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.

got his way. But tonight, he seemed to have very little fight left within him. It was odd, yet Claire wasn't about

in

that radiated from him. Alex had always been aggressive in his pursuit, never leaving her any breathing space.

of work then attending the banquet taken a toll on me." Claire studied him for a moment, then nodded. Claire understands him because she knows how it feels being so stressed out about loads of things and deadlines,

don't worry. I learned

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

beaming as she made her way over to him. "What are you doing

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

her eyes. Important? Their conversation earlier had been anything but. But, well, Alex was just being Alex, she supposed. Always had a

nodding eagerly. She then perked up even more. "Hey, do you want to see the progress on the robot? It's really coming along!" She was practically bouncing on her

Claire as if

with her arms crossed over

need my

Alex

said flatly. "It's your

all. Just remember to

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

ve

drag him like that, he'd have yelled at

different.

herself. Why should she? Their marriage was one of convenience, not love. Besides, when she'd had amnesia, she had been the one who loved him truly. Now, it was just

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