7 Stranger

"What do you mean she's changed?" Christopher was resting his feet on his office desk and Grayson was sitting in front of him with a magazine in his hand. You could tell that the two were brothers except for the fact that Christopher's curls were a lot looser and were completely black, while Grayson's were brown and tighter. Christopher's features were more aged but, even though he was older, his eyes seemed a lot more innocent then Grayson's. Other than these few differences they shared the same light blue eyes and other physical features.

Christopher is three years older than Grayson and they were very close growing up. They were always head to head in academics and sports. Even though they were a lot alike, they were on two different levels of attractive. If Grayson was an angel that fell from heaven, then Christopher was God himself.

"I mean she's changed. Like... I almost wasn't able to recognize her."

"Explain what you mean by that. What's so different about her?" Christopher ran his fingers across his stubble.

Grayson looked up at Christopher from the swimsuit magazine, "Chris. Her. hair. Is. black."

Christopher chuckled "Okay, well that doesn't seem like that much of a difference."

"No you don't understand. She's...a woman now. She's not the same girl that we knew when we were seventeen. It isn't just her looks. Her whole vibe is off. When you look at her you'll think that she's some different girl that happens to look like someone we used to know."

Christopher furrowed his eyebrows, "Well I'm sure she's just as beautiful as I remember her."

"Yeah yeah I know. Don't start with the whole 'love of your life and no other woman can satisfy you' speech." Grayson rolled his eyes and spoke in a mocking tone.

"My first love-" Christopher ignored Grayson and began,

"uhg, here we go again." Grayson mumbled.

"what is she doing here? In this crime filled city? Such an angel doesn't belong in a place filled with demons."

"Well even if she wants to talk to us what makes you think that she still has feelings for you? That was years ago, she's probably with someone else. A beautiful woman like that? Single!? And how do you think she's going to feel about you trying to track her down for all these years? You have to think logically bro." Grayson walked over and sat on Christopher's desk while shaking his head.

Christopher thought to himself about Grayson's words. He was right. She could be with another man by now. "It's not like I'm stalking her though! I've just been...hoping that I'd find her...here." he shook his head and continued,

"Also yes, I know she's probably changed, but so have you. So have I. I'm the CEO of Musada! I own hospitals and recording studios and restaurants. You do illegal street races and hide in the shadows. The public doesn't even know you're my brother! We both aren't the same people as we were when we were seventeen. I understand that we've all changed, but my love for her didn't and I'm hoping hers didn't either! No matter how much she's changed I'm sure that she'd be just as happy to see us. After all, we are all she has left. I wonder what she's doing with her life now."

Grayson shrugged his shoulders, "Eh, from her looks she could be a model."

"Then why is it when I look up her name I can't find a single thing?" Chris raised an eyebrow.

"I.. I don't know. That's a good question. Did your sources find anything yet?"

"No, but I have someone coming in today to tell me something they've found on her."

"mm." Grayson nodded and at that moment someone knocked on Christopher's office door.

♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡ ♡

Ace was walking back and forth through her living room contemplating. She had taken down her bun and let her hair lay freely across her robe. Her bare feet paced across her white fur rug and she stared at her phone.

'Should I call him? No I shouldn't call him. What if he still has connections with his brother? Wait...what if they don't even talk anymore?' These thoughts ran through Ace's mind as she tried to decide if she should talk to him or not.

She stopped pacing and took a deep breath before sitting on her white leather couch. She then started biting her thumb nail, which was a habit that she had whenever she was thinking intensely about something. After some profound thinking she started typing.

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[ Today 11:12 ]

Unknown: I waited all night. U still haven't txted me!!! T^T

[ 2: 32 ]

me: Since when did you have a sister?

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Ace sighed and rested her head on the couch. One of her maids walked in with a tray of tea. Ace directed her with her hands, telling her to put it down on the table. As Ace started sipping her green tea she heard a bing from her phone and it made her jump, almost making her spill her tea.

She hesitated before turning on her phone and checking the message.

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unknown: Oh! You finally txted back! :D

unknown: and she's our dad's daughter. You know how he re-married? Yeah, well we just met her a few months ago.

me: Oh, that's nice. What are you doing here?

unknown: I can ask you the same. We're here because Chris is on a business trip. You know he's the CEO of Musada now?

me: Yes, I watch the news. I don't live under a rock, you know? Chris is there with you????

unknown: Yes, we both came together. And you might as well be living under a rock after you disappeared. We've been wondering where you went! You just left us! :(

unknown: Oh! Also Chris wants to know if you're busy 2night. He invited you for dinner! He really wants to catch up and so do I! :D

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Ace stopped and stared at the message. Dinner? He wanted to meet her for Dinner? Christopher was the last boyfriend that she ever had. When she left to become a different person she left him too, but she never said goodbye.

She never officially broke up with him. There has been one night stands with random men that she didn't care about, but she hasn't been in a relationship since him. She's never said I love you to anyone but Christopher. It took her forever to forget about him, but one day she finally decided to forget about it all and become the person that she was. The thing is, now they're here! In Raingate!

There was one big problem with Christopher and Grayson being there. They were the only ones who knew her real name, and she couldn't ever let anyone else find that out.

She was a different person now. Ace was organizing the the largest crime system in the states. It was a life completely different than her previous one and she was there for a reason. What if they asked what she did for a living?

''Well I guess I'm just going to have to lie...'' Ace mumbled to herself as she continued to nibble on her nail.

That's if she decided to show up. Ace sat up as she decided something. She was going to show up and tell them to never contact her again. She was going to tell them to stay away as far as possible. She doesn't need friends or a boyfriend. She needed to focus on handling her own matters. She hasn't had friends for years. There's only been friends under circumstances for business, so she was sure that she was going to be fine since she was used to being alone by now.

That was the plan. She was going to tell them that she was a very busy person and that she didn't need any distractions. This life was too dangerous to have people close to her and she wasn't going to let that happen. Being cold wasn't anything new to Ace. She'll end a man's life in a heartbeat, so it shouldn't be hard to end a friendship.

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me: I'm pretty busy, but I'll see what I can do. What time?

unknown: Yay! 9:30 tonight. I'll send you the directions.

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Ace groaned and covered her eyes with the back of her hand.

'This was going to be simple.' Ace tried to convince herself.

She was going to walk in, eat dinner, have a conversation, and then explain to them that she was too busy to have friends.

* * *

Eight thirty rolled around and Ace was soaking in bubbles in her huge bathtub. She lifted her fingers to her face and lightly touched it to check if her face mask was dry. Nope, still wet. She looked at her freshly painted nails and thought about nothing in particular. That night that she had first seen Grayson for the first time in years, she was scared and didn't know what to do, but tonight was different. She was going to treat them like associates she needed to cut off. It's been years since she's seen them, so technically they are strangers after all.

Once Ace got out of the bathtub she wrapped herself in a towel and went into her room. After going through all of her designer pieces, she decided to not go all out. She settled on a black long-sleeved dress that stopped at her thighs and black heels to match. She decided to leave her hair down and brushed through it before putting on a simple gold chain and watch. Her makeup was very light and simple.

She descended down the stairs and Scully scurried to walk beside her, "May I ask when you'll be returning home, madame?"

"Don't worry Scully. I won't be long." Ace spoke without expression and made her way out the door.

♢ ♢ ♢ ♢ ♢

Christopher straightened his tie for the fifth time in the past twenty minutes. Grayson noticed his brother's fidgeting and laughed to himself. He really was a wreck.

Currently the two brothers were sitting in a five star restaurant (that Christopher owned) waiting for Ace to show up. It was the finest restaurant in the city and was known for their amazing steak. Christopher invested in it five years ago and is the reason why anyone even knew it's name. The waiters and even the people eating there knew this well and they couldn't help but to stare and whisper.

Christopher wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead as he leaned over to his brother across the table, "What do they call her again?"

Grayson shrugged and sipped his water, "Ace or something. They call her Ace."

Christopher laughed nervously, "Ace? What kind of nickname is that? It's far from her real name. I think her actual name is beautiful. I wonder why they call her Ace." Christopher gave up on making his tie look nice and decided to loosen it since he felt like he couldn't breath.

"First off, calm down, Chris. You're acting like you're about to meet the president. Secondly, I think I know why. You know that she loves cards. You remember blackjack nights?" he smiled as he spoke.

Grayson continued talking about blackjack, but Chris wasn't listening. He was too focused on what he was going to say when Ace came into the restaurant.

"Is it hot in here? I think it's hot in here." Chris tried to air out his shirt as he took deep breaths.

A waiter walked up to the table and tried to keep calm in the presence of the great Christopher Greens who seemed to be having a mental breakdown. She spoke to Grayson without taking her eyes off of Chris, "Are you guys ready to order?" Grayson smiled and shook his head. The waiter then walked away back to her co-workers and boasted about how she was Christopher Greens' waiter.

Grayson sighed. His brother was hopeless. He was a rich, successful, and extremely handsome man, yet he was having a panic attack over a simple girl. Does he not remember who he is? He was acting like he was sixteen all over again!

"No game at all bro. No game." Grayson mumbled to himself and shook his head in disappointment.

"Did you say something Gray?" Christopher asked as he continued hyperventilating before he finished his entire glass of water and then signaled for the waiter to poor him some more.

Grayson was about to say no, but he saw someone walk through the entrance. He smirked and was excited to see how this was going to go. Chris followed his brother's gaze and turned around. His mouth dropped when he saw the stranger that had walked through the door.