Hi guys, this is my very first fanfic ever :) I'm already at 6 chapters but I'm waiting for reviews to see if I shall upload more. To be honest, the chapters I'm writing now are more interesting :) Enjoy!

'Jesus Christ, who does this guy think he is? The President?'

As the large wrought-iron gates opened and we drove up a lane flanked by cypress trees and leading to a huge house that, indeed, looked a bit like the White House, I couldn't help but agree with my friend Gabrielle. We had driven here in Gabrielle's beat-up Ford convertible in order to visit the mansion's Renaissance art collection for one of our classes.

'I wonder if we'll actually see the guy. From the looks of this house he thinks he's way above us,' Gabrielle said.

I stared at a fountain in the middle of the driveway, with the gravel curving around it.

'That is...this is a Bernini. Look. We heard about this in last week's lecture.'

'Oh, yeah? I didn't pay that much attention. I'm sure it's a copy. This guy may be rich but not even he has a Bernini just lying around,' Gabrielle replied.

I silenced as Gabrielle drove around the fountain and parked her car. I quickly opened the door and got out, still in awe at the beauty of the enormous house.

'Do you think we should just...knock on the front door?' I asked.

'That is hardly a front door, that is a solid gate. And... I suppose so?' Gabrielle offered.

We walked up the steps - the stone that the house was made of looked like marble - and stood still in front of the large doors for a moment, until Gabrielle knocked. Once, twice, three times. Within seconds the door opened and a man greeted us with a tight, yet nice smile.

'More art students coming to visit the gallery? Come in.'

He led the way through the hallway - still, all was decorated in white - and opened a heavy wooden door. No locks whatsoever. Gabrielle and I exchanged a glance. If the person who lived here was so wealthy and owned so many very expensive art pieces, wouldn't he at least be smart enough to keep them safe?

The dark-haired man guided us into the huge gallery and Gabrielle gasped. There were dozens of old statues here, many obviously from the Renaissance and others that I could tell were over two thousand years old. The walls were decorated with an endless supply of paintings, all in perfect state, of which many were unfamiliar to me, but there were also a lot that I recognized from several of her text books.

The man cleared his throat and we turned to face him.

'No photography. No touching the art. No use of cellphones; please turn those off. No running. No screaming. Also, don't go exploring the house. Have a good afternoon.'

Without waiting for a response the man turned his back to us and left the room.

Gabrielle frowned. 'There aren't any guards or cameras. Does this place have any kind of security?'

I mumbled something inaudible at her, already distracted by the art. This was the biggest collection of classic and Renaissance art I had ever seen...and my mother had taken me to Rome, years ago. I got out my notepad and started to make notes, starting with the paintings on the walls, then continuing to the sculptures. This would take me a while; there were so many of them and I was always writing down so many things.

I held still in front of a gigantic marble sculpture on a pedestal. It was of a muscular man wearing armor and a helmet and holding a large spear, with a shield in his other hand.

I bent through my knees to see the inscription on the pedestal, which read 'Mars Ultor.'

'Mars the Avenger,' I mumbled as I stood back straight and admired the way the sculptor had carved perfection into the marble: every muscle and every vein had been sculpted to create an incredibly realistic image of the Roman god of war. I was mesmerized by the movement the sculpture contained and how from different angles it told different stories.

'Beautiful, isn't it?'

Startled by the deep masculine voice behind me, I turned around. In front of me was a seriously tall, broad-shouldered man with brown curly hair that looked like he had just rushed his hands through it. A long scar ran from right below his lips to over his eye. Somehow it didn't look scary, but instead added to his masculinity.

'Are you...are you the owner of the gallery?' I asked, even though all students had been instructed not to be too direct to the owner of the mansion.

He smiled and offered me his hand, which I shook. 'Noah Chevalier, nice to meet you.'

I cast a glance in Gabrielle's direction, who was now staring at me.

'Um... I'm Emma Sawyer. This gallery is amazing,' I said, desperately trying to not come across as stupid and nervous, which was hard, because the guy was so intimidating. He was so tall and muscular and handsome, no - he was fiercely beautiful in a kind of terrifying way. His scar added to that. He didn't seem arrogant but just from his stature and attitude it was clear he was aware of the social difference between us, yet he acted like we were just two people meeting at one of the high class parties he undoubtedly went to. To top it all off, he didn't even look that much older than me. He was probably around four, maybe five years older than me. He just had that really mature look on his face.

Another smile, or maybe the previous one was still on his face - I didn't know. 'Thanks. So...you know Latin?' Noah asked, referring to me translating the text on the pedestal flawlessly.

'I - yeah, my mother taught me a bit. She's a Mythology professor at Columbia,' I answered.

'Really? Wait - your mother is Olivia Sawyer?' he asked.

Of course. As always I was 'Olivia Sawyer's daughter' within seconds after meeting someone. It was always the same. Just because my mother had written several books of which more than one revolutionary (and that in a field that wasn't all that revolutionary in itself) didn't mean I couldn't be my own person. How did this Noah Chevalier know her, anyway? He might be rich enough to have an impressive art collection but his kind of people usually stayed away from my mother's area of expertise.

'What, you know her?' I asked, as nonchalantly as I could manage.

'I went to one of her readings. I think it was about justice in ancient Greece,' he explained, 'though it's a long while ago, so I hardly remember anything.' He shot me an apologetic look.

'Oh... That is long ago. She hasn't done readings for years. These days she's mostly visiting archaeological sites in Europe.'

Noah nodded and shortly looked up at the large statue in front of us, then turned his attention back to me. 'I came down to see who was visiting the collection today. Many students have come to see it already, and to be honest, I'll be glad when you people are done...'

I frowned. 'Why is that? You don't want to show your collection to the world?'

As an answer, he shrugged. 'It is a private collection for a reason. But when one of your teachers found out I had some pieces that no-one knew about, he asked so nicely that I couldn't really say no.' He tilted his head slightly, studying the sculpture that we still stood in front of.

'I noticed how much you liked this one. You know, I have one of him that's even older... Well, of Ares, I mean. They're really hard to find, what with all the dislike the Greeks had for him...'

'Yeah. I know. So how did you end up with so many rare pieces?' I asked. Okay, so apparently this guy wasn't all about high society and money as Gabrielle and I had previously thought. He was an enthusiastic art collector, was interested in ancient history and had heard of my mom. Of course, I had to admit...his looks helped a lot in my positive opinion of him.

'Well, many of them were passed down the family. I bought many from museums across the world...and then there's some that I came across on my trips to Europe,' he explained.

As I opened my mouth to say something in reply, he suddenly turned around. Moments later, a door on the far side of the room opened.

'Sir?' the petite girl in the doorway said.

'Yes, Lena?' Noah answered.

'Your guests are here. They're waiting in the lounge,' she said, and after his 'thank you' turned around and closed the door behind her.

He spun around to face me. 'I've got to go. Will you girls be okay here?'

I nodded. 'Sure. We'll be fine. Thank you, though...for having us over.'

He smiled at me and walked to the door Lena had just disappeared behind. Before stepping into the hallway, he looked over his shoulder. 'Really nice to meet you, Emma. You too, Gabrielle,' he called out, then closed the door.

Instantly, Gabrielle speed-walked over to me. 'Emma. That guy had the hots for you.'

I shook my head. 'No way, he wasn't even flirting with me.'

'He totally was! Well, at the end. When he repeated how much he liked meeting you. If it wasn't for that girl Lena calling him away, he would have totally ravaged you in one of his king-sized beds.'

'Gab! Stop it, he was not flirting with me and he was not going to 'ravage me'!' I said, pretending to be angry although I couldn't stop a smile from breaking through.

Gabrielle poked my upper arm, practically jumping with excitement. 'A super hot, rich, smart, nice guy likes you and you like him back. Come on, you've got to do something about it! You know you want to,' she said.

'Fine. I want to. But first, he's completely out of my league, second, he has already left. And, by the way, how did he know your name?' I asked, raising an eyebrow.

'That's because we had to register for going here last month. Don't you remember? Aw, just follow the guy into his house already! It's not like he'll mind!'

'Gabrielle, have you seen this house? We'll get lost. And maybe he only liked me because of my mom.'

Gabrielle sighed. 'A man who likes your mom would act completely different. Fine, go back tomorrow and tell him you left your scarf,' she said.

I laughed. 'No, because that is not obvious. It's April. I'll just... Well, maybe I'll run into him sometime soon. He'll probably be in the city all the time.'

Gabrielle shook her head in disagreement, but was already walking away to the next piece of art. I turned my gaze back to the Mars Ultor sculpture, sighed and closed my eyes. Did Noah really seem into me? We had just been having a normal conversation. Well, Gabrielle had always been good at reading body language. It would be a shame to never see the guy again, but then again, there wasn't really anything I could do about it. Maybe I could look his profile up on Facebook - he was young enough to have one. Or...I could do a version of Gab's plan, and pretend to have got lost in the house. The problem was, I probably actually would get lost.

Again, I sighed, and opened my eyes as I went over to the next statue, this one a lesser-known bronze from much more recent times. No...I would just stay here, in the gallery, until both me and Gabrielle had finished our assignment, and then leave.