of hallways, I felt even more doomed.
“You don’t have to clean it all,” Tor said. “In fact, there are large sections to which you aren’t to go.”
That caused my eyebrows to rise. Off-limits areas? Interesting. What sort of secrets was he hiding? My heart fluttered with nerves. Had I just walked into the home of a serial killer? I swallowed, suddenly glad I’d told Ally where I was going. If I didn’t come home, she’d be able to send the police to find my body, if nothing else.
“Don’t forget, Iampaying you twelve thousand dollars for this job,” he reminded me as I hesitated at his next tug of my hand.
“Yeah,” I said, glancing at our clasped hands, wondering why I was still holding his. I abruptly dropped it.
Tor looked a little disappointed, but he didn’t say anything.
“Sitting room one,” he said, stopping beside two sliding doors. He pushed them back into the wall, and I peered beyond to see hardwood floors. There were marks in the thick dust where furniture had been until recently.
“We got rid of most of the furniture. That’s why you don’t have to clean the entire place. Some rooms are piled high with it,” he said.
“Oh.” That made a lot more sense than him being a serial killer.
He proceeded to give me a tour of the areas hedidwant me to clean. It was a total oftenbedrooms, three sitting rooms, two kitchens—one of which was humungous—and four bathrooms.
“Now, this is my favorite. It will require extra care.”
I frowned, wondering what was beyond the thick sliding double doors.
“Oh. My. God,” I gasped, overawed by the sight as we stepped inside. “This is amazing.”
Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves.
“How high are the ceilings?” I asked, staring upward at the murals painted on the domed ceiling.
“Sixteen feet,” he said. “So be careful on the ladders.”
“Sliding ladders.” My voice was barely a whisper as I saw the sliding steps that would take me all the way up. “I didn’t think places like this existed.”
Tor didn’t reply. When I glanced over at him, I saw he was watching me with those swirling gray eyes of his. Something lurked in their depths. It wasn’t malignant or vicious. Just … watchful.
“This room alone is going to take a day or more,” I said, noting the thick layer of dust covering everything. Many of the books looked to be in sorry shape. I hoped they were savable.
