Page 133 of Stanton Adore

He smiles again. “Cinderella.” He giggles.

I frown. “Cinderella, that’s a pretty lame code word. I was thinking Mole Patrol or Booby Trap.”

He bursts out laughing. “If I say the word Booby Trap, I’m pretty sure Joshua will catch onto our plan.”

I nod. “Oh right, good thinking. But why Cinderella?” I ask. “That’s what Ben and I used to call you before we met you.” He smirks.

My mouth drops open. “Why would you call me Cinderella?” I ask.

“Because Joshua was besotted with you and we used to tease him.” I frown as I sum up his words, hmm, I like that piece of information. My confidence gets a much-needed boost and for the first time since leaving the airport I feel a little excited about seeing Josh’s house. We enter a road with beautiful trees and get to what looks like a guard station. The driver slows down and the gates are buzzed open and we drive through.

“What was that?” I ask.

“This is a gated community, otherwise Joshua would be hounded night and day by photographers.” I nod again, feeling stupid. The car turns a few corners, and the houses are all amazing. We slow and pull into a driveway with massive sandstone gates, the driver punches in a code and the gates slowly open. Shit. This can’t be his house, surely? It looks like something out of a magazine only a thousand times better. There is a massive circular driveway that joins onto a huge, and I mean huge, dark charcoal-rendered space-age palace. Fuck. The gardens are impeccable and have beautiful lights shining up into all of the trees. There is a huge water fountain in what looks like a tropical heaven. Jeez, this is opulence at its best. There are a few cars parked in the parking bays to the left and Ben looks around at Adrian and raises an eyebrow.

“We had better wait in the car until Joshua gets here.”

Adrian nods. “Good idea.”

Huh, whose cars are they? And why do we have to wait here?

“I would like to go in please,” I announce.

“No, we will wait for Joshua,” Ben snaps and I frown at Adrian.

“Is Cinderella inside?” I whisper. Adrian winks and nods. Right, that’s it. I barge the car door open and start marching up the stairs toward the front door. Adrian bundles out of the car behind me.

“Natasha, stop now.” This only infuriates me more. What, is the house frigging full of Penthouse bunnies or something? I can hear music and laughter coming from the house as I get close to the huge metal double doors.

Adrian catches up with me. “Tash, I’m not playing Cinderella anymore if you are going to act crazy every time I say it, and trust me you will hear it a lot.” I scowl as I open the door and march in. I stare open mouthed at my surroundings. There is a massive foyer with a beautiful pendant light lighting up the area. The floors are all dark polished concrete and the walls all stark white with massive abstract art adorning them. The place is so modern it looks industrial, almost.

A red-headed lady in her fifties comes around the corner and gives us a loving smile.

“There’s my boy,” she laughs in a German accent. She pulls Adrian into an embrace and gives him a cuddle, which he returns. “Where is my other boy?” she asks as she looks out the front door for Joshua.

“This is Brigetta, Joshua’s housekeeper. He is on his way. Brigetta, this is Natasha.” I smile as I shake her hand. Her eyes shoot to Adrian, he smiles and nods.

“Speak to me, child.” She smiles.

“Um, hello, nice to meet you,” I stammer. She laughs and claps her hands together and holds them under her chin as if praying.

“Australian, so you’re the beloved Natasha.” She pulls me into a cuddle. Yep, I like her already. Anyone who calls me beloved Natasha is in the good books. A man’s voice echoes from the room next door.

“Brigetta, where’s my drink? I’m not a fucking camel.” Adrian rolls his eyes and Brigetta shakes her head.

I frown. “Who is that?” I snap.

Adrian gives me a sympathetic smile. “Carson,” he says, deadpan. “He’s Josh’s best friend.”

I narrow my eyes. “You’re his best friend, Adrian.” He smiles and grabs my hand. The voice echoes again. “Brigetta, is this a fucking joke?” Brigetta goes to walk off but I grab her by the elbow.

“Why don’t you two wait here?” Adrian frowns, not understanding my meaning. I storm into the next room. Oh shit, this is worse than I imagined. There are five men in the lounge room all sitting on the biggest leather lounge I have ever seen. They are all drinking and have a tray of what looks like frigging cocaine on the coffee table. Is this for real? Adrian walks in behind me and the boys notice him and all start yelling.

“Murphy, you’re home. Where’s Stan? We thought we would host a little welcome home party. Brigetta, drinks…fuck.” Oh my god, he did not just yell at her to get him a drink. I cross my arms in front of me.

“This is Natasha,” Adrian says. They all ignore me and go back to their conversation. OK, I have had enough of this shit. I am fuming. Who are these losers? I walk over to the stereo and turn the music off and they all look up to see what happened.

Carson speaks first. “Brigetta, you speaka de English? I want a drink.”