The Lucky Doberman

Chapter 13: Men in the Mansion

The drive was longer than I anticipated. I thought we'd go to one of his casinos or something.

But instead...we pulled into the long driveway of a gated mansion.

"Is this your home?" I asked him in awe.
"No." he replied dryly like always.

The car was parked and we got out.

I listened to the water from the marble fountain splash into the pond surrounding it that was also surrounded by rose bushes.
Mr. De Luca began walking so I followed.

The house was massive. Could be mistaken as a catholic high school it was so large. The roof had to be 100 feet tall. The two windows, one at each end of the front side of the house, were around 80 feet tall. The craftsmanship and design were beautiful.
It would take ten minutes to walk around this house once.

We walked under the awning right to the front door and Mr. De Luca pressed the doorbell.
I listened to the classical music that filled the inside of the home.

I looked further around and saw men walking around the house strangely.

"What're they doing?" I asked.
"...Observing."
"Oh..." Observing what?

I looked back at the house.
"This is amazing..." I said in awe and did a 360 around to get a full view. Even the yard work was perfection. I kind of wondered what the backyard looked like, most mansion backyards are designed for celebrations and parties. I wondered how elegant theirs was.

A door opened.

It was held by a butler. A man in a black and white suit. I didn't know people still had butlers. I thought that was an early 1920s thing. And for rich British people.

Mr. De Luca walked inside and I followed.
"Hi," I greeted the butler. He smiled and nodded at me.
Even the inside of this place was dimly lit.

I wondered where we were going.

I looked around and saw the giant chrystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling. The floor was so clean I could see myself through it. It smelled like heaven.

But

It was terrifying.

Beautiful home but something about it was unsettling.

Like I didn't feel safe.

I saw pictures on the walls and they were of Italian men sitting together playing poker like Mr. De Luca does. Another had them all with rifles in their hands and cigars between their teeth. Another was just a zoomed in photo of a man's hand. His knuckles were bloody but the back of it was a tattoo that read 'K9'. Each photo looked taken from the 40s.

"Lucky." I heard and looked in its direction.
Mr. De Luca was waiting on me in front of a door.
I hurriedly caught up.

He opened it and it led to a downward flight of stairs.

We began walking down.

I could hear voices and wondered what was going on down there.
I heard something else.

We reached the bottom of the stairs.

Seven men were under these dim lights.

Two were playing pool.

One watching.

Three at a bar counter.

One behind it.

They turned and looked at us.

These guys were scary.

In suits like usual. They shared a trait with Mr. De Luca and it was that they're facial expressions looked like they were always on edge. They looked at me divided, some like I was prey and the rest like I wasn't supposed to be there.