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Chapter 6
By the time Gervaise had brought me my BLT, I knew a few more things about Julien. He was the heir to the famous Veritas shoe company, the world’s number one manufacturer of leather goods. It was his grandfather’s business to start off with, but his mother, Sabine, was currently the head of it.
I realized much to my discomfort that I was talking to someone who lived a life that was totally incomprehensible. Julien was a billionaire…
When I asked about his impeccable English, I discovered that he had spent his youth in California. His family was French, but his parents moved to America after he was born. His father, Quentin Malveaux, died when Julien was young. That’s when he had been brought back to France. Apparently he’d been raised by the Belgards; an older couple that now worked for him at the castle.
I also learned that Julien bought the “château” as he called it, to get away from being under his mother’s thumb. He said that he preferred the countryside to the city… I didn’t blame him, it was gorgeous here.
I asked him why he had gotten into the business of helping the U.S. government out, and he shrugged.
“There are so many people suffering out there. If I can help just one person alleviate some of the pain by opening up my home to them and giving them the safety they need to feel at peace, then it’s all worth it. There’s a lot of paperwork involved, a lot of international barriers to cross, but at the end of the day I feel it was the right thing to do. Even now.”
So basically, he’s pretty much perfect. If he was this good on paper, I hated to see the kind of skeletons that were in his closet. At least with me, what you see is what you get. I’m just a girl from New York with a big mouth that sometimes gets me into trouble. I just don’t believe in sugar-coating things. I like the honest truth, and I don’t see the point in beating around the bush for nothing.
Julien seemed genuine, but he also had an air of calculation to him. Like you always felt as though he was summing you up. Maybe he was, who knew? Maybe that was the kind of person I wanted watching over me right now.
I quickly finished my sandwich, embarrassed at how fast I put it away—I really was starving.
“Now that you’ve had your meal, I have a couple questions for you.”
I frowned. What could he possibly want to know about me? Didn’t he have that mysterious file on me?
“Okay, what do you got?”
“As I’m sure your handler, Agent Wilson, explained to you, you will be required to begin looking for employment while you’re here. I looked through your file of course and saw that you were previously employed at the Barxton Hotel, as a housekeeper, yes?”
“Uh-huh . . . “ my voice trailed off, waiting for him to get to the point.
“We have a staff of six people on board right now. One of my maids is getting ready to have a baby, and I’m needing someone to fill in for her while she is on family leave. The position is open for approximately three months. It’s a paid position, obviously, and it would begin tomorrow morning. Would you be interested?”
I raised my brow, a dozen different things on my mind all at once. I realized deep down that he was offering me something very helpful, but I couldn’t help but wonder if that’s all he thought of when he looked at me. Just another maid?
I slowly pushed my empty plate away, placing my hands in my lap and trying to focus on what I was about to say next.
“That would be very helpful... I suppose that would give me extra time to find a place of my own.”
I could tell that Julien picked up on the flatness of my tone, but he nodded anyway.
“So you’ll accept?”
I bit the inside of my cheek and nodded, part of me bummed that I was already getting put back to work. You would think I would have a chance for a little vacation after all I had gone through. But then again, I was just thankful for the job. It made me feel better knowing that I was working to pay my own way…
“Excellent. I’ll go show you to your room and inform Marie and Alain about your acceptance. They are my heads of staff. You’ll like them.”
“Okay then, let’s see this bedroom of mine.”
We walked through the incredible estate, and I had to laugh as Julien opened the door to my new room. It was at least three times as big as my apartment back in Brooklyn.
I wandered over to the massive-sized bed that was actually coming out of the wall itself. It was fitted with fancy bedposts and a dark blue canopy, only a few shades darker than the royal blue wallpaper of the room. Half of the walls were covered with the wallpaper, while the lower half of the walls were covered in intricately carved wooden panels. Dark wood was everywhere in the room—on the bed, on the walls, the trim around the doors and windows, and even in the frames that supported the giant paintings hanging on the wall across from the bed.
It most definitely was not my taste, but for some reason I loved it just the same. I ran my hand along the soft fabric of the canopy and curtains, remembering how I always wanted to have a pink princess canopy over my bed when I was a kid. Boy, I had no clue.
Somehow I had managed to forget that Julien was standing there in the doorway still, watching me. He smiled at me, giving me a gentlemanly bow before taking off. I sighed, once again feeling completely alone.
Even though it wasn’t quite dark out yet, my body was already telling me it was time to lie down. Stupid jet lag.