001. Old Money [1]

DISCLAIMER:. All the brands and riches and artists mentioned in here are for fictional purposes only, not to harm or offend any of them. The works mentioned by the main leads are also to be treated like fiction, I'm not an expert so I cannot be certain of how those work. This is an original work by me, in English, however it's not my native language so there might be grammar mistakes, I hope you will look past that as I'm still learning.

The art and the cover were made by me through AI work and they are not to be used by anyone.

Lastly, there are sensitives themes in the story, such as death, grief, violence, depression, possessiveness, and sexual content. Some things are exaggerated for the sake of plot lol, hope you won't mind it.

Thank you for your attention and for picking up this novel to spend time on,

- Itsokayimokay 🖤🖤

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Special mass release for the novel's launch, 01/20.

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MIA

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Have you ever heard of those premature prodigy kids that grab spotlight just by existing since they are little, that go to the best colleges at a tender age where other kids are still in middle school, and that are, infuriatingly, good at every damn thing they do not mattering if it's their first time trying it?

Yes? Well, I'm one of them.

I shall say I was blessed from birth, which is definitely true. I was born a prodigy, the youngest and more loved and precious child of my famiglia, born in a beautiful and loving famiglia, I took the best genes out of both mamma's and papa's ancestry bloodlines, and in a open-minded understanding famiglia. Most of all, both my mama's and my papa's families are of Old Money.

'What is Old Money, Mia?' You ask me.

Old Money refers to people who have inherited significant generational wealth; their families have been wealthy for several generations. Like the families that date back from Monarchy and the aristocrats if you may. If one famiglia is at least rich for three generations, they are Old Money. Anything older than that is New Money, and even nowadays, Old Money are those who control the world.

So, yes, privileged as fuck. I know. I am self-aware.

There's a catch. Old Money marries into Old Money, thus keeping the power and the fortune between them, since they are aware that the world looks at them with envy and would try to get into those families just for the sake of having some power. And every country has Old Money. Europe more than others.

Papa's Christoffel Von Barnhardt, the sole heir of a billionaire business empire of seven generations, of real estates, hotels, and later on of cyber security, in Amsterdam, Netherlands. Graduated at Harvard in Business, at 20, and in MIT in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, at 28. Lost my nonni at 25, both to a traffic accident in Rotterdam. With black curly hair, tanned skin, forest green eyes, 1.90m tall, from April 1st.

Mama's Anna Santorini, sole heiress of the billionaire empire of eleven generations, going from real estates, all kinds of business, fashion, hospitals, and law firms, in Milan, Lake Como, Venice, Florence, and Rome, Italy. Graduated at Harvard in Business, at 21, and in Civil Engineering at 26. Childhood best friends with Ricco Campobello. Long straight golden hair, white skin, light green eyes, hourglass shaped body, 1.74m tall, from November 29th.

They met through zio Ricco, who was friends with papa from college and made the bridge, when mama was 20 and papa was 22, they were quick to date each other. Got married a year from then after mama graduated, under the condition stipulated by my maternal nonni that papa would take mama's surname instead, since he wanted the Santorini line to keep going and mama was their only kid, which papa accepted it right away. And had the first babies when mama was 28 and was 30 years old.

Moving definitely to Milan, papa kept controlling the business as he kept control over all the directors of each of his businesses, and focused on mama and on us. At first came the twins, Pieter Johannes and Willem Abel on January 23rd, then came Julia Beatrix on September 30th of the same year, later came Hendrik Daan on August 5th of the following year, then the second pair of twins Emma Luna and Bram Ruben on June 2nd of the next year, and lastly came Zoe Maud Von Barnhardt Santorini on April 7th of the following year.

'What about you, Mia?' You ask me.

Oh, me? I'm Zoe Maud, Mia is a nickname. It means the feminine flex of mine in Italian, and it stuck because everyone called me 'mia belle', 'mia cara', 'mia principessa', Mia this, Mia that. The Mia remained, so now it's just Mia.

Papa chose our names, that's why they are Dutch, and we got his surname, but our last name is mama's, as they first agreed with nonni. I'm the youngest as I said before, mama was pregnant for five years straight, one pregnancy hooked the other. Only Dio knows how they were to wait even if just a full year before trying again. In the end we total seven kids.

Know what's even more absurd? Zio Ricco and zia Sasha had all of their kids at the same time as mama. All of them around the same seasons, if not the same month, and even the same week. Except for when mama had me, since by then the Campobello famiglia had already had seven kids, so mama's 5th pregnancy made it even between her and her best friend.

They had Anastasia 7 days after the twins on January 31st, the pair of twins Vladmir and Irina solely a day before my oldest sister on September 29th, then Grigori Mikhail exactly two months after Hendrik on October 5th, and lastly they had the triplets Natasha, Leonid, and Maria 2 days before the second pair of twins on May 31st. We've all been raised together, not just because our nonni are best friends, or because our parents were too, but because they intended for us to marry each other.

It certainly worked on my brother Pieter who dates Anastasia since they were 13 years old, brother Willem dates Irina since they were 15, and sister Julia dates Vladmir since she was 14. While brother Hendrik dates Camilla the heiress of the Albasini since they were 15, and brother Bram dates Alessia the sole heiress of the Lamberti since they were 16. On the other hand, Natasha dates Nicolao the heir of the Bastianelli since they were 13, and Maria dates Riccardo the sole heir of the Brunelli since they were 17.

The Albasini, Lamberti, Bastianelli, and Brunelli all being famiglias of close relationship with both us Santorini and the Campobello, for more than three generations, which helped both our parents be totally fine with it. Just as the Ricci, Dell'Acqua, Gervasoni, and the Castellazzi famiglias also are part of this big group of Old Money famiglias who come together once in a way to tie more business with each other. A relation between ten powerful billionaire famiglias that with time build quite the unbreakable web of protection.

But in the end of the day, it's between the Santorini and the Campobello, the two strongest famiglias out of the ten, who have an even deeper link together than the other eight. And with all that's happening in our current generation, our famiglias will all but merge in the future.

'What about the other five, Mia? Don't they date?' You ask me.

Well, it's complicated.

My best friend is Leonid, the middle Campobello triplet who's a year older than me, we've been inseparable until I moved to the US with my papa at 12 alone, for college─ like I said, prodigy privileges─, and we were always glued to one another when I went back home for holidays, quick stops for birthdays, and summer vacation as well. Then he came to the same college as me when he was 18, right when I was starting my second course there at 16, then we became inseparable one more time. So, yes, he's my best friend.

And though most of our two families were thriving for us to get together, come out dating, and marry each other, that's impossible.

'Why, Mia? Friends to lovers is so adorable!' You tell me.

It's simpler than you can imagine.

I never harbored any kind of attraction for him, and neither did he for me. Why? Because Leo is very much the gayest guy I've ever met, however that's a secret he only confided in me and me only.