LORENZO
Annie didn't like the fact that Chondria was walking right behind them.
Hell, the guy gave her the creeps and she was sure it was the same for Jon too as she noticed his eyes darted to the side once in a while as they walked.
She retained her composure as they walked up the stairs.
Yes she was bothered by his presence, but she'd be damned if she let it show.
No way was she going to give him the satisfaction of seeing her like that.
They ascended the staircase and entered directly into a large spacious hall.
It was built in ancient Greek architectural style, there were marble columns and there were doors leading to lord knows where at various points in the hall.
The hall reminded Annie of those palaces you'd hold balls in and a king's court.
The dark marble floors were so shiny she could see her reflection on them.
Chondria nodded at the man who was standing guard in front of a door.
Annie noted again, there were more cams.
Chondria led them to another staircase, which winded upwards and on the mezzanine, they stopped at a door.
Again, there was a guard.
'What in the world were these people protecting' Annie thought.
Chondria tapped the door twice and a masculine voice was heard from within.
"come in"
They went in, with Chondria resuming his position behind them.
The instant Annie went in, she spotted that same boy from the limo.
He stood beside a swivel chair, that had someone sitting in it.
Annie couldn't see the figure in it clearly because the chair backed the door and the figure in it apparently relaxed on it as she could only see a mass of hair.
The chair sat behind a desk that was neatly arranged.
An apple desktop, files, pen cup, not a single one out of place.
"Good afternoon boss" Chondria said, bowing to the person behind the chair.
Annie checked the clock on the wall, close to a bookshelf.
It really was afternoon. The weather sure didn't look like it.
The sky was gray as though it was still morning.
The chair turned to face them and Annie looked into the bluest pair of eyes she'd ever seen.
There was a woman sitting in the chair.
She looked directly at Annie first, then her siblings. She had hair so dark it was the color of night. Annie didn't know if she'd dyed the thing or it was just how she was born and the eyes? So blue like the colour of the ocean surrounding the island. She was beauty itself.
One look at Annie and her siblings faces, the woman gave a merry laughter.
Well they wouldn't be the first to react that way, it was the kind of effect she had.
Her looks were her biggest weapon and how she'd come to rise to the echelon of power which she presently occupied.
She'd realized it early that her looks had a way of fooling people into thinking she was helpless and harmless.
The ones she'd set her eyes on to get rid of, they never lived to tell the tale.
Annie realized she was staring, and really hard too.
She quickly averted her eyes and Jon must have had the same thought too because he did the same only, Annie's eyes decided to wander of their own accord to the boy beside the woman.
She found him studying her too and she quickly averted her gaze.
"so you found them in the house?" the woman finally spoke, her query directed at Chondria.
"yes ma'am, they were squatting in the premises when we came for the shipment....we couldn't just let them go like that" Chondria replied, hands behind his back.
The woman pushed her chair backwards and stood up.
She was tall, had long legs and she had on red heels which further accentuated her height.
She wore a red robe with large fluffy sleeves and the robe was lined with red fur. It trailed on the floor as she walked.
Annie couldn't tell if it was real fur or fake.
When she stood, Annie could see her hair was lengthy.
She was lithe, and walked like her feet barely touched the ground.
Annie wondered why she would have heels on inside her house.
Not like it was any of her business anyway.
The woman walked round the desk to it's front and settled on it, crossing her legs over each other.
She studied the Hart kids intently.
After sometime, she stood up and walked back to her position behind the desk.
"nope, they don't know anything" she said decisively.
Annie eyed the woman. Know what? she wondered.
"What do we do with them ma'am" Chondria asked, still standing behind them.
The woman closed her eyes for a moment.
Annie didn't find it funny.
When people asked that kind of question, what followed wasn't by any means funny and with the way the woman had her eyes closed, Annie felt really uneasy.
Suddenly, the woman opened her eyes, went around the table and sat in the same position as she did the first time.
She studied the Hart kids again, then she walked towards them.
She raised her right hands and Annie shut her eyes really tight.
She jerked when she felt the woman's palms on her jaw.
The woman studied her for a while, turning her face to the right, then to the left after a while, she let go.
Next she went to Bertha, repeated the same thing before moving to Jon and repeating the same thing.
Annie's eyes flew open the moment she no longer felt the woman's touch.
The woman turned and glided back to the chair.
"send the boy to AINS and the girls to AINA.... keep an eye on the older one. She looks like trouble" the woman said as she sat back down.
Annie's face flushed.
'Was this woman a witch or something? hold on! does she know I'm already thinking of escaping?' Annie wondered still shocked at the woman's words because the woman was right.
She did really plan on torturing them in her own way, guns or not and boy, did she have her ways.
She knew these people wouldn't kill them.
If they wanted she and her siblings dead, they'd be dead right at the building, the moment they were found.
It made absolutely no sense to transport people across the world just to. kill them eventually. Even an idiot would know it wasn't necessary.... just off 'em right on the spot where they were found.
Then her stupid pessimistic mind decided to ruin her thought.
What if they wanted information before offing them, just like the men that killed their parents in San Jose.
Up until now, she still hadn't known what the idiots were after that was so important to have her parents killed.
All she had to go on was just some stupid piece of blank paper.
She'd only kept the damn paper this long because of Catherine's words.
Her heart again felt heavy for the women.
They'd wasted just like that just because they'd helped them.
The world sure was one really fucked up place.
"they're siblings ma'am" Chondria said suddenly, jolting Annie from her reverie.
The woman dropped the pen she had just lifted up and raised her brows.
"interesting" she muttered, tapping her long manicured fingers on the neatly polished oak desk.
She kept quiet for some seconds as though she was doing some contemplating.
Then she spoke.
"still the same...boy AINS, girls AINA"
"yes ma'am" Chondria replied with a bow.
"Lorenzo darling, see that our new guests are properly settled in, then you can come give me a briefing of the mission" the woman said sweetly to the boy standing at her side.
Annie didn't know if to call him a boy or a man due to his stature...she guessed he might be somewhere in between.
Wait what? she was his mom? that explained a lot....the height, the long legs, that gorgeously sexy body, the handsome looks.... apparently, he came from good genes.
She began to think about how it would be if she could be the mother of his children...to be his personal baby factory....oh the beauties they would produce.
Annie's cheeks flushed at the thought.
She bent her head to hide her reddening face.
oh Lord....where in the world were all these thoughts coming from!
She pinched herself mentally.
stop this instant Annie ...you barely know the guy! hell she didn't even know the plans his mother had for she and her siblings!
What if she was planning on selling them off or even eating them!
Suddenly she had a mental image of Lorenzo sitting at a table with a platter of hart kids for dinner.
She shuddered at the thought but her rebellious side liked the idea of a Hart kids platter better than that of a baby factory.