It was the first time that Johan had been to an airport, other than for a gig, and, if it weren't for Erick's tips and directions, he would have definitely gotten lost and missed his flight.
Just before passing through the boarding gate, the security guard looked at Johan and, with a very slight upward curl of his lips, said:
"Have a good trip back, Mr. Vaughn."
Johan almost couldn't understand that the greeting had been directed at him, and almost left the security guard without a response.
Johan, however, simply nodded at the man, with a somber and serious look on his face.
As if that wasn't enough, he was also about to travel first class.
Despite being short, the plane trip was like a dream come true, with drinks, good food, and extremely beautiful flight attendants, always bathing Johan - Erick - with voluptuous looks and slight bumps that, after a while, Johan began to understand. which were not accidental.
Johan wanted to take advantage of the opportunity with one of them, but he had a lot of things to think about, so he simply left them aside, and looked at the landscape outside the window, remembering all the details that Erick had given him.
Replaying names and faces, one by one, in your mind.
Focused and concentrated on the task before him, Johan fell asleep, being woken up by one of the flight attendants, already at his destination.
***
"Mister Vaughn!?" Johan heard someone calling through the crowd of signs and people shouting names.
Johan searched the crowd for a few moments, and finally found the source of the call.
A girl with curly red hair, pale skin, green eyes so bright they looked like emeralds, red lips, and curves that could only have been taken from a statue of Michelangelo.
Johan stood still for a few seconds, blinking a few times, until he managed to regain his composure and approached the redhead.
'Alright, don't screw it up now, man...' Johan encouraged himself, preparing to speak out loud.
"Miss Baker, I-" 'FUCK! I wasn't supposed to say I assume out loud, idiot!' "It's nice to see you again." Johan fixed it at the last moment, faking a yawn, and covering his face to hide the redness of frustration on his face.
The redhead, Miss Baker, frowned very slightly, but didn't seem to care much about whatever had happened there and, with a cordial smile, said.
"Your car is waiting for you, sir, we will have little time to rest from the trip, as later in the evening we will have dinner with all branches of the family."
'Shit!' Johan cursed internally.
Erick had told him he would have an important event when he arrived, but Johan thought he could at least rest properly.
'Wait... Branches of the family?'
Johan scratched his head, trying to understand why the sentence sounded somehow wrong, but he let himself be guided by Miss Baker as they walked through the crowd of people waiting for the rest of the landing party.
"Are you feeling all right, Mr. Vaughn?" She asked, without looking back. "You seem... Strange, with all due respect."
'That! Now I'll have an excuse to adjust!'
Johan cheered internally and, raising his left hand, showed the bandage wrapped around it.
"Sorry, I had a little... Incident, last night. I must be just a little out of orbit yet. Lots of things to do, little time to heal the wounds..."
With a worried expression, Baker replied.
"I'm going to make an appointment with the family doctor, don't worry, Mr. Vaughn."
With that, they arrived at the car, and the conversation ended there.
Johan had to stop himself from whistling loudly at the Chrysler 300C that was waiting for him, the driver standing in front of the back door, just waiting for Johan to get closer, to open it.
"Mr. Vaughn, it's great to have you back. Did you have a good trip?" The driver asked, with a cordial smile.
"Ah, the same as always, now let's go. I need some time to myself before I face all those people."
Johan had rehearsed that line over and over again, remembering what Erick had said about the people he would be having dinner with.
Even more so after that ominous advice he had given Johan before leaving.
There were many things he had to discover on his own, but the little information that Erick had been kind enough to give was enough to give Johan an inkling that he was about to step into a nest of vipers.
And that despite what Erick had said, about Johan being able to enjoy the benefits of the Vaughn fortune however he saw fit, Johan would need every precious second to adapt to that brave new world.
'Five years...'
How long would it take Johan to adapt to the world Erick belonged to, to be able to live like him for five years...?
With that thought in mind, Johan let Baker go in first, entering shortly after.
The driver got into the car, turned on the ignition, and not long after, the landscape was just a backdrop for Johan's thoughts.
He was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't notice the beautiful redhead's inquisitive gaze towards him.
***
An hour later, Johan and the redhead disembarked in front of the most sumptuous place that Johan had never had the chance to lay eyes on in his life.
That wasn't a house, much less a mansion, as Johan had imagined before.
Nothing Erick had said about the Vaughn family home could have prepared him for the magnitude and grandeur of the enormous villa unfolding before him.
Tall orange brick walls, covered in hedges. In the center, an electronic gate with spear-shaped bars, which opened onto a long cobble stone road, and on each side of the entrance gate, a security guard in a black suit, white shirt, black tie, sunglasses, earpiece, and guy with few friends.
On both of their belts, a holster with an automatic pistol rested.
But Johan knew that if those men got their hands on those weapons, they would be more than ready to breathe fire at anyone.
Johan had to stop himself from whistling loudly again.
'If this is just the entrance gate... What must the inside be like?'