The Billionaire’s Hidden Heiress

Knox

POV

My father holds Hunter in his hands, bouncing him up and down as we sit down in the living room as a family. "Ooh you are such a gorgeous little man" my father gushes, while lan and I watch him indulgently.

Flair giggles. Grayson is sipping a coffee and looking relaxed. "So how is the company doing lan?" she asks and lan straight away begins to bore us with talks about profit and loss as well as shares and other information that I could not care less about. My eyes begin to glaze over. "Grayson any interesting cases lately?" I ask out of desperation.

He eyes me. "Not really, a lot of divorces," he says with a sigh "One wrongful termination and an eviction that I'm trying to overturn. Sorry Knox" he apologizes.

Damn. Flair turns to me indignantly "Are we boring you Knox?" she asks heatedly.

"Yes," I say bluntly as lan looks at me with a chuckle "which is why I asked Grayson if he had any interesting cases."

I was honest if not truthful. She asked and I answered, just not as tactful as she would have liked.

"Well we could talk about you Knox," Flair says with a raised brow.

"There's nothing interesting about me," I say moodily "I'm an open book."

"Really, nothing interesting?" Flair's voice is teasing now "Not even about the pretty young maid called Lorelai?"

I try not to choke. lan glances between us. My father frowns as he puts Hunter down to crawl. "What's this about Lorelai?" he asks. "Nothing," Flair says sweetly eyeing me "I saw her in the hospital. She's lovely" she adds as I glance at the floor "Such a sweet thing." "She's sweet" I mumble "So what."

"Yes, I must thank her too for what she did for the two of you," Father says nodding "is she badly injured?" he asks Flair. "From what I could tell she's not too badly injured but it was still a very brave thing she did" Flair's voice was mocking as she looked at me. My father sighs. "Who would have thought Karen would lose the plot completely like that."

Grayson scowls "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree," he says heavily.

We know he's thinking about Charlotte. Neither of us says anything for a moment. Flair changes the subject. "So anyway," she says lightly as Father hastily retrieves Hunter before he can crawl into the television unit "I was thinking that maybe you wouldn't mind having Hunter overnight for us if possible?"

Father looks wary now "Is it for something important? What date would it be for?"

"Next week? It's Grayson and I's anniversary and we were hoping to get away to a hotel for the night."

"I'm away on business that week" Father exhales and Flair looks disappointed.

"I'm away on that same business," lan says.

"I can do it" I volunteer.

Now Flair looks nervous. She glances at Grayson whose facial expression is indecipherable. Or maybe I just can't read it. I frown. I don't see what the problem is. It's only for one night. Some sentences are incomplete if you are not reading this novel on Jo bn ib.com. Visit J obn I b.com to read the complete chapters for free. I've looked after Hunter for an hour or two before. I can easily watch him for one night. It's not that difficult, is it?

"Well um, thank you for the offer Knox but..." Flair begins delicately.

"But what? I'm not good enough to watch him?" my voice is harsh "Because I'm autistic? You don't trust me?"

"No, it's not that" Flair tries to deny it but I stare at her stony faced.

"It's just that you lose track of time and we're worried you'll forget about Hunter" Grayson cuts in smoothly, attempting to dispel the tension.

I try not to look too dejected. lan looks sympathetic. "I won't even go on the computers" I promise them, my voice rising slightly "if that's your concern. Come on, he's my nephew, let me do this."

Flair still looks nervous. She glances at Grayson who gives a subtle nod. "Fine, but we'll be checking in on occasion to make sure he's okay" she finally allows.

"That's fine" I crack a smile "We're going to have the best time, aren't we buddy?" I say to Hunter who giggles at me. "Maybe you should have some help that night Knox" Flair murmurs.

"I don't need help," I say dismissively "Babies are easy. Just feed them, change them, burp them, and put them to bed." Flair's eyes are wide "Um it's not quite that simple," she said as Grayson snorted "and watching Hunter for a night is a lot different to an hour or two. Perhaps Lorelai could spend the night to help you?" she suggests.

"Lorelai?" I ask surprised.

"You know, that's not a bad idea," Father says agreeably as I turn to him "It would make me feel better about leaving you alone in the house and we could offer her compensation in wages for the extra hours."

lan nods as well "It would probably also be beneficial to her. The two of you could work together and that way each of you would get rest if Hunter has an off night."

"Do you think I'm that incapable of watching him?" my voice is suspicious.

Flair blinks at me innocently "No, but wouldn't it make the time go faster if you had somebody with you?"

I open my mouth and then shut it. She's right. The time would go faster, especially with Lorelai with me. Suddenly I'm no longer offended by the idea.

"You do know she just got shot," I said eyeing them "She might not be ready to come back to work."

"She seemed pretty determined to me," Flair said cheerfully holding her hands out to take Hunter from our father "She's quite spritely isn't she?"

I nod without thinking. Grayson drinks down more of his coffee. "Anyone willing to shoot themselves has to be brave in my book," he says shaking his head "I don't think I could do it."

"Lorelai's unique" I blurt out "and braver than anyone I know."

My voice is filled with pride. lan glances at me sharply. I swallow hard. Damn. I gave too much away.

Flair eyes me "You like her a lot don't you."

I sense there's a hidden meaning behind those words. I hesitate to answer. I can tell that Father has his eyes on me and lan, well lan already knows about my feelings towards Lorelai. Ian cuts in before I give anything else away "What's not to like?" he shrugs looking nonchalant "She's a hard worker, she's loyal, she's courageous and she never complains. If only all employees were like that" he deadpanned.

Flair looks disappointed. I breathe inwardly, relieved that lan stepped in before I said something I would have regretted.

"Yes she's very hardworking" Father agrees nodding "And she is very polite. A nice girl," he says while Flair looks towards me with a thoughtful expression on her face.

"I didn't think much of her boyfriend," Flair said wrinkling her nose.

I glance up sharply "Well that's really none of our business though is it?" I practically snarl the words.

Now she's probing. I can see it in her eyes. She knows. Damnit. She knows how I feel about Lorelai and she's trying to get me to admit it. I just gave myself away. God. Could I have been any more obvious? I want to growl out loud with my frustration. Grayson eyes me and gives me an apologetic look but he's not responsible for my sister's actions. Flair is a force to be reckoned with at the best of times. She's also incredibly nosy and likes to get into everybody's business.

"We shouldn't be passing judgment on people we haven't even met" I try to act casual.

"Wise words son," Father says nodding in agreement "Sometimes people have just had a bad day. Just because they've acted poorly in the heat of the moment, doesn't necessarily make them a bad person."

Thank you, father. Flair looks unconvinced. "Just how much do you know about this Lorelai?" she asks out of interest. "The agency did a comprehensive background check" lan answers calmly "That's all we really require."

"Really, even after that incident? That surprises me, Knox, I would have thought you would have been itching to look into her background."

I glare "That would be an invasion of her privacy Flair. Our employees deserve to feel safe from such things."

It's a lame argument. The truth was I had considered multiple times looking into her background but I'd never been able to bring myself to do it. Even my father looks surprised by my argument. I'm not about to admit that lan's asked me to look into our employees' backgrounds now. lan gives me a sharp look and I subtly shake my head.

"Well, that's very magnanimous of you" Flair's voice is sweet and also slightly patronizing at the same time.

Grayson makes a deliberate point of looking at his wristwatch and clearing his throat loudly. "Well, would you look at the time? Flair we should get moving as it's almost Hunter's nap time and you know how cranky he can get when he doesn't go down for a sleep." Flair sighs and then stands up. "Fine," she says holding Hunter tight.

We all crowd around her to say goodbye. I hold Hunter for a moment, breathing in the smell that all babies seem to have. When I give him back to Flair she eyes me sardonically.

"You would make a great father you know," she says as my jaw drops open "if you ever think about that."

I do. But I'm also wise enough to know my own reality. I say nothing as I hand Hunter back. At least I have my nephew to spoil, I think to myself as we see Flair and Grayson out, waving goodbye as their car leaves the driveway. It's better than nothing. "Wasn't that nice" Father sighs as we turn to go back in the house "I wish she would visit more often. Wonder why she was so hung up on Lorelai though? Do you think she was trying to tell us something?" he mused.

lan and I shot each other glances and shook our heads. I bowed my head low and made a beeline for my room. I needed the comfort of my computers right now. But even as I sat down and put my headphones on, the image of a certain brunette woman with big doe-like eyes filled my mind and caused me to stare at the screen blankly with my hands raised in the air. Not even the computer was enough to get Lorelai out of my head. At this rate, my obsession with her was going to take over my life completely.