Chapter 1 VERONICA NICHOLAS

VERONICA

I drove speedily in my newly acquired McLaren Artura. My father's twenty-second birthday gift to me.

The road was free as if it knew of my desire to roar through it without restrictions and with open arms it welcomed me.

The wind rushed through the open window and swept across my face soothingly. I felt like I could fly. In my own little world of adventure, I was beyond thrilled. But more than anything, the thought of where I was headed had the adrenaline inside of me pumping harder.

Being a daughter to the owner of one of the biggest companies in the town came with the advantage. I got all I wanted materially, a doting father and a loving mother. An extra of it was my super annoying sister, Matilda. Although she could be sweet when she wanted to be. And there was Vincent, my boyfriend. My Vin. What else could I have possibly ever wanted again?

Anyone could say I had an almost perfect life. So I thought too.

"Vin? Vin?" I called on getting to Vincent's house. I always preferred him getting the door so I could jump on him so I always ended up ringing the bell first even when I knew the passcode.

But there was no response after I called several times. I was forced to punch in the passcode and got into the house.

I called as I searched the house but there really was no sight of him. I made myself comfortable in one of the cushions. Retracted my phone from my purse to give him a call but got a text from him at the same time.

"I'm sorry Vero but I won't be home because of work. I promise to make it all up to you. Okay? I love you!"

I tried not to be sad after reading Vincent's text but I couldn't help it. Perhaps it was because I had imagined the many things we would do together. But it was my Vin, I knew he would make it up to me like he promised. And it wasn't unusual that he could get busy at the last minute and have his plans cancelled. Being a doctor was demanding and I hated to be a clingy girlfriend that even though I crazily wished to drive to his hospital where he works to get a peak of his pretty face, I had to stop myself.

Back in my car, I started back home. I was tempted to call the girls so we could have some girls time but waved it off.

I had suddenly lost the vibe and wanted to enjoy some alone time at home.

Only that I was met with a cold energy on getting home.

Home was unusually quiet. The atmosphere felt chilly and unsettling.

Mom sat on one of the couches in the living room sad and quiet. Dad was making several calls on the phone. His personal assistant stood beside him equally quiet.

It wasn't the first time I was seeing my parents that way. It only meant one thing. Crisis in the company. But whatever it was, I knew my parents could handle it. Like they had always done.

I headed for my room hoping to get down later and know what was wrong.

Minutes later I got out of my room. Another minute inside of my room would have left me crazy with boredom. I had to go see the girls. They were the only ones that could snap me out of the boredom. If only Vincent wasn't busy with work...

"Hey sis!" I waved to my sister Matilda as I climbed down the stairs while she was heading up.

"Hey kiddo." She waved back at me but with a smirk

I frowned, "What's funny?"

"Don't worry, you will find out soon!" She squeaked as she disappeared into her room.

I shrugged and went on. Even though I smelt something off, I felt too carefree to bother about it. Whatever her smirk meant, I was definitely sure it wouldn't hurt a fly.

We respected each other in my family. Yes, my sister could be annoying but we were different from siblings of other wealthy families. Unlike them, my sister and I had no intention of fighting over our parents' wealth.

Mom and dad had left the living room by the time I got down again but the television was still turned on loud in the living room. I glanced at it and saw the news headline.

"This spoiled Playboy again... does he ever get tired?"

I shook my head. It couldn't have been another person but the infamous Playboy. Always making the news headlines with his silly scandals. No thanks to his conglomerate family that always found a way to clean up his mess. His family's public relations sure worked hard enough. It was shameful being an acquaintance to someone like him. I wondered how his friends coped. If he had any at all.

I called my friends and they agreed to meet up. They must have been bored to hell as I was.

I had three close friends; Gail, Elsie and Tracey.

Gail was pretty, slim and had long tender legs that I sometimes felt a twinge of envy for. A harmless one. Elsie had the prettiest smile and out of the rest of us, she was the most jovial. And then Tracey was the combination of the three. Pretty, Jovial, slim, tall and moderately curvy. When we partied, Tracey was sure to have the guys drooling at the sight of her. Reasonable to say, she was the prettiest of us and the most attractive one.

Like me, my friends all came from wealthy families aside Tracey that came from a relatively average family but she never lacked anything though.

But Tracey was unlucky when it came to her love life. She couldn't get to be with the one man she had crushed on. She had always wanted one guy all her life, did all she could to get him but couldn't. Lawrence Williams was his name, the infamous Playboy.

Me, Elsie and Gail always wondered what she saw in him because to me there really was nothing cool about him. If anything, I wished he never got close to my friend as he would only end up hurting her.

My friends had already gotten to our usual reservation spot by the time I arrived.

"Hey girls!"

"You are late. What held you on the way?" Elsie asked as she sipped from her lemonade.

I collapsed into my usual seat.

"You guys ordered anything yet? Eww! Elsie, why are you drinking that? It's so eww."

I disliked lemonade so much. It never was going to taste anything better than shit to me. I would rather have whiskey than that.

She chuckled, "This is the best there is... taste it, I'm sure you would love it too..."

She offered me the glass of lemonade which I shoved away. The aroma alone made me want to puke.

"This jerk again..." Gail gritted while looking into her phone.

"Jerk? What are you talking about? Who is it?" Tracey inquired curiously.

Knowing exactly what Gail had seen, I sent her an eye signal to not let Tracey see it.

"Urh, I'm sorry Tracey but I don't think you wanna see this."

"Why can't I? Are you gossiping about me with someone? Or did my nudes leak? I mean I wouldn't mind if it would leak only to my crush's phone... Gail, let me see."

"Nope."

"Now I'm really curious..."

Before we could say Jack, Tracey snatched Gail's phone from her and peered into it.

Her face tightened the next moment.

"These bitches always make him look bad. I know he is not what the media paints him to be. It's all these cheap bitches fault!" She slammed angrily.

"Tracey, what makes you think he is as clean as you imagine him to be... he may be your crush but he..."

"But what? You seem to be on their side more than mine." Tracey snapped at me. I really wondered what exactly she saw in the playboy to trust him that much.

"Relax Tracey, Veronica is making sense here," Gail started, "I mean, think about it, he is always on the news for scandals all the time. You don't think he is always innocent and the ladies are all crazy?"

But that only fueled Tracey's anger.

"You all seem to want the media to be right so badly. Just watch me. I will make him mine soon and I will prove to you all that he is not as bad as they paint him and those lying bitches will be exposed. I will send my bill," she said and walked out.

"Oh poor Tracey... she is completely smitten..." Elsie shook her head pitifully.

"You mean she looks like she is out of her right mind. Gosh! What good does she see in the jerk?"

I felt bad seeing Tracey that way. Was she seeing something about him that we weren't seeing?

For her sake, I hoped the media really was wrong about him.