DECEPTIVE DESIRES

LEAH POINT OF VIEW

"The housekeeper will be with you shortly," the uniformed maid said, then gave me a small smile and walked away.

I looked around the sitting room I'd been left to wait in awe. The whole house looked more like a castle than a house. It was truly something out of a fairytale. I'd always had an eye for architecture and I liked to think I'd inherited it from one of my birth givers.

"Good evening, Lisa," a woman's cool voice said.

I looked over my shoulders to see a woman walking into the room. She had ash blonde hair pinned back in a severe bun.

"Good evening, you must be Mrs. Charles."

She nodded sharply, "sorry for the delay. If you could follow me, I'll show you around the house and point out what type of duties you'd be doing in the house."

I stood up, "the house is beautiful."

Her smile became stiff, "Yes, it is."

I followed her out of the room, curious about her reaction. I let it sit at the back of my mind and tried to concentrate on my instructions. If I was going to succeed as a maid here, I needed to adhere to instructions and make sure my conduct remained faultless.

I couldn't afford to be fired. I didn't just want this job, I needed it.

"This is the east wing," she said, motioning. Here, you can find guest rooms and sitting rooms. Whenever the master has guests, you have to stay out of their way as much as possible. As servants, we should always be some degree of eternally in reach but not seen."

That sounded horrible but I nodded in agreement. She narrowed her eyes at me and continued down the hall.

"These are the staff quarters. The house has eight staff members at the moment. You'll be the ninth. There's me, my husband, who is the groundskeeper, a cook, his valet and the four maids."

Then she continued the tour. At the end of it, she came to a row of rooms. "This is the west wing, the master's wing. You shouldn't be seen here under any circumstances. This area isn't part of your job description, and you'll be fired immediately if you're caught there."

Not if you don't catch me, I thought snidely.

"The master is a very private man and he doesn't tolerate curiosity. Just do your job, keep your head down and your mouth shut." She said sternly. "Whatever happens in this house, stays in this house."

I blinked at her innocently, "are we keeping some sort of secret?"

The look she sent me would have had a less woman scurrying away in fright. Unfortunately for her, I wasn't afraid of her.

"Asking stupid questions like that will get you in trouble. Do as I say, or you'll be gotten rid of," she said, "and the hassle of finding new help is starting to be too much."

"Yes ma'am," I replied.

She narrowed her eyes at me before continuing "Your area is the kitchen and the east wing. Stick to it."

"Yes, ma'am." I replied obediently.

She nodded, "I'll leave you to settle into your room for now, but you'll join Ana for the dinner preparations shortly."

"Yes, ma'am," I said.

Then she walked away.

I eyed the doors of the master's quarters behind me. I was definitely going to have to go in there. But not today. For now, all I had to do was report to my superiors that I had gotten in.

I hurried to my room and into the bathroom, then sent an innocent "hey," to a number saved as DAD.

A moment later, I got back a "hey"

In reality, the person I had just informed codely that I was in the position and the operation was underway was my boss. I was a part of the law enforcement special forces group in charge of digging into the activity of the Mafia in Chicago.

I was one of the best assets in the team and the only one good enough to pull off this charade effectively.

At five feet six with big blue eyes and honey blonde hair, I didn't look the least bit threatening. So many had looked down on me on the special forces team, and I was banking on that to get me through this mission.

I knew the risks, of course. If I was caught here, I'd die a slow and painful death. That was why I didn't intend on getting caught. I was going to bring down the De Luca Mafia family and end their reign of terror in Chicago.

This was the first we had been able to do in years and we had everything riding on this. I couldn't afford to fuck it up.

The Mafia had killed my parents and made me an orphan. They were evil bastards, each one of them, and I wasn't going to stop till they were all rotting behind bars.

I hid the burner phone back in the hidden zip of my suitcase then made my way to the kitchen. I was a bit confused by the layout, but I had confidence in my ability to find my way around.

That confidence dwindled to nothing as I met yet another dead end. In my defense, the house was freakishly large with far too many doors and hallways.

I realized too late that I was in the master's wing, and I had to get out of here, pronto. I looked around, confused by which door had led me here. Seemed I was going to have to try all the doors and hope one didn't lead into a torture chamber in active use.

Just as I reached for one door, I was suddenly yanked into a hard body, one hand in my ponytail, keeping my head up and something cold was pressed under my jaw.

"Who are you? Correct answers only or the servants will be picking pieces of your skull off the carpets for the rest of the day," a man's voice said with deceptive calm.

Holy shit.