Untouchable ~ A Jared Leto/MARS Fanfiction

Chapter Thirteen

Jared Leto's house, if one could even properly call this white industrial-looking sprawling compound a house, is not fifty thousand square feet in size. It's easily double that. What little yard I can see is xeriscape, is all native vegetation. There's none of the meticulously landscaped green space that I'd spotted in front of the mansions we'd passed on the way here.

"The livable and usable parts of the place now are about fifty thousand square feet," Jared clarifies as I stare at the sprawling structure, open-mouthed and trying to take it all in. "There are lower levels and sub-levels, vaults, laboratories, bomb shelters, and I swear this one room on sub-level two looks like it was a dungeon at one time—hey. You okay?"

I try to speak but only a woosh of air emits forth as I point at the structure protruding from the back of the massive building. Finally I find my voice. "That. That's an actual control tower. Isn't it?"

Jared laughs. "Yeah, it is. And that is one of Shelby's surprises. I'm pretty sure both of her surprises are in there, in fact."

"Really? In there?" Shelby stares at him, and by her expression I can see she's as overwhelmed as I am at our first glimpse of where we'll call home for the foreseeable future.

"I'm pretty sure they are," Jared repeats with a smile. "Shannon, you did say it's ready. Right?"

"That's what Magda said," Shannon affirms. "If so, Flora's team did a hell of a job in the short time they had to work in." He drops Shelby a wink.

Constance wraps an arm around my shoulders as I stand by her car, clutching my battered pack and feeling a little faint. "I did tell you that you could get lost in this place. I meant that literally. When I came out to see it, this was about a year before Jared bought it, I got turned around down on one of the lower levels. I had to call the realtor and have him navigate me out of there."

"And then you talked me into buying it," Jared grins.

"Who...who's Magda?" I manage. "And Flora?"

"Magda's my estate manager," Jared explains. "Magda Williams. You'll meet him. He's around here somewhere. That's his car over there." Jared sweeps an arm across the driveway, which isn't a driveway at all but a parking lot of black, smooth asphalt that could easily hold a couple dozen vehicles, and he points at the black Escalade parked at the far end. "Flora DuSchene is an interior and set designer, and Magda's girlfriend." His eyes scan the parking lot again. "Looks like everyone else has cleared out like I asked them to. Good."

"Everyone else?"

Jared looks at me. "I have a pretty big team that until now have worked from offices here at the house. But I leased space on Wilshire and had them move the offices there instead, at least on a temporary basis. I know I said you'd work with my assistant team on a daily, but on second thought, I think we all would do well with less of that chaos for the time being." He adjusts his crutches and lurches his way toward a double-doored entrance. Shannon goes ahead of him and stops at a keypad by the door, where he presses a few buttons. I notice a security camera affixed to the side of the house beaming down at him. In fact, I've noticed cameras everywhere since we pulled up at the big white gate in front of the property.

As Constance, Shelby, and I follow, flanking Jared on either side, I wonder how he's managed to arrange this move of his offices while laid up in the hospital. But then I remember who he is. Jared Leto. A man who probably has dozens of people at his fingertips that he can put in instantaneous motion with a single phone call. I also wonder if he made those changes to his business operations for our benefit, his own, or both.

If I'm mind-boggled by the sheer size of Jared's residence, I'm even more shocked by the interior, consisting of endless rooms and hallways, all which have an industrial look and feel. The main living areas of his home contain furniture that's strictly functional, with limited embellishments or adornments. Plain white walls, though colorful modern art breaks up the flow in nearly every room. Beautiful big Persian rugs, a few black lacquer tables, huge colorful pillows and beanbag chairs abound.