Just Friends (Aegis Group Dangerous Ladies #2) - Sidney Bristol

1.

Wednesday. Luxe Ibiza Hostel, Cala Gració, Ibiza.

Jennifer Miracle was having the worst day. Or stretch of days. She wasn’t sure if the sun had set on them in the last thirty or so hours of travel.

Her phone vibrated against her thigh like an angry bee. She fully expected it to start stinging her soon. It took every fiber of her being to not groan and slump in the seat. Instead, she grit her teeth and pulled the device out. All it took was glimpsing Mr. Esposito on the display to have her nerves stretched thin.

What the hell was she going to do with this situation?

Jennifer turned to her ward. Honestly, she should be calling Milan Esposito her client, but the twenty-one-year-old acted suddenly started acting like a child. Hell, Jennifer’s job was more about making sure Milan didn’t kill herself with her antics than actually guarding her from danger. On the plus side, she did get to see a lot of the world most people didn’t. It was a perfect example of what an unlimited budget could get a person. Still, most days Jennifer liked her job well enough. Today was not one of those days.

“Milan?” Jennifer said in her most pleasant voice possible.

Milan’s eyes sliced toward her with a scowl. “He texted you again, didn’t he?”

Jennifer did not sigh or roll her eyes. Yet. Milan’s bad attitude was wearing off. “Your father just wants to talk.”

“Then maybe he should have called me on my birthday. Or the day before. Or after. I realize we were on different continents, so I’d have been understanding. But a week?” Milan twisted to face Jennifer. “A week? Who waits a week to call their only daughter and wish her a happy birthday? Hm?”

Jennifer cringed.

Oh, she’d noticed the lack of a phone call. Jennifer had reached out to Mr. Esposito’s staff multiple times beforehand to remind him. Each and every one of those had fallen on deaf ears.

Yet somehow this whole mess was now in her lap. How? How was this her problem?

Milan crossed her arms over her chest and stared out of the window. On the surface, Milan might look like any other pampered heiress. But under the fake lashes and designer clothes was a young woman with a big heart.

Jennifer drew in a deep breath.

When she’d first met Milan, she’d been rather impressed with how smart the young woman was at only seventeen. Things had changed after her mother’s battle with cancer came to an end. Mr. Esposito threw himself into work at an unhealthy pace, and Milan was left to figure out growing up on her own.

Many times Jennifer thought Milan would have been better served having some sort of teenage handling au pair. Someone to teach her how to be a woman and coach her about college stuff. Instead, Milan got Jennifer, who’d never known a salad fork was a thing until coming to work here.

These days Milan was a bit more focused on living it up than maturing into her future role. Jennifer hoped this was a passing phase, but some days it was hard to tell herself that.

“He doesn’t really love me,” Milan muttered. “He just wishes I’d been born a boy.”

Jennifer pocketed her phone. She could put off responding to this message under the guise of their imminent arrival at the Lux Ibiza, not that Jennifer’s services were necessary here. It was the one place on earth she could relax a little and trust Milan was completely watched over.

“What do you think?” she asked.

Jennifer cringed. This argument that her father might pay more attention to her if she had different genitals was a new one. Jennifer didn’t quite know how to handle it. “I think families are complicated and nothing is simple.”

Milan chuckled. “You know I’m right, you just can’t say so because of daddy’s money.”

Jennifer said nothing.

There was some truth to Milan’s words. Her father had never really known how to interact with a daughter. Even in the beginning when his wife was still hanging on. He’d grown up in a family of five boys with four uncles. There hadn’t been a girl born to the family line in two or three generations, and now there was Milan. Per family tradition, their family business was supposed to pass to her.

Three chimes dinged back to back.

“Oh!” Milan jumped and snatched up her clutch.

Jennifer’s stomach sank even farther.

Please don’t let it be—

“It’s Zechariah!” Milan squealed and shimmied in her seat.

Great.

She gasped and whirled again to face Jennifer. “He landed