Gold Digger

2. A Ball

____________________________________

.

.

.

Georgia Samson laughed out loud, turning heads in the bar, as she listened to her best friend's plight.

"I can't believe she actually emotionally blackmailed you into getting married. An arranged marriage at that!" She exclaimed, shaking her head. "Are you sure you are the calculative and all-knowing billionaire, Desta?"

"Shut up Samson." Owen groaned as he took a swig of his whiskey. He had ordered a whole bottle of it and was drinking directly from it. He was way too stressed about the situation. He had complied with his grandmother's wishes and left it to her to get him a bride but he also needed to come up with some way to make sure that she didn't go pick up some brainless bimbo.

His grandmother was a businesswoman only because after her husband and children's death, she had to run the business until he came of age. But by default, she was a socialite, and the probability of her getting a woman just like that - someone who loved to wear fancy brands and throw luxurious parties - was high.

He sighed and looked over at his best friend.

Truth was, he had had a little crush on her at some point. Any straight man and lesbian would. She was perfect - classy, chill, and had a good head on her shoulders. She would do so well beside him.

But he also knew that his grandmother would never choose her as his wife, and the most probable reason that she insisted that she got to choose who the family line passed down to was that she wanted to make sure it was not Georgia.

Florence Desta was an awesome woman but she was still narrow-minded and rooted in her ancient beliefs and she was not very keen on Georgia because she was bisexual. She never objected to their friendship but her homophobia and biphobia would never let her accept the woman as her granddaughter-in-law.

And it was not like Georgia was going to marry him. Unlike him who loved his peace and quiet life, Georgia loved adventures and risks, and fun. To her, he would always be her studious, boring, once-fat best friend.

"What is on your mind, Desta?" Georgia threw her arm around his shoulder. "Do you want your best friend to jeopardize your grandmother's plotting and planning?"

Owen looked over at her and then sighed again. As much as he loved the idea, he couldn't. "I promised her and myself that I will let her do this. She has done so much for me. What kind of grandson would I be if I couldn't even give this to her?"

"You will be a perfectly normal grandson who likes to make his own life choices." Georgia rolled her eyes. Her best friend was the sweetest man she knew, but he was also over-emotional and let his close ones have their way with him.

Yes, he was awesome and unbeatable in the business world but he was the polar opposite in his personal life. He was a softie who needed a partner who understood him, not another spawn of the elite clan that the woman was so sure his grandmother would get him.

.

.

.

Rebecca stared out at the night sky. It was half past nine and she was still in her office. She wasn't really working. She just needed to be alone.

It was not that her parents were bothering her or anything. It was just that she just loved her office room, the power she held. And she loved to compare it with the life she once had.

The things that money could do was just mind-blowing.

She didn't think of herself as a gold digger but she really really really loved money. Her father was a multi-millionaire, and as his only child, she knew that it was all hers. But she wanted more. She wanted so much money so that she could do so much. She wanted to see the world, use expensive things, and build her own orphanages where the children were loved instead of neglected like where her parents had picked her up. She wanted to start an NGO so that she could save children in broken houses before they went through some kind of trauma like the ones she had once gone through.

Money could do so much. But she also could only do so much to increase her bank balance.

.

.

.

"A what?" Georgia asked. She wanted to let out the obnoxious snort that she was trying so hard to hold in but Florence Desta just made it so freaking hard.

"A ball." Florence repeated.

Owen kept his palm to his forehead and sat down on the couch. As if the arranged marriage wasn't enough, she wanted to host a ball to find him a suitable wife?

Maybe he should get his grandmother a psych consult?

"What are you trying to do? The One-fifty-seventh adaptation of A Cinderella Story?" Georgia asked.

Owen sighed. Now the two were going to start arguing; they disliked one another and this was their chemistry. They fought all the time. They made the perfect Mother in law- daughter in law pair but they were never going to realize it. Realize how perfect the three of them together as a family would be.

"Keep your nose out of this Samson, I am talking to my grandson!" Florence scowled and turned to him. "Of course, you would not decline my wishes, would you?"

Georgia rolled her eyes. She agreed that Florence absolutely adored her grandson but the fact remained that she also emotionally blackmailed him with words such as these.

Why would she do that to him?

Wasn't he a man with his own thoughts and wishes? Why the hell was she always imposing something or the other on him?

And why the hell was her stupid best friend so damn soft and weak that he let her do as she pleased with him. It just wasn't done!

"I need some time to think, Granny." He said slowly. He was completely against this idea. It was tacky and stupid and useless and definitely not the way to find your life partner no matter what how much fairytales have tried to prove otherwise.

He needed to come up with something solid to fight against her on this argument they would be having later on so that this ball could be canceled and be out of the question.

"I hope your some time to think does not involve discussing the matter with this girl." She pointed rudely at his best friend.

Owen gave her a disapproving look. Now, this was not something that anyone would expect from a woman as old and wise, and composed as her.

She simply rolled her eyes and said, "All I am saying is, she always tells me I am imposing my opinion and wishes on you and if you talk to her, she might end up doing the same."

Georgia took a deep breath. This woman was just too annoying.

"So if you really want time to think, I also want a promise from you that you will not talk to this woman about it while you think about your answer."

Georgia knew that this man would comply with this wish of hers as well but that didn't stop her from hoping that for once, her best friend not be an i***t.

She knew that Florence knew Owen very well. He was her puppet, with no mind of his own when the words had come out of his grandmother's mouth - the same grandmother he saw equal to God. So the only way he could think sensibly was if someone was there to talk some sense to him. And the boring dude did not have any other friends, so it had to be her.

"Sure Granny. I will figure out what I want by myself." He gave his grandmother and best friend a confident nod and walked out of the room.

Florence smirked, knowing that even this wish of hers was going to come true while Georgia mentally face-palmed as she walked out of the room without sparing Florence another glance. She did not know what vocabulary she would use with the manipulative woman if she had to hold a conversation with her at that point.

Florence Desta and Owen Desta were practically the same in business - ruthless, calculating, and manipulative. But the difference between the grandmother and grandson was the fact that Owen only kept his coldness to the business world. Meanwhile, Florence didn't know how to differentiate business from family, love, and affection, which was why she had no problem manipulating her own grandson into doing what she wanted.

Florence sat back on her bed and smiled to herself. Of course, she knew how the two were reacting in their heads, but she was going to get what she wanted.

Her Owen was a shy, quiet man who would need the kind of attention and love that she used to give him. She knew that she did not have much time left and she just needed to make sure that her grandson ended up with someone he would be with for life and not for a while to keep her happy.

And she had confidence in her years. She was confident that she would find him the right girl.

.

.

.

__________________________________