82 Creepy Stalker

Aiden had guided Claire to a bathroom near the living area where they would be waiting for her and went in search for Lily. But before he left, he didn't forget to pepper her face with kisses and instructing her to call him for absolutely anything.

She stared at herself in the mirror and felt like she had aged ten years. Her eyes looked a bit lifeless, her skin was still rather pale and her makeup had become somewhat smudged. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and tried to focus on gaining back complete control of herself.

It was an unspoken rule among the people close to her, a rule that she was completely unaware of, to avoid dogs in general when it came to Claire. Be it from her shadow security removing strays from her path or using dogs in their secret infiltration missions, the option of integrating them to any part of her life was out of the question.

Something Colton made sure of and kept from his little sister ever finding out he did so.

Besides the fact that she was tired and suddenly out of energy, Claire couldn't help but feel ashamed of herself. It had been years since she had last felt so helpless. She couldn't find the strength within herself to finally overcome what she believed to be a stupid and unnecessary fear.

There was no doubt in her mind that Aiden's dogs were nothing like the ones that branded her with what appeared to be a trauma for life, but she couldn't avoid all the painful and gut wrenching memories she had long ignored from bubbling up once she saw them. They were just to similar to the ones that haunted her in her nightmares.

Taking another deep breath, Claire opened her eyes and looked at herself. She had once again pushed everything to the back of her mind and concentrated on the present. People were waiting for her and she wouldn't let her demons take the rest of her day away. She'd already let them take more than they ever deserved.

A more determined expression covered her face as she began to make herself look more presentable. Lily would be quick to point out she didn't look herself if she didn't.

Aiden had picked up her purse at some point and left it with her before leaving. She quickly cleaned her runny makeup before giving her cheeks a few gentle slaps. Once they had a bit of a more natural color, she fixed her hair. Now ready, she took another deep breath before walking out of the bathroom.

Since she was out of it before, she didn't pay much attention to the inside of Aiden's house. The ceilings were high, making the natural sunlight that poured in from the large windows light up everything with warmth. There were interesting antiques decorating the side tables along the halls, colorful rugs displayed here and there and interesting paintings hung on the walls. She felt surprised by Aiden's taste in design. Everywhere she looked, the rooms seemed lived in and welcoming. It was actually quite funny to her. Although she knew Aiden as a warm, thoughtful and welcoming person, she was well aware that side of his personality was reserved for a select few. He was similar to her in that aspect.

Both Claire and Aiden held high position in the business world. And although Aiden was completely out of her league in terms of power and influence, be it in the business world or the underworld, they both had to stick to a certain type of persona when dealing with others. So the thought of somebody who only knew Aiden for his aloofness and cold blooded ways finding out he lived in such a homey house was amusing to her.

She unconsciously got lost in her thoughts as she strolled around the house. Noticing how big and detailed every room she passed by was. Claire was silently enjoying the beautiful architecture and design choices. After a few minutes, she didn't even notice she had stepped out of the main hallway. Standing still in a den like room, she studied the faces on the pictures tastefully hung from the wall. They were obviously from Aiden's childhood. She could see the little version of himself in most of them. Not a minute passed, when she quickly noticed somebody watching her.

Life had trained her to always be in tune with her surroundings, so it wasn't hard for her to pinpoint where the gaze was coming from. Even so, she simply kept looking at the pictures without turning to face whoever it was that found her presence curious enough to want to stare at her.

"Well are you going to introduce yourself?" She said in her usual tone as she kept recognizing Aiden's face in many of the photographs. "Or are you going to keep staring at me like some creepy stalker?"

A few seconds later Claire heard a deep chuckle. She hadn't turned around to see who it came from, but it was obvious it came from a man. Not a moment after, he stood by her side and started looking at the hung frames as well.

"Sorry." Claire heard him apologize. "I didn't mean to be creepy. It's just that I'm not supposed to talk to you yet."

Claire finally looked up at him and immediately met with his mischievous smile. Lucas towered over Claire the same way Aiden and her brother did. She could see he was studying her,just as she was doing to him.

It only took her a second to recognize him, which made her lips bloom into a smile without her even noticing it. An expression that took Lucas by complete surprise.

"Well we may have met earlier than he planned, but here we are." She politely said as she offered him her hand. "Claire Collins, it's a pleasure to meet you."

Although slightly confused, Lucas shook her hand and responded. "Lucas. And please the pleasure is truly mine. By your reaction, I assume Aiden told you about me." He assumed she knew who he was. The only explanation for her to be so unguarded and her smile to be so genuine would be because Aiden had already told her about his favorite big brother. It even made him feel happy and proud.

"Oh no. He's never mentioned you before." Claire said with a sweet voice. Her innocent expression only confused Lucas more.

"Then why....." The fact that she had easily sensed him didn't surprise him since he was aware she wasn't an ordinary woman. But the reason behind her happy expression wasn't something he understood. If she didn't know about him, why was she smiling as if she did?

"Why I'm happy to meet you?" She asked since she could understand why he would be confused by her reaction. When he nodded, she started to explain, "Well you're his family. Why wouldn't I be happy to meet a member of his family? And a very important member at that."

"So you're a mind reader?" He said sarcastically. "How would you even know if it wasn't thanks to Aiden telling you?" To the public eye, the head of Villan empire wasn't close to his family members. Aiden made sure that the false assumption was kept alive so that nobody would try to gain his favor by going through them. Even if Claire had tried to dig up information about them, she shouldn't have been able to access such a well kept secret. But, little did Lucas know that she didn't need all that to understand what the true nature of their relationship with one another was like.

Claire raised an eyebrow in intrigue. Was he dumb or was he testing her? "Well, for starters you're in his house. Judging by how I've barely seen employees since the front security gate, you're most definitely not here to polish the floors." She chuckled as she turned back to face the pictures. Her eyes suddenly turned softer. "And I've never seen him smile like that."

Most of the pictures on the wall weren't capturing posing people or forced smiles. They were a collection of different scenes where most of them involved three children playing together. None of their faces had a single frown. Not even in the pictures where they were covered in what seemed to be like mud. Every single one of the moments captured and encased inside the frames seemed warm and joyful. She could see it in Aiden's bright smiles repeated throughout all of them.

"You may not look like the other boy in the pictures anymore..." She continued to say as she turned to face him with another gentle smile. "But the dimples when you smile are exactly the same."

After a few seconds of silently staring at her, he burst into a loud laughter."Well damn." He said as he smiled. Showing the exact deep dimples she just pointed out. "My new sister has a hawk's eye doesn't she?"