Chapter 1
The first chapter is a short one. Only five chapters are posted here, as we are currently working on Galatea, scheduled for Oct. 8th.
Gabriel Maestri grew up in Italy with his parents, Sergio and Kaia. His father was a man who expected the best from everyone and even better from his son. He was a man who believed that showing love or affection towards anyone, even his own family, was a sign of weakness and that he would not tolerate such things. Throughout his youth, Gabriel was groomed to become the successful, cunning and ruthless man his father wanted him to be. To Sergio, love means weakness, and women are only good for a man’s pleasure in bed. A wife is just for public appearances, and a mistress is for pleasure. He had tried to get his son to choose a wife from a wealthy family for ten years. His mother, Kaia was not much better, she was cold towards him, never showed him love, and he was mainly raised by nannies until he was old enough to go to boarding school.
He started building his empire with his father’s backing, paying him back with interest. He built his own home as far from his parents as he could. They never celebrated holidays together, only getting together occasionally.
Paige Mosley was a young woman with simple needs. She was an orphan from birth, going from one foster home to another until she reached the age where it was considered old enough to be on her own. She never really fit in, with her delicate features, her hair blonde, so light in color it was almost white. From the age of sixteen, she worked jobs as a waitress, babysitter, and other odd jobs and went to school at night. When she turned eighteen, she worked full-time as a maid at the Maestri Hotel in New York. In the three years she worked there, she made friends with the other staff members. They became like a family of sorts.
But when news came that the hotel was shutting down, a cloud of despair hung over everyone. Many of those who worked there were getting older, while others were young and had no education, and jobs would be hard to find. As it was, they weren’t paid very well; they depended mostly on tips.
When word spread that the owner was coming to inspect the hotel to determine what needed to be done to bring it up to date for sale, the staff panicked. This hotel was the only one neglected over the years and needed much work, such as replacing carpets, new furniture, and painting. Though it was kept clean, it still had become shabby.
The staff got together to talk, trying to devise a way to persuade the owner to keep the hotel open and let the employees keep their jobs. Paige and a couple of the other maids cleaned the penthouse suite from top to bottom; it was the best suite in the hotel. Everything was ready for his arrival. The bar inside the room was fully stocked with his favourite wines and liquor upon his earlier request.
They all waited nervously for his arrival. Having heard all about him, it was obvious they were deathly afraid.
