A Vengeful Heiress

CHAPTER THIRTY

"It's not about who hurt you and broke you down. It's about who always there to make you smile."
--LoveQoutes/FB

Alex breathed in the cool winter air as he walked toward the house later that day. He kicked his shoes off inside the door, then padded around the house in his socks, washed his hands and finally carried the groceries he'd bought for dinner from kitchen to the living room.

He lit half a dozen of candles, then set a match to the fire he'd laid earlier. Flames licked up the kindling and flared along the logs and he felt a very primitive sense of satisfaction.

"Me man, make fire."

Smirking to his own idiocy, he turned his thought to dinner. He'd bought a range of goodies---a truly indulgent picnic, really. A round of brie, gourmet crackers, olive stuffed with almond and feta, tiny bell peppers filled with goat cheese, salty cashew nuts, a triple-smoked ham. For dessert, he had a slab of fruits and nut chocolate, and he had a choice of either an Australian shiraz or New Zealand pinot noir to accompany his feast.

He was unwrapping the creamy-looking round of brie and contemplating which bottle of wine to open when he heard what he thought was a knock at the front door. He stilled, head cocked to one side. Sure enough, after a few seconds the knock sounding again.

He walked into the hall, baffled as to might be. The only people who knew his new bought house were his brother's family and Mark, his friend slash private investigator.

Then he opened the door and recognized Claire's tall sexy silhouette in a deeper gloom of the porch.

"Claire. Hey, how do you found my place?" he said, genuinely surprised.

"Oh you're here, with Athena." She made a nervous gesture with her hand. "When you didn't answer, I thought maybe you'd gone out. I was just going to leave here for you...."

For the first time he registered his gold wrist watch, the necklace with little car pendant, his Mom gave that to him for his first winning in the car race.

"I found these in my room when I was tidying this afternoon and I thought I need to return them to you." she explained.

She smiled, then moved away. Her car key jiggled in her hand. She was about to run again.

"And also I want to give this to you." she gave the whitish envelope to him then started to take another step backward but he reached out and  caught her wrist.

"Not so fast. Before you go rushing again, I need to know about this envelope.

Her wrist was warm in his hand. He could feel her pulse beneath his fingertips.

"They're pretty simple, all you need is to read and ring me if you're interested." She tugged lightly on her wrist and he let her go.

"Does that mean you won't come in to join me for my dinner and discuss with me what all about this envelope?"

She glanced over her shoulder, almost as though there was someone waiting for her in the car. For first time it occurred to him that maybe there was, that maybe she had somewhere else to be.

Someone else to be with.

"Unless, you're with someone else...." he looked at her with so much intensity.

"No, I just---okay I'll discuss it with you.

He noticed that she'd avoided responding to the rest of his invitation. He grabbed her right hand then he led her inside.  She entered the house and he gestured her to head into the living room. The few candles he'd light created their own small pools of light.