Chapter VI: Explorers

All the bruises were gone, most of her injuries were healed, and it was just her rib cage that was still bound, needing more time to heal, but other than that, she was in top shape.
She knew that she had been here for three weeks and during that time she didn't see anything of Arcangelo; she wondered if he was avoiding her, but then realized that she had no right to inquire about him.
Rosalie was allowed outside and she had the free will to walk around. During these three weeks, she figured that this place was huge and she hasn't discovered it, instead she spent most of her time in the kitchen, talking to the maids and helping out with cooking every now and again.
During her time spent in the kitchen, she got acquainted with a few of the people that worked around the mansion. She even found out that they were all very polite and cordial people and she had just got in the way of one of the worst persons there on her first day. Someone who, for some reason, wouldn't be a problem anymore. Rosalie had her suspicions of it being a Mafia household, and figured that it was exactly that--given the luxury and style and the amount of secrecy going on.
"What do you mean, you don't know?" One of the older guards asked with a chuckle at the response tp his question regarding her presence at the estate. "How do you not know?"
"Well, Arcangelo never specified." She shrugged and cut the vegetables, noticing how everyone tensed whenever she took his name. "Why do you guys do that?"
"Do what?"
"Wince every time I take his name?"
"Well, sweetie," He took a carrot and bit into it. "Names, especially dangerous names, have power. And like people love to say 'speak of the devil and he shall appear' and believe me, honey, he is the Godfather of the devil."
"Isn't he a rumor?"
"In your world, he is nothing but a rumor. In our world, he is the god. The king. And no one can get in his way." The guard spoke with a slight shiver down in spine.
"I can only imagine," Rosalie muttered and handed the vegetables to one of the girls. "Say, what's your name. I'm Rosalie."
"We all know who are, dearie." Teresa, the head chief, chuckled from the stove. "And that knucklehead over there is Major, head of security and Boss's guard."
"You work beside him?"
"Not beside him per say, that would suggest that I am one of his oldest friends, I work more for him."
"Oldest friends?" Rosalie chortled as she leaned on the counter. "I don't think he is capable of having friends."
"Oh, no. They are more like his childhood companies that became brothers. His second-in-command; Vincenzo Moretti, the one with the green eyes. Lorenzo Balducci, the man who ensures everything is in order for the boss. Marcelo Vitali, the chief of staff. And Romeo Alleva, the one in charge of recruits training. These five guys have been together since they were born. All grew up together and lived in the same neighborhood."
"Really?" Rosalie inquired with curiosity, unable to imagine the mafia boss having any friends.
"They all wanted to do such different things." Teresa chimed in. "I've known these boys since they were babes. Always found together, and whenever something happened, it was always those five to have caused it. They even had a name for their little gang. BRAVE, I believe."
"Brave?" She giggled in response. "Why?"
"B for Balducci. R for Regnante. A for Alleva. V for Vitali. E for Ettore. BRAVE."
"Ettore? Who is Ettore?"
"Vincenzo Ettore Moretti."
"Ah."
"They were such good boys, then everything just...fell apart." Teresa reminisced as she stirred the pot, a sad smile on her face. "It was so horrible. Oh God, the boys never recovered, they all went dark. You have to understand something, Rosalie, they weren't always like this. They weren't evil. But since that day, they never were the same..."
"Well obviously, Teresa. Who can witness and live with what they did and stay the same?" Major inquired flatly as he stirred the coffee in his cup.
"What day?" Rosalie looked from Major to Teresa, trying to understand what they were talking about.
Teresa opened her mouth to speak when a low grumbling voice had everyone freezes in their places.
"One more word, Teresa," The voice spoke with venom dripping from every syllable. "You know the rules."
"Yes, sir," She murmured and hung her head.
Feeling his piercing gaze on her, Rosalie lifted her head and met his unwavering glare. Today, he was dressed in an expensive steel grey suit. A little girl, of 4 years of age, in his arms with a 6-year-old boy standing with his hand in Arcangelo's.
"Major," Arcangelo called out to the guard who instantly stood to attention. "Alyna will be here any moment, so I need you to be there, along with Salv and Gun."
"Yes, sir." Major nodded as he stepped out of the kitchen going to look for the other two.
"And Teresa, I need someone to look after these two." He resumed and put down the girl. "Alyna is mad and you know how frightened Claudia gets with loud voices," Arcangelo spoke gently and stroked the girl's hair, placing a kiss on her forehead.
"Arsenio, can you please keep an eye on her?" He turned to the little boy, who nodded eagerly.
Rosalie looked at the two little children, both of them looking rigid and frightened as her heart went out to them. Such innocent little children in the midst of chaos.
"May I look after them?" Rosalie spoke up just as Arcangelo stood to leave. The maids holding their breath. "Please?"
Turning to look over his shoulder, he was about to speak when the sound of glass shattering had the people jump.
"Where the fuck are you?!" A feminine voice screamed as Arcangelo closed his eyes and inahled deeply, Claudia whimpering, huddling towards the boy with her uncle out of reach.
"*Arsenio, prendere Claudia e andare con lei (Arsenio take Claudia and go with her)*." He told the little boy who nodded and grasped the girl's hand before approaching Rosalie.
With a nod of confirmation in her direction, he stepped out as Alyna's voice grew an octave at the sight of him.
"How can you do that!? He is my husband! But most of all he is your best friend, you can't do this to him! To me!"
"Lower your voice." Rosalie heard Arcangelo growl as instant fear prickled at her from every direction.
"How can you sever all ties and then expect me to come and stay here with the kids?! You are disowning me!"
"Stop this bullshit, Alyna."
"He is my husband and you can't expect me to just be up and leave him when he needs me the most! I have had enough-" the woman went on when Rosalie felt the boy take hold of her hand and lead her out towards the gardens.
"Arsenio?" Rosalie called out questioningly, recalling the name Arcangelo had called him. "Are you Arsenio?"
The boy looked at her before nodding. Smiling, she halted in the middle of the garden, crouching before the two.
"Hello, I'm Rosalie. A...friend of your uncle's."
"Uncle Arcangelo has a girlfriend." The girl gasped, her tears stopping. "Are you really his friend?"
"Well, not actually a friend, more of a...what can I say...client?"
"Oh." The girl spoke with a downcast look.
"I'm sorry, what's your name, sweety?"
"I'm Claudia." The girl grinned. "This is my cousin, Arsenio."
Rosalie smiled in response before an idea came to mind.
"Hey, you two have roamed this place before right?"
"Yes." Arsenio nodded as he looked at her with interest.
"Could you show me around?" Rosalie asked as she bit her lip uncertainly. "I mean, I've been wanting to look around, but I've been scared to do that in case I get lost. So can I trust you two to show me around without getting lost?"
Instantly the two looked at each other before turning back to her, a wide grin on their faces before nodding vigorously. Smiling, Rosalie stood up and just as she did, the children grabbed hold of her hand, running across the lush green grass.
Looking around her, Rosalie realized how huge everything was. The estate was three stories tall with porcelain white walls, numerous windows, and a navy blue tiled roof.
"The yards first!" Claudia exclaimed as they shrieked with laughter, tugging Rosalie along with them. "And then we'll show you the dogs and the fountain!"
"And dad's cars!" Arsenio piped in. "Then we'll meet all the guards too!"
Rosalie laughed as she allowed them to pull her along. She didn't think it would be much, she imagined it to be a long stretch of green grass, but when they made it through the lawn--which she realized took quite some time and had her out of breath with her side aching--she realized that these 'yards' weren't just any yards.
They weren't yards at all. They were courts.
A tennis and a basketball court and an Olympic size pool all side by side at the back of the mansion. Looking around her in awe, Rosalie realized that mansion was an understatement, it was a castle.
"Wow." She gasped under her breath and explored the basketball and tennis court. The children giggling and showing her around with great enthusiasm. They even introduced her to the few guards that were patrolling the ground, their hands folded behind their backs as Rosalie figured they were hiding away their guns.
Once she had a look at all three courts, the children started to walk back towards the house, but instead of going around it they made their way towards a patio that stretched all the way to the castle's width. Stepping onto the marble floor, she realized they were heading for the courtyard in the center of the house.
"Now, the fountain!" They spoke in sync as the ground beneath them changed from marble to rocks.
Looking around her, Rosalie noticed four paths connecting the mansion to the courtyard, with patches of lush green grass and vibrant flowers and a few benches between them--were all leading to the center of the yard. And in the middle stood a 15 feet tall porcelain fountain that had an angel standing tall, surrounded by intricate designs and water being spewed in its direction.
Gawking silently, she walked towards the gleaming structure before she looked into the clear blue water that was in the basin.
"Magnificent." She breathed silently and traced the meticulous designs carved onto the ceramic structure. "Wow."
"Okay, let's go to the dogs!" Arsenio exclaimed, impatient to show her around.
When they said they'll take her to the dogs, she took their word for it. They took her to an enclosed area further away that had seven dogs encaged behind the fence, all of them ranging from one ferocious breed to another. They were terrifying to look at from afar, but the moment the children approached the fence, the beasts turned from wolves to puppies. Yapping and jumping as they tried to get to them.
Rosalie felt safe knowing that these dogs were all locked up and couldn't harm her. If only she had known there was a dog that wasn't locked inside.
She held her breath and watched a Doberman Pinscher approach her. It's black fur glinting in the sunlight with its cropped ears it almost reached her knee. It sniffed the area around Rosalie's feet, deeming her to mean no harm before he turned away from her as if though she didn't interest him.
One bark from that monstrosity and the children squealed with joy, tackling the dog with hugs and belly rubs and ear scratching. The dog playing with them as he licked their faces, and nuzzled into them affectionately.
"This is Isaac," Arsenio told Rosalie who was watching them scratch the dog's belly from a safe distance that would give her a head start if she had to run. "He is dad's dog. That's why he's not with the others. They are for the guards."
"Ah. Okay." She nodded in understanding. "Should we go onto your dad's cars?"
Standing up from the ground, they made their way to the garage, where they showed Rosalie the most expensive cars as if though they were a dinky collection. It mortified her at how easily they shrugged them off, saying things like, "eh, it's just a Lamborghini".
It suddenly hit her that she had never felt any more out of place than now in the midst of these expensive luxury cars in her denim jeans and a blouse.
"Let's go inside," Claudia suggested as they made their way across the porch and through the large double doors that looked like they were made of gold.
Inside, the showed the ground floor first, telling her that the estate was divided into the south, east and west wings. They showed her the south wing first, taking her all the way up to the third floor and opening all the rooms for her to have a look around.
According to one of the guards, who was assigned to the children and had supposedly been following them since they stepped out of the kitchen - and introduced himself as Salv - the south wing was where all the informal guests came, this was where they all casually sat or stayed the night, like Arcangelo's sister, Alyna--the same woman who had been screaming at him during the day.
The west wing was for the formal guest. They were all settled in the conference room on the ground floor, and if they were going to be staying, they had rooms on the first floor with the second floor being where all the serious transactions occurred with guns and money and everything.
And finally, they made their way to the east wing, the guard stopping at the intersection where the east wing connected with the south.
Rosalie looked at him in confusion as he simply moved away. Much to her surprise, there weren't any guards here, unlike the rest of the estate.
"This is our favorite part of this place," Arsenio informed as they walked down the brightly lit corridor with paintings on the wall and antiques on pedestals. Being so busy in admiring everything around her, she was forced to a sudden halt as they stood before two large oak doors that had intricate designing on the wood with the handles glinting gold.
Claudia got on her tiptoes and grabbed the door handle, about to push it down when a voice halted her.
"Here you two are." A deep voice called from down the hall as they all watched Arcangelo approach with a fond smile. "I've been looking everywhere for you two."
The children had broad grins on their faces as they released Rosalie's hand, running towards their uncle as he scooped them up in his arms, tickling them as they laughed and peppered them with kisses.
"Are you two hungry?" He asked as his eyes shone with mirth and joy.
"Yes, we are!" The two cried together as Rosalie stifled a chuckle behind her hand.
"Great! Because I feel like I could eat a horse!" Arcangelo spoke as he made a funny face, causing her to smile at their interaction.
Deciding to leave them alone, she started to walk down the hall before Arsenio called out to her.
"Rosie, wait!" He exclaimed as she stopped, turning around to regard him with a smile.
He turned back towards his uncle who was looking at his nephew. He spoke up with Claudia nodding along to his words.
"Dad, can Rosie please join us? We like her very much! And she likes us! And Isaac likes her too!"
"Huh, Isaac likes her? Are you sure about that?" Arcangelo questioned teasingly.
"He didn't bite her and make her bleed, so he likes her!" Claudia exclaimed.
"Please!" The two pouted pleadingly as they looked at him with wide eyes and jutted lips.
Arcangelo sighed before looking up at her, seeing Rosalie look away shyly at how much the children wanted her to join them after having known her for a few hours.
"What do you say, Rosalie?" He called out form his place as her gaze shot up, her cheeks flushing a deep pink as her name rolled off his tongue effortlessly. "Would you do us the honor of joining us for dinner?"
Without thinking and without looking at the ecstatic looks of the children, she responded to his formal request.
"I would love to."