WHAT ARE FRIENDS FOR?

**Rebecca’s story**

I was so hurt. If the wound was physical, I could have healed it, but it was deep in my soul and it hurt like hell. And the worst of it was that there was no healing.
I urgently needed someone to be near me. And I didn’t mean someone from the agency. I meant a loyal friend that I missed. I wondered if she was in town?
I was so happy when she answered on the first call and recognized my voice immediately. It had been so many years.
“Samantha…” That was all I could come up with. The excitement was so strong that it drowned me.
“Becca? Is that you, love?” I had missed that sound so much. I was instantly choking back tears, so Sam kept talking. “Darling, I know it’s you. Please talk to me or you’ll worry me,” she continued to speak to me in the same worried tone. Finally, I could say something.
“Sam... yes, it’s me... and I need you. Please tell me you’re in New York.”
Samantha was a travel fanatic, so it would be a genuine miracle if she were here. She spent a lot of time traveling around the world for her travel blog. Money was never a problem for her and she used it in the most enjoyable way possible.
“As a matter of fact, yes, I’m actually in New York to sort out some paperwork. But right now, I’m on my way to see you. Same apartment?”
“Same...”
I was so happy. Life tore us apart cruelly. We had known each other since we were teenagers, but since her parents passed away, Samantha spent as little time as possible at home in New York. That’s probably how she dealt with her grief, traveling.
I couldn’t describe in words the joy of seeing her again. I jumped into her arms from the moment she crossed the doorstep.
“Oh, love, but you really missed me”
I later realized I had her at the door, so I invited her in.
“You have given no signs lately, Sam. Are you okay?”
Her look changed. My question surprised her.
“You’re asking me if I’m, okay? You’re the one who called me in a hurry, Becca, so you tell me if you’re okay? It’s true that I have given no sign, but...”
“Never mind that now. The important thing is that you’re here and I need you and your advice.”
“It’s a man, isn’t it?” She knew me so well that I smiled a little at the corner of my mouth.
“Dominic Stone,” I said, convinced she’d recognize him.
“Dominic Stone...as in the actor? Honey, do you fancy him? It’s normal when you’re a fan of his.”
“I don’t think you understand me, Sam” I got up, heading to the kitchen and after preparing two coffees, I sat down more comfortably. I had a story to tell. “A few months ago, I had an accident...my fiancé, Tom, and I were attacked. Unfortunately, he got killed...” I started my story but couldn’t continue. All I was saying already shocked Sam.
“Attacked? They killed your fiancé? I didn’t even know you were engaged. Why am I finding out about this now? Why didn’t you call me?” Sam scolded me, and rightly so, but I didn’t want to worry her if I already had someone taking care of me.
“I’m sorry, Sam. But don’t panic, someone found me just in time. I didn’t really remember anything about that fateful night. Except that a pack of wolves attacked us and at some point, one of them broke my legs. Then I fainted and the next thing I knew I was in hospital.”
“Wow, that’s some adventure! Glad you made it out alive. I’m terribly sorry about your fiancé.” Sam lowered her gaze to her hands. “Who saved you?”
“Dominic Stone!”
“No way...”
“Yes, way. There is no point in going into details now. What is certain is that I got paralyzed for a while, blind and remembering nothing that happened to me. I don’t know what Dominic was doing in that place at night, but I was lucky he happened to be there”
The grimace on her face told me she was trying to understand what was connecting me to Dominic now.
“Okay, Dominic Stone saved you. What’s next?”
“Something happened in the few months I stayed in his house. Although at first, because I couldn’t see, I didn’t believe it was him, in time I convinced myself. Then things progressed quickly.”
“You fell in love with him!” Sam drew the inevitable conclusion and quickly said it. It didn’t take a magician to figure it out.
“I did, Sam, and it was the biggest mistake of my life. And not because he’s an actor, and he’s busy and he has a lot of fans. No. But because he wasn’t exactly honest with me.”
“You mean he lied to you about something? Love, but that’s so common in romantic relationships.”
“It wasn’t really a relationship, just some getting close and kissing but nothing more” And I said it with so much disappointment that it was almost impossible for Sam not to notice.
“And you’re so heartbroken, Becca. Look, maybe things haven’t turned out the way you wanted, but if you ask me, there has to be an explanation and maybe Dominic has it. And the way I know you, you didn’t even let him tell his side of the story.”
“His side? Sam, from the second I confronted him with the lie, he went silent. He never said another word. He had opportunities to speak, and he remained speechless. No words. So, what are we talking about?”
Sam caught her breath and got up from the couch. She walked towards the wide-open window.
“It’s nice outside. And inside your soul, you’re having a storm. What is your heart telling you?”
I was afraid of that question. I was so afraid that I didn’t ask it because I knew her answer.
“Sam, you know, since he lied to me, I’m not the same. Dominic lied and he didn’t even have the common sense to explain.”
“What exactly did he lie to you about? If it’s okay to ask...”
“It’s okay. It doesn’t matter much, anyway. I met one of my agents at the Treasure Awards Gala, where Dominic had invited me. At the time, I thought I was going to be discovered, but Logan did his job well. He was the one who told me that there was a connection between Dominic and Tom, my fiancé, that goes way in the past. He has some connection with his father. Tom, I had been investigating for some time because his business wasn’t exactly clean and that night, I was going to confront him somehow. But the wild beasts got him first.”
“Oh wow, that sounded just like a movie subject. What are you telling me here? And is it known what exactly the connection is between Dominic, his father, and Tom?”
“Not exactly. Actually, not at all. We’re still investigating. But it’s going to be hard. Dominic never talked to me about his past, about his family. Everything is an enigma to him.”
“I see... And what will you do now?” To be honest with myself, I couldn’t see the end of this story. I knew that I perhaps would learn truths that might hurt more than this lie. Every time I caught a lead, everything got deeper and nothing was the same.
“I’ll look into it until there’s nothing left to find out,” I replied with regret in my voice.
“And if at the end of the investigation you don’t like what you find? What then?”
Sam was tough on words but always spoke with the truth. She always brought me face to face with reality and even though she had been missing from my life for so long, she was not ashamed to keep doing it. My heart was no longer on the same page for my reason. Never since I can remember having, I had such a battle inside me. It was painful, but if life taught me anything, it was to never let my guard down. Not even with those I thought might feel affection or maybe even love. It could have been a trap.
“I’ll treat him like any other delinquent and hand him over to the law”