Page 2 of Divine Obsession

Maria built a wall around herself so no one could touch her, let alone hurt her. No one knew the real her, and they knew they didn’t. She would kill to keep her honor.

I, on the other hand, slapped a fake smile on my face and waltzed through life not giving a shit who thought what about me. Nothing ever got to me.

Because I wasn’t myself.

I was always just playing a role.

After several minutes of traffic on the private community street, the limousine came to a stop in front of a large set of huge, fancy gates. Behind them, a five-story granite mansion with aperfect lawn and footpath lights guided the arriving guests to the grand entrance.

One of the butlers opened our door, and Kali took my hand as we got out. Walking the short distance to the entry pillared porch, she held onto me tightly. “Thanks again for coming with me. I hate how fake these things are–”

The mansion door flew open, revealing a gorgeous woman in a gold dress. “Darling!”

The resemblance was uncanny.

“Mother…” Kali’s excitement, however, mirrored that of a sloth.

She leaned in for a hug, but her mother corrected the greeting to an air kiss on each cheek in truela bisefashion. “Don’t ruin the dress, my love. It’s custom Dior. You must be Natalia!”

“Good evening,” I greeted, stepping forward for my round of air kisses.

Maya Su – formally Maya Alvarez, heiress of the Cuban Multi-million air companies, before hitting the lottery by marrying Richard Su, billionaire heir of the Japanese Su Dynasty.

Although probably an arranged marriage, he was already engaged to some Singaporean billionaire when news broke out Maya was pregnant with Richard’s baby. In the nineties, their affair had been all over the world and tabloids.

I gave the perfect, polite smile. “It is so nice to finally meet you.”

“Likewise.”

My eyes snapped to her husband, who came up behind her, extending a hand towards me.

I shook his hand. “My pleasure, sir. Thank you for having me.”

“We’ve heard so much about you, dear.” Maya guided me inside and handed me a champagne glass although I was underage. “How are your studies?”

“Great, thank you–”

“Let’s sit! I want to hear all about it, girls!”

I was getting whiplash.

The mansion was packed. Waiters everywhere, offering drinks and aperitives. Grand chandeliers. Jazz music. Jewels. Millionaires and billionaires in their natural habitat. I was getting rushed through the crowd and everything felt more heightened than usual.

We were sat at one of the tables in the grand hall, and the past ten minutes had felt like hours. Kali was close to falling asleep while I was in the middle of telling Maya my favorite charity cause of the night.

“NataliaMoretti,” Richard interrupted, saying my name as if he were studying its pronunciation. “What do your parents do, again?”

“Dad.”

He raised a brow. “What?”

“I told you…” Kali replied through gritted teeth.

“Apologies, Natalia, darling, we have so much going on right now, it must’ve slipped our mind.”

“Mom,” Kali pressed in a low groan.

Her parents didn’t notice; they simply looked at me, expecting an answer.

---