The Blood Heiress

My Friend Verity

Adella

I tore my focus from the journal pages and safely stowed the worn, purple book in the table drawer. My attention now turned to the fully charged phone lying on top of the table. Ben had already set up the phone with his number as he had mentioned, he had also loaded in some business numbers. The art gallery was in there as was the vineyard and distillery, the other two job offerings. There were also some other businesses listed I would eventually have to investigate whether we owned or if not to what end they served. In addition to the preloaded contacts, he had also downloaded an app called Russo Estate. It looked simple upon loading. The menu consisted of ordering, requests, and help. The last option would have been handy last night.

Come to think of it, how had either of them known about the intruder. I don't think they sleep in this wing. There wasn't an alarm of any sort I could hear. I hadn't seen Ben enter the room at all and I had been staring in that direction the whole time. More questions and quandaries for another journaling session sprang to mind before I pushed them aside. I didn't want to dwell on any of those anymore. I wanted to find something outside these walls to anchor me. It was then that a face flashed across my mind. Someone I should have included much sooner. The only other person besides Ben that I trusted.

Luckily, I had her number memorized. We may have only seen each other at school and during afterschool activities but Verity had been a friend to me through it all. And up until last week when my world shifted, she had been a part of my world. I punched her number in and waited as it rang. Right, this would be an unknown number for her. I left a short and to the point message, made sure she knew it was me and hung up.

It was about one in the afternoon now, a good time to give the order function of the app a test run. What is my life? I have an app for my house. The barebones nature of it made it very easy to figure out that orders was meant for room service type functions and requests was meant for service needs. I tapped through the options and made a mental note about what items should also be included on the list. The tea service I ordered came quickly and within the app estimated timeframe. The maid who came to deliver it was polite and unsure of my desire to block her from the room. I reached for the tray, and she gratefully handed it over.

"Thank you," She curtsied and left.

I poured myself a cup and sat down to explore more on my phone when text notification came. It was Verity's response. I wasn't keen on texting and wanted something a little more personal so after determining she was free to talk, I called her.

"Addiieee, where have you been?" A warm, calm invaded at her lively voice full of accusation.

"I am so sorry Verity, my life has been turned upside down, or maybe right side up!" I felt a little lost on how to start explaining.

"Really, what happened?"

"I found out that I have a place to call home."

"No!"

"And then I moved into it. It was my parents"

A sharp intake of breath on the other end of the line. "No. Way!"

"My parents left it to me in their will. In fact, my parents left everything to me. Even businesses," saying it all together out loud made it even more unbelievable.

"Unreal! Ahhhh I am so happy for you! There is more to this story though, right? I mean that can't be everything."

"There is more, a lot more. I don't even know where to begin."

"Why don't we meet up tonight then? This sounds like a conversation to have over some drinks! There is a bar I found with some friends that I really would like to visit again." Uh-oh that is her tone she uses when she has found some eye candy and wants to check them out more.

"Would this bar happen to be a place you could view a crush?" I smiled

"Absolutely, but we can also catch up too. Multitasking!" she giggled.

"Sure, let's do it."

"Okay I will text you the address. Or do you need me to pick you up?"

"Nope I have a car and a driver now."

"You are so fancy now. Should I start calling you Ms. Smith?"

"Actually, it is Miss Russo," I said affecting a posh accent.

"No way, you aren't a Smith? I mean if you ask me Russo is way classier. Another upgrade." I rolled my eyes at her through the phone.

"See you tonight, Ver."

"It is going to be great! Bye Adella RUSSOOOO." The emphasis on my new last name sounded funny but welcome.

I spent the next few hours getting ready. Plenty of clothing there may be in my closet but very few casual outfits were to be found. I put together what I could and made a note on my phone to fix the situation as soon as possible. I threw on a navy blazer over one of my old t-shirts and a nice pair of stretchy jeggings. I had never been to a bar before, I suppose I was overdue since turning eighteen over a year ago, it was practically a rite of passage to imbibe now that I was legal able to do so.

Ben seemed delighted to take me somewhere which surprised me a little. I was happy to have a willing driver though and didn't want to question it too much. After time spent preparing, I grabbed a snack and before I knew it, I was exiting the fancy car in front of the bar Verity had given me directions to.

No sooner had I said goodbye to Ben then I had a human lumping onto me. "Addie!!! It has been too long!" she mock wailed hugging me tightly and rocking us back and forth. I disentangled myself and got a good look at my friend. Sure, I had big things happening, but she also looked to have had a few changes since last I saw her. For one, her long blonde hair had been shortened considerably.

"Your hair looks so good at that length. You look so mature now."

"Ewww, gross I was going for sophisticated. I don't want to go around looking mature. I am too young for that." She made a disgusted face.

"Ver, you know what I meant! Mature as in sophisticatedly glamorous."

"I will take it. Now let's talk about your fancy, smancy clothing. Casual or not it speaks to me, and it says…. money." her infectious giggle carried on the night air.

"Eh," I looked down at my attire "I didn't really get to choose my new wardrobe, so what you see is what you get." She looped her arm through mine and directed us through the threshold.

The music was not as loud as I expected when we entered. There were of course, neon lights in spots. But overall, it wasn't too obscene with the bright and loud. Most of that was centered on the very busy looking dance floor. There were tables set off the floor and around the multipurpose area between the doors and the actual bar. Verity was already picking out her perch to get comfortable. I followed her to a cozy looking booth with an unobstructed view of the bar and by consequence the bartender.

"Alright let's order some drinks and then we can get caught up." She quickly settled in across from me.

"So, who's the guy we are watching for?" I was pleased to see my guess was correct. My poor boy crazy friend. A new crush every day of the week.

"Isn't it obvious," she gave a little snort. "The bartender there…" A dreamy sigh now left her lips. I followed her puppy eyes and was startled to see my gaze returned by the male in question. Deep green eyes locked with mine before turning back to the patrons at the bar. I shivered a little.

"Ooo, looks like another one bites the dust." Verity playful smacked my arm. I waved her away. I snuck another glance at the man. Dark haired, tan complexion, average height. He was young. Older than us but young still. Attractive without a doubt. His strong jawline highlighted by its afternoon shadow, green eyes, dark features. He chose his clothing well. Tightly fighted shirts and jeans to accentuate all the right places. He posessed a whole suite of physical traits that paired with his style made him unnervingly, rebelliously attractive.

"He is unusually good-looking. Have you gotten to chat yet?" I admitted no harm in being honest.

She giggled "Only at the bar. Oh, and is he ever a flirt. Can never tell with one like that how serious they are. If they treat every pretty face like that then how do you know if you are any different?"

"I would make sure that she knew, there would be no doubt." A slightly husky and totally masculine reply came from the man himself suddenly standing at the end of our table. We both jumped a little in our seat and it was at that moment I chose to be very interested in the worn table in front of me. Verity, however, ate it up and jumped right in.

"And how exactly would you do that? You flirt with just about every pair of legs."

"I guess if the time comes you will know" I gathered a small amount of courage to look up and found him, unapologetically, gazing at me. Naturally, that caused me to want to crawl into myself to hide away. He managed a crooked grin at me before the oh so interesting tabletop reclaimed my focus. I wasn't used to such blatant male attention and certainly not from such a confident and attractive man. "Can I get you ladies anything to drink?"

"What's the house special, handsome?"

"And you say I am the flirty one." I decided to sneak a peek, a smug smile tugged about his lips, and he threw a wink at me. Darn it! My cheeks had to have been flaming red by this point.

"Why don't you surprise me?"

"Careful now," His voice grew lower and drug the words out with emphasis. "You may not like the surprise."

"Shameless, you are utterly shameless." Verity was giggling. I was mute. Still red.

"How about you Miss?" Still mute, I frantically looked to Verity for help. Her eyes glinted mischievously at me.

"Smith, her name is Miss Smith. And if you aren't careful, you might just give her a heart attack." She playfully slapped his arm.

"And I'm Verity, not that you have even asked once."

His smile never left his face. "So how about it, Miss Smith," When he saw my attention was once again turned towards him, his grin hitched up to one side in a lop-sided, inviting expression. "Can I get you something to drink tonight?"

"No, thank you Mr.….?" Relieved I had finally found my voice and a little surprised that I had enough in me to play along.

"Moretti" He seemed pleased to have me finally join in. He was decidedly and irrevocably an extrovert. This was all just a fun game for him. That's all this is Addie, come on don't let him get to you.

"I will just have a water."

"Alrighty, but if you change your mind, let me know. I will be right over there." He jerked his head back the bar as if I didn't already see him there earlier. "So, I have one water and a surprise for Verity. Coming right up." He made a point of catching my eye and winking before he left.

"Woo! Addie you lucky girl!" Verity tapped my foot under the table when he was safely back behind the bar.

"Lucky? I about imploded."

"I should say so, but that didn't stop him one bit."

"He is just a big flirt. You said so yourself. I was just another, though new, pretty face. He has just gotten used to yours."

"Sure, if you say so…. He is an extraordinarily handsome flirt though, right?" We both snuck a glance at him behind the bar and he looked up at the same time as if he knew we were talking about him. We snapped back to look at each other and burst out laughing. Laughing like I hadn't in a while. Eh, it wasn't so traumatizing, it is nice to be a little frivolous occasionally.

"Enough of that then. Tell me about this new life that found you!" Verity popped her head up on her hands and waited. I shifted a little uncomfortably, the feelings of levity from the nonsense earlier had vaporized. "I really don't know where to start."

"Anywhere really," the server showed up with our drinks. In addition to the 'surprise' and the water there was a fancy looking scarlet drink with a napkin underneath labeled 'Miss Smith, if you change your mind'. I couldn't help myself and I snuck a glance at Mr. Moretti which he caught, of course. He smiled and went back to bartending. Verity cleared her throat as she took the drinks off the tray and put it aside.

"Generally, people like to start at the beginning, but really you could pick anywhere to start and fill in as you go. Or if you are too uncomfortable just talk about something else. I am sure you will catch me up eventually." She swirled her concoction around for a bit. It was quite a beautiful drink, bright blue with some sort of shimmer to it that swirled with her motions. My water looked overly simple in comparison.

"I guess the problem is that I don't have enough information myself to tell you everything," I grabbed my backup drink from the middle of the table it was a simple deep dark red, no shimmer, no neon glow. It was translucent though and reminded me a bit of a ruby, it was quite decadent looking. Verity raised her eyebrow over her glass as she sampled hers.

"You know you could give it a try, a sip or two won't hurt you. Though I wouldn't drink too much, I haven't ever seen a mixed drink that looked like that. I wouldn't begin to know what sort of alcohol is in it."

I set the drink down the enchantment with its novelty wore off and decided to just start talking and see where it went. "I told you that I found out about my real name and parents. And that they left a house to me. Well, to be precise the house is a mansion up on the hill."

"NO! Why aren't we there right now? Oh you are going to have to have me over soon. How big is it?"

"I've only been there a few days. It is three stories. I can only find my room and the dining room reliably right now."

"Shut up! I need to come see this for myself." She rocked backwards in the spongey seat back with a happy laugh. Then looked a little pensive "A house that big, hmm. Does that mean you have a maid? Or a butler. Wait, wait, wait, you said you could find the dining room but nothing about the kitchen. You must have a cook then or you would be starving."

"Yes, the house came with a full staff, and since you seem very interested in it, they refer to the house as an estate. It feels like too much. Oh, but I have Ben there. He is the butler actually."

"Ben? As in your surrogate, parental, guardian figure from the orphanage? The Ben that would show up once in a while and check in on you? That Ben?"

"Yeah, that Ben, he is the one that was charged with taking care of everything while I was growing up."

Verity took a big drink and looked a little concerned. "So, Ben knew about your real identity the whole time but didn't let you know until you were nineteen? I used to think so highly of him."

"My growing up in an orphanage was part of the whole thing, my parents wanted it that way. They were the reason my name was changed too." She took a drink too to those words.

"That is kind of creepy. Weird, kind of weird. I'm sorry, didn't mean to call your parents creeps." She looked a little sheepish. Her choice of words jogged my memory though and drew me to last night.

"I didn't know them, so they could have been. Though I think there is just a lot more to all this than what I am being shown right now. I feel so cut out of what is really going on." Like what happened last night… I decided then and there to tell her about the magician incident tonight. If only I could rid myself of the anxiety that filled me thinking about it again. What if she didn't believe me? I hardly believed me. But I needed to tell someone. So, I grabbed the ruby red drink again and without thinking too much more I took a small drink. Liquid courage, right?

I didn't know what I expected but there wasn't any burn like I had heard there would be, it was smooth and satisfying. Sweet but not syrupy. Tart but not bitter, with a sort of metallic finish that I surprisingly didn't mind. My first alcoholic drink felt like a success, though I still waited a few moments to see how it hit me. There was no lightheadedness, my stomach didn't heave. Though I did feel a strange warming feeling that radiated out into the rest of me. And a weird burst of energy. A smile found its way onto my face, and I took one more small drink.

"Way to go Addie, I am so honored that you decided to lose you drink virginity with me! How was it? You know, it looks a bit like wine." She leaned in to sniff the drink. "Most definitely not wine," she said scrunching up her face and sniffing it again. "So strange doesn't have much of a smell at all." She held it up to one of the lights. "I wonder what is in this…do you mind if I try it?" I shrugged and she took that as go ahead. Barely any of it made it past her lips before she set the glass down and pushed it towards me. "That's a no thanks for me. And here I thought that man could do no wrong."

"I didn't think it tasted too bad." I shrugged again. Who knew, maybe I just didn't know what a good drink should taste like?

"I think he must have pranked you. Bars usually like it if their customers order something they can charge them for. Next time order a soda, Addie." She grabbed her drink and proceeded to drown the flavor of mine out of her mouth.

"I don't know. I think it tastes alright." She just shook her head and continued to swish her drink back and forth to further cover the taste of mine.

"Hey Ver, thanks for not telling the bartender my new last name. I don't know how I feel about it yet. Calling myself Adella Russo just doesn't sound like me." She looked up a little surprised and then thoughtful as she replayed the moment in her mind.

"Of course, I totally, absolutely meant to and you are welcome. But it may have also been out of habit, but I promise to do it again and again until you tell me to stop."

"To friendship" I held up my glass in salute. Verity matched mine and added.

"To having each other's back even when we aren't even trying!" We clinked them together and both laughed. The beat of the dance floor music came to us in the lull that followed, and I let myself get lost in it for a bit.