Business Always
CHAPTER 20—XAVIER POV

"Sir, Mr Alexander Chopra wants to meet with you. He's waiting outside," my temporary assistant tells me.

"Did I have anything arranged with him?" I ask, and she shakes her head. "Fine, let him in."

She leaves the room, and a quick but ugly silence clouds the air as I wonder what he could come to me about.

I knew it was something to do with Miss Davis-we weren't involved in any business together at all.

"Xavier King," he says loudly as he saunters into my office.

"What do you want, Chopra?" I say, leaning back into the chair I knew this would be entertaining to say the least.

"We had an encounter the other night," he begins.

"Well, if that's how you want to put me catching you cheating on your fiancée, then yes, we did have an encounter." I smirk.

"Listen, Xavier-" His face drops. "You saw me at an unfortunate moment."

"But I saw you," I say, leaning forward. "And I think I'll have a lot of fun telling her." "You think you'll get her back with this stunt?" Chopra asks, raising an eyebrow. I'm taken aback at what he says, my shoulders tensing at his question. When I'm silent, he carries on talking. "Did you really think you'll tell her I'm not faithful, and it'll be like some blindfold is removed from her eyes-that she'll come running to you?"

My eyes narrow towards him, what was he thinking and what was he going to do? "What are you trying to say, Alexander?"

"Are you telling her because you want her happiness or because you want another shot at getting her?" he asks, smirking as he knows he's right.

"Does it matter?" I ask him. It didn't matter, I tell myself. Amelia deserves to know regardless. "What she does with that information is her choice, but I won't keep her in the dark," I say.

"If you think she'll do anything but stay with me with her heart filled with that sadness shit, you're wrong," he sneers.

"Alexander." I warn him.

"She's not the strong fierce woman you think she is Xavier. She's weak, sad and just looking for a quick escape and I'm her quick escape."

"You're wrong."

"She just wants to settle down now-she doesn't care about love anymore she's bagged the biggest billionaire and she's made her future."

"She's bigger than you," I say, my anger bubbling under my skin. It was taking everything for me not to kick him out of my office.

"Why do you think I'm marrying her I'll be the man who married Amelia Davis after she became a somebody."

"Get out of my office," I murmur.

"Alexander and Amelia Chopra-power couple. The greed brought us together so what if I have a little fun along the way?" His dirty smirk reappears.

"Get the fuck out of my office!" I say louder, much louder. He flinches a little at my volume but relaxes again.

"I'll see you, Mr King-at my wedding preferably." And he walks out of the office.

"Then let's get out of here," I say, her sweet scent fogging my senses.

"Are we allowed to do that?" she whispers, her face flushed red.

"Do you mind if we leave, we have nothing to talk about. Use this night as your super expensive date night," I suggest to Robin and his boyfriend.

"That sounds good." His boyfriend beams, and Robin blushes slightly but nods in agreement.

I get out of my seat and Amelia does too, walking out of the event room, where this banquet was held, I lead her into the main hotel lobby.

"Where are we going?" she asks, her heels clicking furiously as she tries to keep her pace with me. I stop in my tracks, pausing and turning to face her.

I hold my hand out to her, asking her to trust me. She looks at me, a whirlpool of feelings swimming in her green eyes.

Hesitantly, she puts her hand in mine and nods slightly. Maybe I was thinking into it too much but her giving me her hand was like her saying I trust you.

I knew there were beautiful gardens surrounding the hotel and since the hotel was completely empty tonight in preparation for the banquet-I knew no one would be there.

"Look at these flowers!" Amelia says so innocently as she crouches down to smell the blooming winter flowers.

"Sir, no one is allowed in here today." A guard stops me. I show him my invite card from the banquet, and he nods, opening the gate to let us in.

Amelia, who has come back next to me now, gasps as she sees the variety of flora around.

"Wow," her little voice whispers as she looks around more. Even I had to admit it looked good.

"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I say, not referring to the flowers, but she doesn't realize it.

She looked like a goddess, wandering around the gardens, her black dress flowing behind her and contrasting the colourful flowers.

I walk closer to her, by her side. I wanted to get lost in the moment with her, drunk on

her happiness like I always was.

But I couldn't.

Not when his words were in my head.

I'll be the man who married Amelia Davis after she became a somebody.

I stood behind her, listening to her smiles and small daughters before they would

quieten after what I would say.

"Miss Davis, listen," I begin.

"Xavier thank you! This was so much better than the banquet couldn't been!" She turns around at the sound of my voice.

She throws her arms around me, pulling me into her embrace. It feels weird-her initiating anything physical-but I welcome it nonetheless.

The slippery material of her satin dress made my hands slip, pulling her in tighter than

I had planned to. She rests her head against my chest, and I hope my elevated heartbeat isn't audible to her.

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"You have a tattoo," she says after pulling away.

"Yeah." I already know she noticed it, but she hasn't said anything till now.

Her warily brings her hand up to my neck, her feather like fingertips running across my tattoo. "What's it mean?" she asks softly.

Suddenly it feels like the vast garden had become a tiny paradise just for the two of us.

"It's a scorpion, but I guess you figured that." I chuckle.

She giggles. "Yeah, but what's the meaning behind it—it isn't like you to get a reckless tattoo, regardless of how cool it is and the only other one you have is that crown

right."

"Oh right, that crown was because you used to call me."

"King," she answers.

"I suppose I was a bit too hasty getting that one," I mutter.

Her face softens a little when I say that-whether she was feeling the same thing I was

or sympathy I didn't know.

"And the scorpion?" she asks quietly, dragging her nail over it again, making my eyes feel heavy.

"Some cultures say it's a blessing, for some it's a curse," I say. "A tempting poison." "Why did you get it?" she murmurs. Her voice was cloudy, just like my senses. "Do I need to explain? It's right in front of me."

"Xavier..." She holds my face tenderly. Her heels made her lips line up with mine when she stood up straight.

Whether it was lust or something more, she touched her lips to mine, soft at first. When she feels no resistance from me, she deepens the kiss, licking my bottom lip. After a couple moments, I dominate the kiss. It was refreshing having her lead, but I know we both prefer it this way.

She's a little breathless, the warmth of her little pants heating my skin. She leans her head back, her chest rising up and down. I seize the opportunity to plant my lips onto her neck.

An incomprehensible but pleasurable sound leaves her mouth as I slowly suck and lick down from her neck to her exposed collar bones.

She cups my face, putting my lips back on to hers. She was desperate and it was relieving to see that she was just as parched as me.

The slit in her dress was like an invitation for my hand to travel up her exposed thigh. Small goosebumps rose on her leg as my cold hand makes contact with her hot skin.

"Miss Davis..." I whisper into her ear kissing below her earlobe. "That's not my name for you...King," she says between airy gasps. "La?" I experiment, wondering if that's what she meant.

"Yes?" she responds. I smile against her lips.

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I use my thumb to rub small circles on her skin. Her whining only motivates me more.

If you think she'll do anything but stay with me with her heart filled with that sadness

shit, you're wrong I freeze.

"Amelia," I say seriously, pulling away. "We need to stop."

Her eyes are closed for a moment before she opens them. Her green orbs suddenly harden as she takes a step away from me.

"Mr King, I—" She pulls her dress down, which had lifted as I touched her, and fixed

her straps. "I'm so sorry I got carried away." Her face burns crimson.

"Do I make you happy?" I ask her.

She's silent.

"I said, do I make you happy?" I repeat.

"I don't know," she says.

"That's not good enough for me I can't fight for you anymore," I huff.

"I never asked you too," she says bluntly, any scrap of an emotion I saw in her has completely vanished.

"I can't compete with Alexander; He's the one you want, right?" I ask. She's silent. I turn around to walk away "He's the right one for me, Xavier. Sometimes, you don't want the things you need," she says.

"He's not the right one for you, it might not be me but it's sure as hell not him!" I walk

up to her, my anger getting the best of me as I'm inches away from her.

Her eyes hardened. It was me vs her.

"He's good for me," she says and, for a second, it's as if she believes it.

"He just wants you as a trophy wife! Just so he can say I have Amelia Davis." I can hear

the pleading in my voice. I didn't even care if she wasn't with me as long as she wasn't with him. "You deserve someone who loves you, celebrates you someone worthy."

"Someone like you?" she spits out as if she's talking to a lowly creature. "You were nothing but fake love and real pain," she seethes.

"You're about to spend the rest of your life with 'real pain,"" I quote her words. "Your perfect fiancé isn't even yours-he belongs to a different woman every night! He's cheating on you!" I squeeze her shoulders, drilling the fact into her.

I take a step back after I say that. I didn't want to tell her. I didn't want her to know out

of my spite. I didn't want to tell her. She shouldn't have known from me.

But she knows now.

There's a small distance between us and it's almost as if she's shrunk out of embarrassment. The cold and powerful hatred in her being has dishevelled down to humiliation.

Her voice cracks as she realists her wall has been broken. Her perfect life had been

exposed.

"You think I didn't already know that?"