AllFreeNovel
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The powerful and wealthy hide their vulnerabilities, as every single one of them will be used against them should the need arise. A friend can turn into an enemy in the blink of an eye.
You always have to watch your back.
I’ve lived in privilege my whole life, and I’ll be the first to admit that I love it despite all those things. Everyone can argue until they turn blue that money doesn’t buy happiness, except it does.
Maybe not in the way we all expect, because it can’t buy you true love and genuine affection. However, there is a beauty in itself not to worry about tomorrow or struggle to survive in this cruel and unfair world.
“Tell Mom I’m coming!” I shout, reaching for a bottle of water, groaning at the cold liquid sliding down my throat, only to freeze when a woman enters inside wearing a stunning white dress skirting over her long legs that emphasizes her eternal beauty.
Her blonde locks frame her symmetric face as her brown eyes light up in amusement and joy. She places her hand on her hip and cocks her head to the side. “Darlin’, I don’t think this is going to cut it for Aunt Esme. She told me if we both don’t get our asses downstairs in about three minutes, she’ll expose the baby pictures to the public.”
For the first time since coming home, the tension truly eases from my chest.
Because my best friend is here!
“Oh my God! Luna!” Putting the bottle aside, I rush toward her as we both squeal and squeeze each other tight. “Aren’t you supposed to be in Greece, sharpening your sculpting skills?”
Compared to me, my best friend chose her passion from an early age, falling in love with a sculpture in my mom’s gallery almost ten years ago. She’s lived and breathed art ever since. On most days, it was hard to find her because she was holed up in her studio, so it was no surprise to anyone when she picked it as her career choice and moved to Greece to explore her talents.
Or ran away from her guardian.
I’m still not sure which one it was.
“When Aunt Esme called, I hopped on the nearest flight to attend. It’s not every day a family celebrates their thirtieth anniversary with their kids and friends.” A familiar sadness coats her voice, and I tighten my hold on her, seeping my strength into her because all this must be extremely difficult for her.
Which makes me appreciate her effort to cheer me up even more.
Her parents died in a car accident two years ago, brilliant engineers who worked for Dad’s company. Since she had no living relatives or any savings due to her parents preferring to spend their money on expensive things, my family considered taking her in and giving her everything.
Yet according to her parents’ will, they assigned some guy who owned a ranch in the middle of nowhere as her guardian, and she was required to live with him there.
Their decision made zero sense to everyone, and Luna tried to argue it, asking Dad for help to get some legal action and free herself from this guardianship. Except her guardian wasn’t just some rancher who was easily swayed.
More like a brooding billionaire rancher with connections all over the world who managed to impress even my dad, which never happens.
He is just five years older than us, so him ordering Luna around was hilarious and disturbing and provided a funny dynamic between the two.
“Is Vincent here with you?”
She huffs as she adjusts her dress and steps back. “No, thank God. Aunt Esme told me to extend the invitation to him, but I kept my mouth shut. I wanna enjoy my time in Chicago without his controlling shadow hovering over me.”
I roll my eyes at her usual anger and annoyance when it comes to his controlling ways that are so familiar to me. The men in my family can write a whole-ass thick book on helicoptering women they care about. “He’ll find out. You know that, right?”
She shrugs. “So? By the time he does, I’ll be back in Greece. And he won’t go there. We have an agreement.”
Right.
Their relationship is strange as hell, so I decide not to focus on it much right now because thinking about them gives me a headache. I guess that’s why it’s better to assign someone much older as a guardian to avoid such things. And while legally she might be an adult, she’s still dependent on him financially, and sometimes it seems he does everything in his power to keep her that way.
Like I said.
Strange and disturbing.
“We need to go.” Luna grabs my elbow and pushes me to the door. “How about sneaking away somewhere after the party to catch up?” I groan inwardly at her eyes drilling into me. “You can explain why you avoided Chicago like the plague and cruised through Europe, ignoring all my calls.”
As we get into the hallway and quickly cascade down the stairs, I mutter from the corner of my mouth. “It’s complicated.” She doesn’t know about my epic fail from last year, and just imagining her reaction makes me nauseous because she’ll want to be offended on my behalf. And if there is one thing my best friend cannot do…it’s keep her opinion to herself or hold back from unleashing her fury.
“Haven’t you heard? Complicated is exactly what I like.”
