The True Heiress

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

POV: Melody Jones

"Uh," I can tell that not knowing what to say is not normal for him. He seems like the kind of person that leads, the one who always knows what to do, the one who never shows weakness. He wears his suit like a layer of armor.

He clears his throat, and Avery speaks up. "Grayson, what are you doing here?" He looks surprised, like he's just been woken up from a dream. He quickly puts on a stoic face. It seems he's not fond of Avery, but I'm not surprised. I can only imagine how he feels.

As he straightens his perfectly tailored suit jacket and fixes himself, I see the bodyguard eyeing us all carefully like he doesn't know what is about to unfold.

Blatantly ignoring Avery, he turns to me. "Who are you?" His voice is hard and eyes glaring at me. He was supposed to be the heir to the billions of dollars, and he has just lost it all 15 minutes ago. I look into his eyes and know he's like me; observant. He will be the one who is the hardest to trick, most likely to see behind my mask of lies.

I match his stone cold gaze with one of my own. Two can play this game, and I will get into the Hawthorne House. "My name is Melody Jones. You don't know me, but I know you. Let me stay here, because I know something you don't. If you turn me away you'll never know what you don't know." I leave a hint of mystery and question in my voice. I have to remind myself he's a Hawthorne. He loves puzzles, no matter how much he wants to deny it. I sense my answer to his question is turning the gears in his head.

I sense surprise behind his gaze, but he hides it well. He narrows his eyes at me and says, "Very well, you may stay in one of our spare rooms." I don't have time to be surprised he accepted my offer. He takes a sharp turn, but almost runs straight into the bodyguard.

Again, I hear their hushed whispers, but I don't get anything from them. After a minute or so, Grayson looks like he lost that battle and he leaves abruptly. I am about to follow him when the bodyguard stops me.

"Hand over the suitcase. we need to check it. I'll send it to your room later. Also your backpack." Without much more explanation, he takes the suitcase out of my hands. I don't bother to argue, I don't have anything in there except my clothes. I also handed him my backpack. Luckily, I have my phone in my pocket so they can't search for it.

I have to jog to catch up with Grayson, and when I meet him at his side he looks at me surprised.

"What are you doing?" He asks accusingly. I just look at him confused.

"Do you expect me to know where my room is? I thought you were taking me there." I thought he was the smart Hawthorne.

Taken back, he responds. "Oh, well sorry, I'll take you there now." He clears his throat and continues on at a very fast pace. Why is he trying to get away from me?

As we enter the grand doors to the house, I have to conceal my gasp. The foyer was extremely large, so large it could probably almost fit my entire house. The ceiling goes up two stories, and has detailed wood carvings which must have taken years. There are archways all throughout the hallway made of stone. If the foyer looks like this, I can only imagine how big and grand the rest of the house is.

Before I can catch my breath, Grayson is off pacing down the hallway at almost a jog. I follow him down long hallways, which twist and turn in every direction. I lose count of how many times we turn, I don't know if I'll ever be able to find my way through this mansion.

After going through long marbled halls, we reach a spiraling staircase. Grayson is a few long paces ahead of me, so I quickly jog to catch up.

"How big is this house?" I ask between breaths. He barely spares me a glance, looking straight ahead. He hasn't taken a second to pause, he knows this house extremely well.