Step Bride: A Bad Boy Mob Roman(14)

I had married my stepbrother. My very rich, very attractive, very dangerous, and very off-limits stepbrother.

What the hell was I going to do?

My room was huge.

It was probably the size of the entire first floor in my old house. I had a small sitting area complete with couches and a nice television, a full set of old wooden furniture that all looked like it belonged in a museum, flowers and plants everywhere, paintings on the walls, and this enormous four-poster bed. An entire family of four could have slept in that comfortably.

It was without a doubt the most absurd room I had ever seen. My things had already been carried up, including most of what had been in my bedroom at home. The Barones moved pretty fast and clearly ran a tight ship. I was impressed, although still pretty pissed off. Everything had happened so fast, and suddenly I was stuck in this cavernous room.

I was totally exposed. I had no clue what kind of people I was now living with. Maybe I didn’t even have any real privacy at all, and they were standing in the walls behind the pictures, watching me at all times.

But that was just paranoia. Arturo seemed to genuinely love my mom, at least based on the very tiny interaction I had seen and what she had told me. I had to think that he would treat his new stepdaughter well, even if he was a dangerous mobster.

Then again, there were so many people at the house. I’d only seen a tiny fraction of it, too. Who knew how many rooms there really were, and how many secrets.

Overwhelmed, I flopped down on the bed and blew my hair out of my face. I scrolled through my phone and found Pacey’s number.

She answered on the second ring. “Hey!”

“Hey, Pace. How’s home?”

“Fine as usual. Dad is being a dick and Mom is pretending like he isn’t. How’s your new life?”

“It’s insane, Pace. Seriously insane.”

“What’s it like?”

How could I explain it to her? “Words won’t do it justice.”

“Try.”

“It’s like an enormous mansion. Like a castle almost. And the grounds are so, so huge, and there are so many people. They’re super paranoid about security, too.”

“Really? That’s weird.”

For a second, I wanted to tell her about the Barones. I wanted to tell her that I was living with mobsters and married to the son of the leader. But I knew I couldn’t. Pacey didn’t need to know, and it was a huge risk anyway. If she told anyone and it somehow got back to Arturo and the others, who knew what he would do to my mother and me.

“Yeah,” I said quickly. “He’s just a little odd, I guess.”

“So what’s your room like?”

“Basically a cavern,” I said, and I proceeded to explain it to her. Of course, she wouldn’t understand just how expensive everything seemed and the sort of luxury that surrounded me until she saw it.

“I’m almost jealous,” Pacey said.

“Honestly, Pace, I want to get the hell out of here.” I paused, an idea hitting me. “Listen, is there any way I could come stay with you for the summer?”

There was a long pause. “You know I’d love it if you did, Nat.”

“But?”

“But it’s not a good time around the Harris household. Dad isn’t doing too hot at work, so things are pretty tight. Tempers are high and all that.”

“Okay. I understand.”

“I’m really sorry. I hate to say no to you.”

“It’s okay, really. I just hate this house already. It’s so cold and impersonal. I miss my old room.”

“I bet. I still can’t believe your mom just sold the house without telling you.”

“Can’t you, though? This sort of shit is endless with her.”

“Tell you what. How about I come visit tomorrow?”

“I would love that.”

“Text me the address.”

“Okay.”

“I gotta go. Mom is calling.”

“See you tomorrow, Pace.”

“Later.”

She hung up the phone, leaving me alone in the vast room again.

It took me twenty minutes to get outside the house.

Wandering through the halls, I couldn’t believe how absolutely huge the place was. It felt like a maze, with the same hallways constantly popping up, but I was totally unable to find any way out. My key worked on most doors, though some remained locked. Most of them were just empty bedrooms, anyway.

I had to ask directions twice before I finally found the stairs down and the door out onto the grounds. I passed a ton of people wandering around the house, though none of them paid me any attention unless I directly spoke to them. I figured they were paid staff and were used to treating the guests that way.