Moving from Chicago to New York as a single mother, hoping that your new business does well, is scary. But what happens when you find out your best friends new husband is the leader of something even scarier, and the only person who seems to give yo...
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"Charlie!" I yell in excitement as I throw open the huge mahogany French doors.
"Thea!" Charlie closes the door to his Uber, and runs to meet me halfway.
He wraps me up in a tight embrace, squeezing me until I can barely breathe. It been two weeks since he called me, and Nikolai was happy to let him stay with us after much convincing from Priya.
"I missed you so much." I pull away from the hug and take him in. He hasn't changed much since I last saw him almost five months ago.
"I missed you more." He smiles, "how have you been?" He asks as he picks up two of his suitcases. I pick up the other one, while one of the guards comes and take his last one.
"I've been great." I tell him, "there's been a few bumps in the road, but my spa is close to being finished, it should be up and running in a month."
"That's amazing, Thea." He smiles and two guards open up the front doors for us.
Charlie stares in utter shock as he takes in the entrance to the house. "Holy shit, when the Uber pulled up to the house I was in amazement." He spins around in a circle, taking everything in, "but this, this is insane. I can't believe you live here."
"Trust me, I haven't gotten used to it either. Now come on, I kept you coming here a secret from Asteria, and I'm dying to see her reaction."
We place the little luggage he has at the bottom of the steps and make our way through the house to the backyard.
My heart almost bursts as I watch all the guys playing with Asteria while the girls hang out in the pool.
Asteria laughs loudly as she belly flops onto the slip and slide covered in bubbles. Nikolai sprays her with water from the hose while Benny dives onto the slip and slide after her.
Mikhail catches her at the bottom and rolls onto his back, "catch me too, Mik!" Benny yells.
Mikhail's eyes go wide and he wraps his arms around Asteria, rolling out of the way of Benny just before he hits the grass.
He groans, laying like a starfish on his back. Asteria falls into a fit of giggles and wiggles away from Mikhail and jumps onto Bennys chest.
Benny gasps for air, "your crushing me, bug." She laughs even more, "god, your knees are so bony."
"Alright, la mia stellata." Mikhail scoops her up off of Benny. (My starry one)
"Wow." Charlie leans against the sliding glass door, watching the scene unfold. "It makes me so happy to see you two finally getting the life you deserve."
