New beginning: Billionaire love story

Chapter 248 Convenience not Love

Alexander jammed his hands into his pockets and looked every inch at the child who knew he'd been caught having done something wrong. His eyes flicking up to Claire's, he exhaled a deep sigh. "I'm sorry about last night," he began contritely. "I didn't mean to get drunk.

And I definitely didn't mean for you to have to take care of me."

Claire's eyes narrowed and her eyebrows rose as she looked at him coldly. "Take care of you?" she repeated, and her voice was honey dripping with acid. "I didn't take care of you, Alexander."

Alexander frowned, his head cocking slightly to one side. "Then what did you do last night?" he asked, and in it was the ring of confusion.

Claire fidgeted, staring at her nails in a bored fashion. "Your parents asked me to check on you," she said nonchalantly. "I did not want to make a scene, so I went along with it."

Alexander was really puzzled now. "But you were the one who brought me to the penthouse, right?"

Claire nodded, still disinterested. "Yes, I did. With the help from the hotel staff, mind you. It's not like I wanted to drag you around."

Alexander frowned, slightly annoyed now. "I remember being at the lift. We were already out of sight of my parents. You could've just ignored me and left. So why did you help me?"

Claire let out a very audible sigh; she was tired of this conversation. "Why is it such a big deal to you?" she asked, turning to him exasperated. "I just want to know," Alexander responded back-firm but not aggressive he genuinely wished to comprehend why she would go out of her way to help him when she could have easily walked away.

Claire clicked her tongue in annoyance and crossed her arms tighter over her chest. "I couldn't just leave you sprawled on the floor. We're business partners, Alex. If you ruin your image, Metacortex gets dragged down with you. It's not good for business."

Alexander's shoulders sagged just a little. For some reason, her explanation let him down. He'd hoped, maybe just a little, that she'd helped him because she cared, not because she was worried about her company's reputation.

He nodded, accepting her reasoning, even if it wasn't what he wanted to hear. "Right. Business as usual," he said, his tone flat.

to have very little fight left within him. It was odd, yet Claire

genuine in his

never leaving her any breathing space. Now he was just. accepting of everything. Which, at best,

lot of work then attending the banquet taken a toll on me." Claire studied him for a moment, then nodded.

nodded. "Yeah, don't worry. I learned

her way toward the door. Just as she reached for the handle, the door of the robotics room swung open and out walked Abigail. Her

Abigail called out, beaming as she made her way over

split second. He couldn't exactly tell her the whole truth about why he was there. "I just wanted to talk

keep from rolling her eyes. Important? Their conversation earlier had been anything but. But, well, Alex was just being Alex,

up even more. "Hey, do you want to see the progress on the

turned to Claire

standing with her arms crossed over

need

Alex

said flatly. "It's your

remember to keep the information to

say anything else, Abigail grabbed his wrist and pulled him towards the robotics room, chatting excitedly Claire raised an eyebrow, a bit surprised at

ve

have yelled at them. Alex wasn't exactly known for being touchy-feely. But with Abigail, he

different.

not love. Besides, when she'd had amnesia, she had been the one who loved him

into the robotics room. Abigail was animatedly explaining something about the robot's latest upgrades, and Alex looked genuinely interested. He glanced at Claire and said, "You've done a good job here, Claire." Claire nodded, accepting the compliment. "Thanks," she replied curtly, then turned to Matthew, who was lounging nearby, scrolling through his phone. "Ready?"