Longging for love

Natalia stared at the police officer standing in front of her, not believing what she had heard. It can't be true. Today was her eighteenth birthday. How could she lose everything on the day she became an adult?

"Did you hear me?" The officer asked softly.

"Please tell me you have the wrong house. It can't be my parents. You had to have made a mistake." She answered in a whisper.

"I'm sorry, but we confirmed it was them." Elias had been working for the Pheonix Police Department for ten years. Notifying a family that their loved ones had been killed was the worst part of the job.

"Noooooooo." Natalia fell to her knees, sobbing as the grief took over. Her parents can't be gone. They were on their way home to take her to dinner for her birthday. How was she going to go on without them?

________________________

Three Years later

Natalia walked out of the auditorium with a sense of accomplishment. She had graduated at the top of her class two years early with a master's degree in business at the age of twenty-one.

She got into her car and looked in the mirror. She had long pale blonde hair and dark blue eyes. She was five foot eight with a body that men wanted, and women wished for. She sighed as she turned on the car. Her looks had opened doors, but she had worked hard once they were open. Now it was time to work hard to succeed in the business world.

When Natalia's parents were killed by a drunk driver three years ago, it was the worst day of her life. They were wealthy, and because she had no siblings or other family, all the money went to her. She didn't touch any more than she had to. She was determined to make it on her own to make them proud.

She drove to her off-campus apartment so she could finish packing. Natalia had scored an intern position in New York. She planned to learn everything she needed to achieve her goal and start her own company. The corporation she was interning for bought companies that were failing and either liquidated or resold them for a profit.

People hated those types of companies; they looked at them as though they were sharks. Natalia wanted to start a similar business, but her plan was to invest in the companies in trouble and become a partner to help them succeed. It was a risky way to go because she could lose a lot of money. However, she was willing to take that chance.

As she packed up her apartment, she was eating pizza while listening to the radio when there was a knock on the door. Natalia wasn't expecting anyone, so she looked through the peephole curiously and smiled when she saw who it was.

"What are you doing here?" She asked as she opened the door for her best friend.

"Are you kidding? I couldn't let you spend your graduation night alone packing. I came to help you before you disappeared, and I never see you again." Cara was petite with short, curly dark brown hair and amber eyes. She and Natalia became friends on their first day of college. She still had at least another year of school before she graduated.

"Of course, you're going to see me again. There are these big things called airplanes. Maybe you've heard of them." Leaving Phoenix to go to New York was a big move, but it was one Natalia felt she needed to make. She would miss her friends and being away from everything she knew. However, she was determined to be successful and respected as a woman and a CEO.

"You're funny. You know how it is when people graduate and say they'll keep in touch. Maybe they see each other once a year and call on holidays, but after a couple of years, they go their separate ways. Once you get to New York, you may meet the man of your dreams, get married, and start having babies." Cara made a space on the couch between boxes so she could sit down as she ate a slice of pizza.

"You know I don't care about men. I have no desire to find love. What's love anyway? Just a way to make a woman depend on a man so he can break her heart."