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20 | House Fidelis Ni

Savor freedom. We know all too well how easily pretty prisons can morph into ugly realities.

House Fidelis was a frightening thing to behold.

Abutting a dense forest, MPD House Fidelis looked straight out of an old school horror film. Painted a striking white with black columns, the five-story mansion was situated two miles from the road. A winding cement driveway drove you through thickets of flailing yellow, orange and brown leaves and foliage until you met the stack of eight stairs leading to the main set of red double oak doors.

A man and a woman waited in the main foyer, a smile stretched across their faces. My flight companion and chaperone, Ballarina, introduced the fraternal twins as Olivia and Dominic Meeks. Their features were distinct - pronounced roman nose, pouty pink lips and thickly lashed brown eyes.

Dominic was a mountain of a man, at least a few inches taller than Dante, with broad shoulders and a tapered waist. He was more casual than I was expecting, wearing torn dark washed jeans and an untucked, white and blue striped button-up shirt. Olivia, though she shared his intense eyes and reddish-blonde hair, was petite, unapproachable with impeccable posture.

Ballarina and Olivia seemed to share the same attitude about clothing. Dressed in a teal tiered-sleeve silk chiffon sheath dress, Olivia looked stunning. They smiled at Ballarina as soon as she cleared the threshold and patiently waited to be greeted individually. When finished, all eyes focused on me.

Olivia eyed me critically, while her brother’s gaze immediately slipped from polite detachment to lust. He approached me quickly, trapping my right hand in his, and lifting it to his lips for a kiss. A secretive grin tugged at the edge of his mouth as my eyes met his. Fear shot up my spine, the look on his face was one I knew too well, but I fought back and gently pried my hand from his steely grip.

“So this is Devani?” Olivia’s snide voice cut through the silent room. “The way you spoke about her, Ballarina. I was expecting her to be... more.”

Not in the least bothered by her tone, Ballarina laughed. She dropped a hand to Olivia’s shoulder and squeezed before stepping in my direction. Her eyes caught with Dominic’s as he moved to rejoin his sister.

“Your brother certainly agrees with what I had to say.” Olivia’s lips thinned, but she said nothing. “Shall we go?”

Dominic grinned and wagged his shapely eyebrows, “yes.”

We trailed behind them, steadily climbing up the stairs of the main foyer. The white banister reflected the light streaming down from the ornate chandelier to the black matte walls. No artwork adorned the long narrow hallway, only a bold horizontal stripe of silver from end-to-end.

Deftly, I touched it with my fingertips. I dragged my hand down the wall until we stopped at a set of lavender french doors. A pair of men stood of either side of them, staring absently down the hall. But at Dominic’s signal, moved forward and opened the double doors with a flick of the wrist. Ballarina grasped my hand in hers and led me inside.

We stepped into an oversized his and hers office space. In the center, were two stark white modern desks hovering on thin steel legs. Comfortable navy armless chairs were pushed against them, allowing a direct look out of the floor to ceiling windows. The room was round and set off the main house, dangling recklessly into the rear garden.