The Bugatti rolls to a stop, and the driver opens the door for me to get out.
At that moment, the door to the house opens and an elderly South American woman steps out with another man who looks to me to be in his mid to late fifties.
The woman walks up to me and gives me a look of raw scrutiny.
I almost think I’ve done something wrong, but then I realize I haven’t actually done anything besides get out of the car.
“Lucia Ferreira?” she asks in a thickly accented voice.
“Yes. Pleased to meet you.” I hold out my hand to shake hers, but she stares at it as if she might catch the plague if she touches me.
Eventually, she takes my hand and gives me a light shake.
“I am Estelle, Alejandro’s current nanny,” she says then looks at the man. He goes to assist the driver to get the rest of my things out of the car. “That is Marcello. He is the custodian here. If you need anything house related or you need to leave the property, you speak to him. If you need anything to do with Mia, you speak to me. I will be providing your on-the-job training for the next month.”
On-the-job training?I thought I was just going to get into it once I met the little girl.
“That sounds great,” I say, despite my thoughts.
Estelle looks at the three little suitcases once they’re placed on the ground and frowns.
“Is that all you have?” she asks.
“Yes.” The suitcases aren’t even mine. They were given to me the same day I left the States and contain the few things the men retrieved from my apartment in New York. “I packed light because I planned to go shopping when I got here.”
She doesn’t answer. Instead, she speaks in Spanish, telling the driver and Marcello to take my things up to my room.
“They only speak Spanish. I’m told that won’t be a problem with you.”
“No, I’m fluent.”
“Good.” Her face cracks into an insincere smile. “May I have your phone please and any other electronic devices.”
I felt this would happen at the door. I was told it might.
“Sure. All I have is my phone.” I take it out and hand it to her.
“You’ll get it back later today, it’s just going to be checked for security purposes. We don’t have anything in the house that can be tracked or monitored.”
“I see.”
She hands the phone to Marcello and returns her focus to me. “Come, let me show you around, introduce you to everyone, then take you to your room.”
“Thank you.”
She barely looks at me, and I can tell she either doesn’t like me or the look of me. Or maybe there’s something about me she distrusts.
She wouldn’t be wrong.
We walk up to the grand mahogany doors and stop at the doorstep, where she points to a surveillance camera above us next to the overhead light.
“That is a retinal scanner. It activates between six at night and six in the morning every day.”
Geez. I’ve never been anywhere that had that before.
“I didn’t realize the house would be so secure,” I answer.
“Yes, it needs to be.”