Powerful Women and Their Men
Penelope led her past the seating area to a door far back. When they arrived at the door the older woman paused to survey the area with suspicion, as if expecting an attack, and Rhea was pressured into the same. Then she typed in a code on the pad, and it opened with a soft click.
"I've enough enemies in my lifetime. It pays to be paranoid," Penelope explained with a smile as she ushered Rhea into the room.
It was larger than one would expect from a door so small and inconspicuous, looking like a woman's bedroom and office sans the bed.
There was a day bed, though, by the only window in the room, along with a small dining area for three and a bar stocked full of alcohol.
Like the rest of the tea house, it had small pots of flowers and succulents placed on the shelf behind the large desk and armchair that sat where a bed would have been.