Chapter 5

(12:00 noon Arias mansion)

Clara opened the door dragging her suitcase, Karmel walked down the stairs holding a bunch of papers as Jennie walked towards the living room in a night gown holding a bottle of wine and a glass.

"I'm here!" Clara said.

"Good! Just in time to sign the papers!" Karmel said to Clara and turned to Jennie staring at her.

"Whaaaaaaat? I found wine in the home bar and I have to say....this seventy year old tastes so good. How much was this?"

"One million US dollars!" Karmel said.

Jennie nearly choked on it." Well . fancy enough for the signing."

They all gathered around the dining table and Karmel handed them the papers.

" This is the contract you have to sign Read it carefully before you sign."

"It's ten pages?" Clara asked.

"Yes."

"You want me to read ten pages with a thousand words each?" Jennie exclaimed.

"Yes!"

" No thank you. "She said and signed the contract "I'm going to have a tour of the mansion!"

"You didn't read anything."Karmel said.

" Nop. I read the first and second pages.... and a bit of the third."

"You didn't!"

"I'm a genius honey...it's called photographic memory." Jennie said and walked out.

Clara read the contract page by page and Karmel stared at her as she did. Finished a bottle of wine, prepared something to eat, took a shower and dressed up, started a series but still Clara was reading the contract.

"Okay . I'm done! " Clara said handing in the signed contract after three hours.

"You're meticulous!"

" Yes ma'am!"

" Don't call me ma'am....just call me Karmel."

"Okay Karmel."

" Oh Clara! Take your suitcase to the back of the manor!"

" Is that where my room is?" Clara asked.

"No! Just dump it in that big trash can you'll find there. You won't need those clothes." Karmel said walking away.

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In the evening Karmel summoned the mansion's workers to her dining room. The Arias mansion was a hundred yards, large enough to have everything anyone ever wanted from horses, shooting range, a farm and a vineyard that had its own wine making house. It has twenty five workers in total, 7 housekeepers ,it's own several guards that were trained by a security agency to keep the area under 24 hours surveillance, 3 chefs from the finest hotels Jaqo Arias had visited in 3 different parts of the world, gardeners , chauffers and caretakers. The atmosphere in the room felt tensed as they had waited for Karmel for half an hour now. Nancy watched them as she couldn't help but feel tensed too. She turned to Roll who seemed rather calm . She tapped Roll.

" Do you know what this is all about? You look calm "

" I have no idea. " Roll said trying to avoid facing her.

Jarret walked towards Karmel who was in the garden.

"Here they are." He said handing her a bunch of files. " You sure you want to do this?"

" Yes...we should remain with as few people as possible!" Karmel said looking into the files

" What about the other workers?" Jarret asked.

" No one is ending up jobless . I made sure of that. Let's go."

Karmel and Jarret walked into the dining room and slowly shut the door behind them. The room was filled with pin drop silence as they all looked at Karmel. She dropped the files on the table and begun.

" Hello everyone. My apologies for being late. The reason I called for this meeting is because I have to inform you of something that also concerns you. I have decided to lower the number of staff working in the mansion. "

Everyone was awe stricken and murmurs could be heard in the room.

" The number of guards will remain the same, Nancy, one chef and Roll will remain and the rest will leave. I know that some of you depend on your jobs to sustain your families and pay your fees. "

She could see the hopelessness in their faces.

" For those who will no longer work here ... you will work in the company and with me are your contracts." She said as Jarret handed out the contracts." Do sign them if you agree to be moved to a different station of work. I know that it will be difficult for some of you to commute to the company. Don't worry, a means of transport is provided for all workers. I also increased your pay Incase any of you feel that the situation is unfair."

Sixteen of them signed the contracts and Jarret led them out of the room as Roll escorted them out of the house and went back.

" Only ten of you are left!" The security men were handed their contracts. " In these files are your contracts. Page eight states ' You shall not come into the house unless it is in a state of emergency and around it's perimeter only after 11:00 pm for surveillance. Any violation of this will lead to consequences based on the law. ' Feel free to read the contract and sign it if you agree to the terms and conditions." Once they signed the contracts , Roll escorted them out of the house and went back.

"Only three of you are left. Have a seat. These are your contracts. You will work in the house but first you have to sign a contract of descrition . Anything and everything that happens in this house is to stay in this house and not a single word out. You will see things that you did not expect, some pleasant and others unpleasant but what happens here stays here. You will know what I mean after you sign the contracts."

After reading the contract, all signed the contract but the chef who was still contemplating. He took longer and the room was filled with silence waiting for him to raise the pen.

"Think about it , Austin. You are the youngest of all chefs. Considering the pay , don't you think this is a golden opportunity. Think of your parents in Mexico. " He signed the contract and handed it back.

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"Okay. Since we are done with the contracts. You have agreed to keep everything discrete so I think, I should let you know what it is we will keep discrete ." She said with an Annabelle smile.

"Come in!"

The door opened and two people walked in. They had the same outfit that Karmel wore; a red palazo trouser , a white long sleeved shirt and a red blazer but with black face masks and cap.

" Meet Karmel 1" Karmel said as Jennie took off her face mask and cap.

"And Karmel 2." Clara took off her mask and cap.

The workers were awe stricken. Nancy covered her mouth that was wide agape, Austin blinked twice as Roll held his breathe shocked. The three looked the same except for Jennie's hair that was dyed purple.

" Ho.....ho.....how is this possible?" Nancy asked.

" I have to protect my father's legacy.... and this....this is the only way. This is Jennie ..... Jennie DeAndrea and to my left is Clara....Clara Leads. To you they are Jennie and Clara but to everyone else they are Karmel..... Karmel Arias. They will live here with us and no one has to know about this .... not even the workers outside these four walls."

" Well .. they are sixty four." Jennie interrupted and everyone turned to face her. ..." That's for the whole mansion.". Jarret chuckled.

" Having settled everything....I will let you leave ." The three walked out escorted by Jarret.

" Hey Roll " Jarret called him after the two left." Thank you for helping me with the 'kidnapping'"

" I didn't know why you asked me to do it but now I know. I feel honored that you could trust me with something this discrete."

Jarret bid him goodbye.

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(12:00 midnight)

Jennie wiped off the water from her hair as she grabbed her phone. She sat up in bed between the duvets and connected to the mansion's WiFi.

" Whaaaaat! The WiFi doesn't even require a password." She turned off the lights. " I know I will go to hell for the hentai I watch," she put her hands together to pray the hail Mary but stopped before she did, " well ....who cares!" Just when she was cuddled up in bed , she heard a door shut slowly and footsteps. She checked the time. She jumped out of bed and peeped through the door. " What is our little miss billionaire hiding?"

She shut the door and followed her slowly . Hiding behind a wall , she saw her walk into the secret elevator.

"What are you doing here?" Clara asked behind Jennie startling her.

"Clara! Why are you here? And how I didn't here your footsteps? "

" Came to drink water. I found these shoes in my closet. They're like sponge. They don't even make any sound." She said stamping her feet.

" Water at midnight? Weird!"

" So what are you doing?"

" I think Karmel is hiding something from us." Jennie said as they walked to the elevator.

" What are you thinking?" Clara asked.

" If I'm right .....we need a fingerprint to open this!" Jennie said detectively as she tapped on the screen.

"There's a face recognition option. " Jennie turned to Clara.

"What?"

" Karmel's eyes are black and mine are brown."

"So?"Clara asked

"You are our only option." Jennie held Clara's face against the scan. " Stay still."

The elevator opened and Jennie pressed the button that led to the basement underground. The basement was rather dark but they spotted a door to a room whose wall were painted in white. They heard Karmel's voice and stopped on their tracks.

" So what is the result?" Karmel asked.

"Based on the blood samples we took, your father was poisoned." Karim , the private medical specialist Karmel hired said.

" Poisoned?"

" Yes. Through scent. This is a rare form of poisoning as it takes long for the poison to kill the cells in form of scent. Probably a year "

"How is this possible?"

" Possibly through paint and perfumes but high chances is through paint because his cells were really damaged that's why it took a shorter time for him to succumb. Based on my search, the poisoning should have begun six months ago. Karmel , your father didn't die of old age.....he was murdered!"

Karmel looked at her father's body that lay there and then at the silver table lamp that gave a reflection of the room's corridor.

"Come out!"

Jennie and Clara were startled.

" I know you are there. Come out!"

Karim started at Karmel confused. Jennie and Clara walked towards them.

" How did you know we were there?" Clara asked

"Who goes around spying in a yellow night gown?" Jennie shut her eyes embarrassed.

"Whose body is that?" Jennie asked pointing at a body covered in a white sheet.

" My late father's."

" I thought you buried him." Jennie said.

" Yeah ...we did."

"Then what was in the coffin?" Clara asked confused.

" Well.... Since we're working together , transparency is needed....it was a sculpture."

" Sculpture?"

"Yes ....a sculpture covered in skin.... human skin."

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