Waking up the next morning in the guest bedroom of the Verille home, I rolled out of bed and sat on the edge of the bed out of the back window of the house onto the lawns of the house though I could see over the fence and onto the stretch of Los Angeles that the whole world would recognize as Hollywood.
Well not the whole world.
My mind dampened the mood go figure. Oh well I was glad to be in Los Angeles and I knew that being here typically made me happy since I could easily enjoy the different culture that was here, and I often fit well in with all of the flashiness.
Getting off of the bed I walked to the middle of the window and looked out while the rising golden son glared against my face blanketing it and my exposed chest with heat.
The city in front of me was the kind of place that most people likely expected me to live in yet it wasn't home, home was New York city it always would be for as long as I lived that city was going to be ruled by a dynasty of Winters and sooner or later the whole world would hear our name and remember that we were two hundred years in the making.
If this entire coalition of families lost all their money the world was screwed considering that there were five clear cut families and if we all lost our fortunes since they were all so diverse the market had plummeted and the world was in the same boat together.
That was just how we all were in this family. Even the Valeska's which behind the dozens of legal business was a mafia empire that had arisen in the final years of the USSR in Ukraine, and Romania.
Not all money was clean but none was in this world. The Winters and Löwsmann made theirs off war, the Valeska's were mafia, the Vermeulan's were investments which was just stocks, and the St. Laurents owned restaurants all over Europe. The latter two were probably the only two families that made money in a non-aggressive way. The rest were feared in their own right and I was glad. A piece of me enjoyed watching people cower slightly as I entered a room. Gala's were by far my favourite dozens of wealthy families and a sixteen year old scared them when I arrived in my Rolls Royce Cullinan, and an all black nine-piece suit.
That was what old money should be.
It's not that I thought one generation class of money was better then another, but old money should be be acknowledged, but respect and fear two things I most definitely had allowed to flourish around me had to be earned.
If one could supply an entire room with silence just on presence they should be viewed as highly regarded and I knew well enough how to play with the rich. People didn't realize how much we all had to lose. The problem was that I had bank accounts, assets, and wealth in every continent, nothing would stop me from feeling secure financially and asset wise. I also think all of that had something to do with why so many wealthy people in New York stood back when the four wealthiest heirs in the city arrived at events because of all of us being well versed in the politics of wealth.
Turning from the window and my reveries, I walked into the bathroom to shower and get ready for the day. Aria's house had sandstone bathrooms with wood and I would admit it was all very well designed though I suppose since her mom was a fashion designer she could renovate a mansion to par.
Undressing I stepped into the shower and allowed the water to purge me of all of my daily sins, and my nightly relaxation so that I could actually do something in my day though that would likely be me and Aria deciding what this friendship but not would be like.
Stepping out of the shower I dried off and went to retrieve clothing which resulted in me choosing black pants, and a half sleeve shirt before going back into the bathroom to get dressed and comb my hair to style.
As I left the room I headed downstairs only to find that the sound of an engine was clear.
"Adrian do you know who that could be my parents only just left NYC" Aria says as we walked towards the front door of the house with a large amount of confidence for someone in a moose onesie.
"I'll check" I say walking to the front door and opening the door a crack to see my grey on black F12 Berlinetta behind it was two matte black Mercedes with my PPO's getting into them and leaving the property just as fast as they got here.
"It was just my security" I exhale shutting the door and locking it before I turned back to the kitchen and my sleepy friend.
"Cute onesie" I smile and she returns the smile.
"I think so, I like it" she admits as I entered the kitchen to pour myself a cup of coffee as dark as my soul.
"Of course you do Aria" I laugh putting a small amount of cream and Splenda into the cup allowing them both to break up and cloud as they wished.
I then turned to Aria who sat at the counter staring at me.
"What do you put in your coffee" I say getting a second mug from the cupboard, and filling it with coffee.
"A ton of cream and sugar honestly, like a quarter of that cup should be cream" she says and I look back to the cup of black coffee that was relatively full.
"Well fuck" I mutter before lifting it and taking a long sip of the bitter yet savory liquid.
Yes I was one of the weird motherfuckers that could eat 98% dark chocolate, and straight black coffee.
I then took the cream and topped up Aria's coffee while she laughed at my solution of solving the issue that had arisen. Once I had mixed it I turned to face her and set the cup down in front of her.
"Not to start the morning full of decisions but we should make rules for what this time period will look like because we're not doing friends with benefits more like emotional attachment friends if that makes sense" I say before taking a sip of coffee.
"Well what do you need from me?" Aria asks following suit.
"Do the things that are typical in a relationship just the sort of base level things, honestly that's it" I shrug.
She hummed for a moment as if mentally trying to provide herself with a list of things that were and weren't allowed.
"Okay I can do that for you" she says giving me a smile, "anything else?".
"No I can't think of anything else, though I suppose certain things will happen and we will figure it out" I muse leaning against the counter while holding my cup of coffee in one hand.
"Yes I guess we will" Aria replies and I just nod before attempting to decide what I wanted to do with the day.
So that is today's chapter its short I am also filling in because I combined two chapter plans in the previous update, comment, vote, and share. AnywaysPeace✌
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The Billionaire Darkness
Fiksi Remaja{Book #0.5 of The Winters Series} Adrian Leo Winters was many things, the heir to his parents multi trillion dollar empire, the son of the renowned Alexander Winters, but underneath he was cold, and sad, broken from years of being away from his sist...