Dangerous Obsession

Chapter 1

It's winter in Italy, and the warm, Mediterranean sun has been replaced by a much more dismal and depressing counterpart, rain. I've got my windscreen wipers at full speed and my lights on too. Despite it being 11 in the morning, I couldn't see an ounce of sunlight, in fact, the only way you would know that this was not the evening was when driving through towns and villages where the cafes and shops are a comforting haven where everyone sheltered. 

I was on my way to have the first meeting with a client, Mr Moretti,  who from my understanding, has some sort of generational business. His family is well known in Tuscany, to the point where the funeral of Angelo Moretti, his grandfather, was held in the Santa Maria del Fiore Cathedral in Florence, the fourth largest cathedral in the world. I remember it vividly as It took place during the first week after I had arrived in Florence 4 years ago. You would've thought that Angelo Moretti was royalty considering the impact his funeral had. People even got off work, and closed their businesses for the day to show their respect. 

With that in mind, I was expecting some sort of traditional, grand Tuscan manor house, it seemed that it would fit the address that I was given. And it didn't disappoint. After getting through the front gates, which had armed guards, slightly alarming for me but not that rare here, and driving up a winding cobblestone path, I'm greeted by quite honestly the most majestic house I've ever seen, and that's coming from an architect. 

I didn't know whether it was the sheer detail of the house, with its intricately carved pillars and arches or the landscape it sits in with a lake residing down at the end of the garden and the clean hedges and cypress trees, typical of Tuscany, meticulously placed in the garden.  But I knew that this was a rare beauty hard to come by now in this modern age.  

I pulled up between a fountain and the front entrance where a butler and a boy, about 19, were coming out from the house holding umbrellas. They were both dressed well. The butler was wearing what you would normally expect, a tuxedo and white gloves. And the boy, though not in a full suit, was dressed smartly in all black with a long-sleeved shirt. 

"Miss Campbell, please follow me," the butler stated as he helped me out of my car, "If you don't mind, Dante will take your car to the garage." 

I gave Dante, my keys, "You better not scratch my car." I said half joking and half serious, as it was an Alfa Romeo 4C, my dream car, that I just managed to buy 3 months ago. 

Before leading me through the house, my coat was taken. The interior was rather unsettling with the dim lights casting shapeshifting shadows along the walls, but I was engrossed with several pieces of ancient furniture. I even recognised some, knowing that they were one of kind, hand crafted pieces. 

We stopped outside a door at the end of a long corridor where portraits of several men were hung, " Miss Campbell, as previously discussed, you only have two and half hours with Mr Moretti as he has an important event to get to afterward, your car will be ready for you when you need to leave."

Before I could reply, the butler knocked on the door, and after a baritone answer, I was led in. 

"Miss Campbell, the architect sir," he announced, then bowed and closed the door, leaving me alone with Mr Moretti. 

Mr Moretti was standing behind his desk, he was close to what I was expecting, an assertive, put-together man. He looked to be in the upper half of his twenties, potentially early thirties but that could just be the beard he's got. He had a warm grey suit on with a black turtleneck underneath, and it was evident that he had a nice physique. The sharpness of his features and his height made him quite intimidating, but as I've often had to deal with patriarchal men, I've learned to not show signs of weakness and being powerless from day one.

"Well I would introduce myself, but seeing as that's already been done for me, shall we get straight to it," I smiled.

"We should, but first, would you be comfortable with a first-name basis?" 

Even though I normally go off a first-name basis, I was caught off guard considering the formal introduction I've just had, "Certainly, I'm Adelaide Campbell."

"Lorenzo Moretti", shaking hands with me, "I know it seems rather odd but we're working together on something that will be very personal to me and I didn't think that surnames would be suitable."

"I completely understand, Lorenzo." 

"Please, do sit down, Adelaide," he said, gesturing to the chair.