Daemon Racchio's Mansion Of Pleasure

Teresa

I surveyed my surroundings. The place had once seemed so comfortable to me. My control station, I used to tell myself. My office. Now, things had become complicated. I had to make a serious decision before continuing with this madness.

"I brought you the appropriate clothes. You'll know that the place you need to go is a very distinguished establishment," Carl said to me, in his usual gentle tone.

He looked at me with concern. Anyone would be worried about me. My older sister had died a month ago, and I was still in mourning. I had to do this, though. It was the only way to find the justice that Marie deserved.

"Thank you. I've already made my decision," I said, trying to believe my own words.

Carl swallowed hard, his eyes darting nervously. I suppose he had thought I wouldn't go through with the plan until the very last minute.

"Good. Let's go over the information. You have three suspects who were close to Marie. Over the past month, she was in close contact with Eduard Soth, Collin Smith, and Daemon Racchio."

I would remember those names, even if he hadn't told me them. Because they were the three suspects in my sister's murder. I knew it, and the police had identified them only by their names. The investigation had gone nowhere.

I had been working on this television news program for five years. I was a rookie journalist when Carl took me under his wing, giving me the opportunity to work on interviews and small reports. Over time, he gave me the confidence to go to the toughest scenes, which was what I wanted most. I longed to see the details of crimes and conflicts, to conduct the right interviews so that problems could be solved.

But I never thought it would happen to me. That I would be the silent protagonist of a terrible crime. My sister, Marie, had been found murdered in a vacant lot on the outskirts of the city. In an area near a residential hotel, where the members were select and wealthy.

I couldn't keep thinking. Carl spoke again.

"This is delicate, Teresa. Only the two of us know about this parallel investigation. The police decided there were no suspects in the crime due to lack of evidence. So what we're doing is not legal. A journalist can't infiltrate a place like this to get information."

I looked at him intently. He had trusted me when I asked him for the job all those years ago, when I had no experience. Now, he was taking a risk, helping me to unravel the injustice of Marie's death. The information Carl had obtained was valuable, something even the police didn't know.

"The three subjects belong to wealthy groups in the country. The hotel is their second home. They're good friends, and we've received information that they spend a lot of time there."

I grimaced.

"Because it's their lair. Mafiosos have hotels where sex is happening every minute. I'm not a fool, I know I'm going to a place full of lust. I'll have to endure it to get to the bottom of the truth." I showed myself to be determined. This was not the time to doubt.

If I didn't have the conviction to keep going, they would devour me. I'm a journalist, I repeated to myself. My job is to find the truth, to go into terrible places because no one else wants to. I have to be strong.

"They can smell fear there." Carl's voice became stern. He was worried about me.

"I know. Damn it, I know that if I act like a silly girl they'll figure it out. I know I'll have to change my whole damn personality to fit in. It's the mafia, Carl, I know I'll have to go into the lion's den."

I was yelling, because fear was also beating in my heart. Marie was involved in something shady, dangerous. I needed to know why she had been murdered. We had talked a month ago, before her death, and she had been so full of hope. I couldn't understand why life had been so cruel to her.

"You're the best journalist I've ever met, Ter. I want you to know that. And if something bad seems like it's about to happen, promise me you'll come running, that you'll escape, that you'll leave this whole thing behind." Carl took my hand. He was like a big brother to me.

He had a sincere look in his eyes. I knew he just wanted to make sure I wouldn't put my life in danger if death was imminent. I looked him in the eye and lied.

"I promise."

No, it was a lie. I would do anything to get revenge on the bastard who killed my sister. We had always been close, ever since we were little. We had no parents to take care of us. We had always taken care of each other. No one knew us. We had been raised in an orphanage without resources or love. We both had to fight for our survival.

I opened the box that Carl had brought me, which was on my desk. The package was wrapped in cream-colored tissue paper. Inside, there was a dark blue skirt. My hips were quite prominent, and I was sure this skirt wouldn't reach my knees like the ones I usually wore.

The matching corset was snow white with small silver glitter details. It would fit me too tightly. All these clothes were totally new to me. I had always been so modest that I bordered on prudish. Not by choice, but because that's how I was able to survive for many years in the orphanage.

My best kept secret was that I was still a virgin, at twenty-eight years old. I had never let myself be carried away by desires. In fact, I tried to suppress that forever to always show myself to be strong and implacable.

It was the best way to survive. Carl watched me as I got dressed. I wasn't ashamed of that. He wasn't attracted to women, and I had known that for a long time. He was like a brother to me.

I put on the corset, the white contrasting with the olive green of my eyes. It was so tight that my breasts were only up, they looked rounded and large. I didn't want to look in the mirror, I blushed just looking at myself. The skirt accentuated the curve of my hip and highlighted the narrowness of my waist.

I fixed my hair, brushing it until it was black and shiny. It fell almost to my waist, straight all the way. The makeup was subtle, but my lips had a bright and provocative color. We had researched what the best look would be for me to imitate and fit in.

The taxi would arrive soon. I would have the interview with Stella in just a few hours. The woman had called me at the same hotel, after sending her my resume with a fake name and false information. I knew I would have to lie a lot, pretend to be a totally different person than the real one.