Maya wondered if a butler or something had been dispatched to take her things away but she certainly didn't expect a robot. It was humanoid in shape but the whole thing was shiny silver without a human face. Its head was completely smooth aside from a red circle in the middle that must function as its eye.
It took her bags in its hands—the details on its fingers were amazing; the phalanges could bend just like it was a real person—and headed back up the stairs. All she could do was stare at its back as it left.
"You have a robot butler," she said stupidly.
Vincent's lips twitched again. "Ah, yes. I didn't realize you weren't aware of who I was. Most people have heard of me so I assumed you would recognize my last name on all of the paperwork. How novel."
Maya frowned. Was he supposed to be famous or something? "Who on earth are you?"
"Vincent Carlisle. The world's foremost expert in robotics and artificial intelligence, at your service," he said with a sweeping bow.
"Sir, I would recommend adding the madam to all of the security protocols for the house so I may better serve her," Cassandra's disembodied voice prompted.
That brought him back to his senses. He straightened immediately and was all business. "Yes, of course. Maya, you need to say your name while scanning your eye and fingerprints into the pad on the wall."
He led her to said pad and she looked at it blankly. "What is this going to do to me?"
"It isn't going to hurt," Vincent reassured her. "But since you are now the lady of the house, it is better to have you registered with the system permanently rather than as my guest. This way, you will be able to control anything you wish to within the house."
Maya wasn't entirely sure she trusted that explanation but did as he said and placed her hands on the pad. A laser scanner popped out of the wall above it and conducted the retinal scan as well. It didn't hurt but it was a bit strange.
"Maya Dean," she said as confidently as she could muster.
A lightbulb appeared over Vincent's head and he clapped his hands together. "Ah. Do you intend to keep your maiden name? I'm not the least bit sentimental so you are free to do as you wish but the Carlisle name would benefit you more. I am a rather influential person, after all."
And oh so humble. She barely held back a snort. She couldn't believe any of this. She wasn't attached to the name 'Dean' though. It was something she came up with herself at the age of eighteen to get rid of her original last name…and thoughts of the people she got it from.
"…I'll change it."
"Excellent. Go on and repeat yourself then so Cassandra can register you properly," he said while pointing back to the pad on the wall.
"Cassandra is the scanner?" Maya asked in confusion.
"Oh no, Cassandra is the AI that runs the house. She controls the temperature, appliances, internet, TV, lights…everything really. I only have the robot you saw earlier to handle physical tasks that I find annoying.
"Martin is programmed to be a jack-of-all-trades. He cooks, cleans, gardens, and occasionally hands me tools. He only does what Cassandra or I tell him to do but I'm working on giving him more of a personality.
"I'm still in the process of figuring out what sort to give him since I don't want him to be the same as Cassandra. She can get a bit snarky if she thinks I'm being ridiculous and I don't need any more of that in my life," Vincent finished casually.
"You are always ridiculous, sir," Cassandra replied coolly. "I am amazed you managed to convince someone to marry you at all."
He coughed, looking almost embarrassed, before regaining his composure. "Well, enough about that. Would you like a tour of your new home?"
Maya was still having a hard time processing the fact that he managed to give his house a personality. It did explain why he was so rich though. AI and robotics had been a growing field for years and, based on what she had seen so far, she was willing to believe what he said about being world renowned.
"…sure."
She took her shoes off before heading up the stairs and held them in her hands as she walked up. She did not want to trip and fall as she struggled to keep up with the giant in front of her.
At the top of the stairs, Martin reappeared and silently held his hand out for the shoes. She hadn't said anything about them and Vincent was walking ahead of her so he hadn't even seen her take them off. Was the house watching her or something? That was so weird!
Maya looked around in wonder. She didn't have words to describe how huge this place was but it was beautiful from an architectural standpoint. Open and airy with unique curves to the building.
She couldn't help but wonder who designed it. It reminded her somewhat of the early work of a famous architect she studied in college.
There was more space than she could comprehend and this was only the first floor. The house had at least three based on what she had seen from the outside. Had Vincent really been living here alone with his robots all this time?
"How long have you lived here?" Maya asked as they headed up to the second floor after he showed her everything there was to see on the first.
His reply was nonchalant. "Two years. It took a while to complete construction after buying the land. I leveled the old house that stood here. It didn't suit my taste."
If he had this house built, that meant he had a penchant for architecture. Otherwise he wouldn't have chosen someone to design something so unique. Was her career background why she was at the top of the list for wife candidates?
But if he had only lived here for two years, it wasn't like this was a family home. All this space had been meant for him and him alone unless he had a horde of secret children or a ton of relatives living here with him.
She couldn't beat around the bush anymore if she wanted an answer out of him. "Are you the only one that lives here?"
"No."
"Then who—"
Vincent turned around to look at her with a softer expression than she had seen from him before. "Now you live here too."
So he really had been the only one? Had he wanted a wife simply so he had someone to talk to other than the AI he built to run his house? The more answers she got, the more questions she had.
"You really built this house entirely for yourself?" Maya asked doubtfully. "You don't have any family or anything you intended to live here with you?"
He turned away. "No. I don't have any family left. I assume you don't either since you were living in a women's shelter."
She scowled at the reminder. Thinking about them was the last thing she needed today. At least she didn't have any in-laws to deal with. Just this weird guy she was understanding less and less as he showed her around his insanely oversized house.
"I don't. So it's going to be you, me, and the robots, huh?"
"Yes, unless you count the fish."
"Fish?"
"You'll see later," Vincent said loftily without explaining further.
He showed her around the second floor, which consisted entirely of space to entertain. There was an awesome indoor movie theater, a room full of what appeared to be comic book collectibles (so he was a nerd in more ways than one; figures), an amazingly large library with tons of comfy chairs and plenty of natural light, and a home gym with every piece of exercise equipment you could imagine.
The third floor held the bedrooms. All ten of them. Hers was bigger than her entire last apartment had been and included its own bathroom, which was larger than her shared bedroom at the women's shelter was.
It was decorated in the neutral way your typical hotel room was but Maya didn't mind in the slightest. She could personalize it later.
"Your house is amazing," she said truthfully.
"Our house," Vincent corrected. "But you haven't seen everything yet."
Right. The fish. She let him lead her back downstairs into the backyard and noticed there was an additional building shaped like a dome that you could get to by following a winding sidewalk through a rather impressive garden.
Inside was the most astounding swimming pool Maya had ever seen. It mimicked a lagoon and was surrounded by giant rocks to jump off of, a waterfall, and tons of palm trees.
On one side of the pool, there was a giant circular tank that looked sort of like it could be a see-through hot tub until she noticed there was coral and colorful fish inside. There was an actual saltwater fish tank attached to the pool that you could see from underwater as well. If you swam by it with your eyes open, it would give the illusion of swimming with the fish.