36
Aiden
Dominic and I pull up outside the Falcione mansion a few minutes before eight.
I arranged to meet as soon as possible so I could fit as much as I could into today.
Naturally, I took Dominic with me.
He stares at the house like I do and I wonder if he feels that eerie vibe too. I could feel it the moment our car drove through the large iron gates that felt more fitting to a high security than a place of abode.
To be honest, I felt it from the moment Maksim uttered Persephone’s request to bring one of the D’Agostinos with me.
It was odd, just like the feeling I have now.
I thought maybe she didn’t like Russians, but Jude is Russian and she gave him more money than anyone could explain.
So I don’t know what the request meant other than it’s odd, or maybe it’s more about me. Maybe she feels like she needs protection from me. she wouldn’t be the first person to seek that.
“I don’t like the look of this place,” Dominic states. “My father said once he thought the place was haunted. My dad could say some outlandish things sometimes. I think he was right though.”
“I’m pretty sure my father said something similar. Let’s go.”
We walk up to the door and I ring the bell then feel for my gun in my back pocket.
I don’t know what trouble there would be here but I home in on my motto of never being too careful.
I’m always ready for trouble.
The door opens and an elderly Italian man greets us.
“Good morning,” he says and I recognize his voice. He is Davide.
“Hello Davide,” I say. “I trust we need no introduction.”
“No, you do not Pakhan.”
“Wonderful.”
The air is tense with that eerie vibe.
“Come in and follow me,” he says motioning for us to follow.
Dominic cuts me a wary glance as we walk inside stepping on black marble floor like the type you’d find in a museum.
The high ceilings, wide stair case and entire décor remind me of exactly that, and when I look at the walls and see oil paintings of the family that fits the feeling too.
I realize then that it’s not exactly that the place was decorated to look like a museum. It’s the vibe of how the memories have been preserved and the evidence is there in the portraits professing a happy family. A mother, father and their two sons. All smiling and frozen in time.
But we all know Phillipe had another family and the smile on his face is the only one that looks fake.
We’re walking so I don’t get much time to have a good look but for the six paintings I see, he wears the same expression in each.
Davide leads us to the sun room and I see Persephone standing by a potted palm tree.
She strokes the leaves and hums the way you would when singing a lullaby to a baby.
She looks her age, maybe older for the curve in her back and the frailness in her body.