Lucia's POV:
Like the exterior, the long hallway was sleek and utterly spotless. Adorned with most likely very expensive paintings that hung steadily upon the grey hinted walls. Walking on the dark marble floors towards my room, I could hear my footsteps echo noisily in the odd silence. Looking up, crystal chandeliers were hanging heavily, shining light even into the darkest corners that looked so far away.
As I reached my room, I noticed the unique details etched in gold on each mahogany door. While Nova's had dainty flowers and birds who seemed to be singing, I had bold flames traveling up towards the clouds engraved at the top with beams of light glaring out of them. For almost a whole minute I traced the details delicately and admired its beauty close up. They seemed to almost be a symbol of each of our distinct personalities.
Turning around I remembers that Santo's room was directly opposite mine. There was a serene image of a lake showing the reflection of pint trees in the water. As if the picture had dimension, jagged and rough mountains were placed closely behind There were flecks of gold splattered randomly along with the highest point of the door made to look as if the stars were shining brightly within the night sky and a large crescent moon designed to look as if it were real. It was beautiful.
My hand absent-mindedly moved towards the door handle when I got pulled out of my trance. "I wouldn't go in there if I were you," an old lady with a maid's outfit said towards me hesitantly.
"Oh, I wasn't going to, I'm sorry" I replied to her as she came closer to me. She seemed like a very sweet woman.
"Come here dear, I'm Ms. Ricci, but you can call me Rosa, I'll get you out of here before anyone sees you" Beckoning me over to her then grabbing my arm softly she said. I loosely took my arm out of her hold before we could go any further.
"It's okay," I reassured her, "My room is just over here" I pointed towards where Santo told me my room was. She looked at me shocked and gaped at me before tilting her head down, looking towards the ground. Confused, I asked, "Is everything okay Rosa?"
"I am very sorry, I didn't mean to bother you" she apologized profusely still with her head bowed.
"You haven't bothered me. Could you tell me why you're so scared?" I asked her still confused why she seemed like she was shaking just from speaking to me.
"I am simply here to clean up a little miss. I'm not supposed to talk to anyone who resides in this level, this is reserved for Mr. Buzzelli's inner circle and family." She responded finally looking up, making eye contact with me.
"Well you can speak to me however you would like, and call me Lucy" I reassured her with a smile but she still seemed slightly hesitant.
"Thank you, Lucy, but I must start cleaning, it looks like I have already done your room so I will continue with the others. If you need me, I will be in the kitchen, take a left and keep going straight towards the door in the far corner" she told me with kind eyes as I nodded.
"Goodbye," I said as she gave me a small smile in return while turning into the next room.
As I stepped inside, I saw the most beautiful room, decorated in shades of black, white, and grey. It had a very minimalistic feel to it. A wave of exhaustion fell on me when I quickly took my shoes off and changed into some pajamas consisting of a crop top and short shorts, then laid down lazily in the surprisingly soft bed. I instantly fell fast asleep as a result of waking up so early, although it only just turned 2 pm.
oOoOoOo
Opening my eyes I saw a glimpse of the alarm clock sitting next to my bed telling me it was past 5 am. I was surprised that I had slept for over 15 hours but that surprise was quickly overcome by hunger.
When I stepped out of bed the marble floor became so cold that I had to run softly over to the walk-in closet that luckily had a fluffy carpet. Putting on only a pair of socks and running my fingers through my hair, I decided to go to the kitchen that Rosa had told me the directions to so that I could get a quick snack before anyone woke up.
Taking a left and pushing through the door in the far corner, I spotted the cookies right away that were just sitting lonely at the top of a high cabinet. Grabbing a stool I quietly dragged it across the cold floor and set it just underneath where I had to reach to get the cookies. When I stood onto the stool I got up onto my tiptoes, when my fingers grazed the side of the glass, my foot slipped and sent me tumbling towards the ground.
Before I could injure myself from falling, I felt someone place a strong grip onto the sides of my waist and gently lowered me down.
"Sorry" I apologized catching my breath as I turned around and saw Santo in grey sweatpants and a black T-shirt.
"What are you doing," he asked completely disregarding my apology and casually grabbing the tin easily, taking a cookie out, and taking a large bite out of it.
"Well as you can probably see, trying to get that tin," I said reaching towards the tin that was still placed in his arms as he placed it back onto the top of the cabinet, not before taking out another cookie.
"Good luck with that," he told me smirking when I gave him a harsh glare.
"Really?" I asked him. "Fine then" I glared even harder at him as he turned his back and started walking out of the kitchen.
Before he completely left the kitchen he told me, "You start training the newbies today at 7 am, don't be late". I got up onto the stool again, "And try not to fall and break your neck, I am way too tired to replace you right now" he said and left as I puffed my cheeks out in frustration.
By the time I had taken one of the cookies and enjoyed them, it was 6:15 am. Sitting down, there was a comfortable feel in the air as everyone made conversation, and by everyone, I meant everyone. Amalia, Luca, Nova, and Marco were randomly talking about how someday archaeologists might dig up Disney Land and think that we worshipped a mouse, I did add in a few comments here and there but mainly stayed out of it when it got a little heated.
Rosa and the other maids were preparing breakfast in the adjoining room when Santo walked in, his buttoning up the last few buttons on his black shirt, with black dress pants and his face had annoyance written all over, along usual messy but tamed hair. He was the only one fully dressed. The atmosphere instantly became a little tenser as we watched him sit down, the food was then brought to the table barely 10 seconds later.
We all scoffed down our delicious food, in an awkward silence that he seemed to bring with him. I made a mental note to thank Rosa, but didn't want to admit that to Santo. After all, It's not like I wanted to be there in the first place.
It was quickly beginning to turn 7 am, so after excusing myself from the table, I ran back to my room and had a very quick shower then got changed into my working out attire to train the newbies.
Walking out to the hall, I bumped into someones chest. Looking up I saw Luca looking down at me with irritance. Grabbing my arm he held me firmly, dragging me over to the elevator and pressing the ground floor button.
Ripping my arm out of his grasp, I told him, "You know, I don't appreciate being dragged around as if I was a prisoner". He glanced at me.
"Maybe if you weren't so infuriatingly annoying, I wouldn't have to" he said giving me a side eye.
"I am no-" I started as the elevator dinged displaying the impressive first floor.
"Shush, just shut up and follow me" he interrupted treading towards the large back door.
Following behind him, I saw 50 or so guys and girls waiting for me to train them. Nudging me towards them he quickly left, leaving me to fend for myself.
"Alright" I murmured quietly to myself and rubbed my hands together.
Although I had already arrived they were still having conversations among themselves. "Okay, can everybody look this way" I shouted with power in my tone. I got a few judging glances in my direction but I had absolutely nobodies attention. "Everyone shut the fuck up and look at me. Now" I bellowed, 'if that's how it's going to be, then so be it" I thought to myself.
At once, every single person was looking at me with wide eyes. "Great, now I have your attention, I am your new trainer, you will listen to me and you will respect me, no questions asked. Is that clear?" I asked them with authorisation in my voice.
"Why should we listen to you, you're almost half our age" someone shouted followed by a series of 'yeahs' and 'fuck offs'.
With venom, I asked, "Whoever said that come to the front". After a few seconds of nobody moving I pressed on "Now".
Confidently a middle aged man stood tall and strolled over to the front. "What are you going to do? Slap me?" he asked smirking arrogantly.
"No, I'm going to do this" I walked over to him. Grabbing both his arms and twisting them behind him, I caused him to face the others, I kicked him on his butt and he went tumbling towards the ground. He could no longer support himself, so with a dirt stained face he spat out blood to the ground and turned around to face me, glaring at anyone who dared to look at him as he did so.
"Are you all satisfied?" When there were no responses and the entire place was quiet, bar the gardener chopping the hedge at the far side of the garden, I then ordered them to all sprint 20 laps of the football pitch sized field. Groaning they did as they were told. Little did they know, that was only the warm up.
Over a half hour later, they were all back to the start, huffing and puffing, trying to catch their breath again when I told them to follow me to the outside ring that I had spotted when I took a small walk around the immediate area.
I ordered them to each pair up with a person of the opposite gender. "Not always will you be fighting with the same gender as you. Males are naturally stronger and have more muscle than women, but, women can be equally as fast compensating for it. This means that you will all have to memorise the pressure points and places to hit in order to easily win or easily lose the fight. We're going to make this a game. Women against men. You will all spar with your partner whoever wins go to the left and the opposite for the loser. Tomorrow, losers do 30 laps of the field while winners do 10. No cheating, I will know" As I said this there were mutters of excitement and also of disappointment. Glancing towards the house, I spotted Santo's figure in the window watching and slightly nodding his head, 'probably judging my tactics or something like that' I thought.
"Go!" When this was said there were grunts of pain that could be heard from people being flipped and punched in their weakest spots. I probably should've set some rules. Oops. Probably 15 minutes later everyone was standing on their respective sides and as I counted the winners. Not surprisingly the man who challenged me was the loser. 'Serves you right' I thought. Although I was silently rooting for the women the men won, but only by a few odd people. As it was their first day I decided to let them off 30 minutes earlier than I was supposed to, even though they probably different deserve it.