Chapter 5

The car door swung open and Alex slid inside, tension already tightening his shoulders.

“Everyone needs to calm down. I’m fine,” he said sharply. “Tan, drive.”

The car pulled away from the curb in a hard swerve. Alex tapped his ear connector. “Talk. What happened?”

Tan’s voice crackled through the line. “The message we sent was intercepted. Our dealers must have received the wrong instructions. The warehouse was reported on fire a few minutes ago, but it should be contained by now, Sir.”

Alex’s jaw locked. Of all things—fire. One of his key buildings burning, and the very element that haunted him since childhood. The memory alone scraped at the edges of his mind.

Fog pooled inside the car, his vision blurring as panic pressed against his chest. He clenched his fists, forcing the breath back into his lungs. “Should be contained?” His voice sharpened. “Are you guessing, or have you already handled it?”

Tan hesitated. Even from the front seat, Alex could feel his fear. “The boys are on it, Sir. Damage control is underway.”

Alex leaned forward. “Any traces? Evidence? Anything?”

Silence stretched. Tan’s throat bobbed as he swallowed, gripping the wheel tighter.

“Sir…” he began, voice unsteady. “There’s… something you need to know.”

“We found someone’s footprint there. We’ve not been able to identify it. The footage captured a person’s movements into the warehouse.”

“So it was not an accident….” He trailed off as the car sped off.

-----

Zara picked up her phone that had rung the umpteenth time. “Zara, are you ignoring my calls deliberately?”

“No..not the way you think.”

“Not the way I think? I have access to the internet here, remember? Get me a first-class ticket back to Texas. I need to speak with my dad.”

“Alicia, your dad has ordered that you can’t come home until the uproar has died down.”

“Uproar? About what? Zara, get me the ticket or I’ll find a way to do so and you should consider this friendship gone.”

“Alicia…..”

“I’m serious.”

She cut the conversation. She knew something was amiss. The sudden appearance of her father’s bodyguards here was uncalled for.

She went to her boxes and began to pack. She wouldn’t sit here when she was sure something had been aimed at Alex for no reason.

What could even be happening? She took out her laptop and searched for Alex’s name.

“What?” Her eyes widened and her hands began to shake.

A knock at the door. She rushed towards it. “Ma, I’m here to take you to Texas. Are you ready?”

“Who are you?”

“Sir Adrian sent me.”

Alicia looked out at the beaming sun flicking out its light towards where she sat. Why was she feeling uneasy about this whole thing? She remembered being this way when she was in love with Renad.

Could it be….?

“Madam…”

She looked in the direction the voice came from. “Yes?”

“Sir Adrian is on the phone. He wants to speak to you.”

“Alicia, I’m sorry to get you on the plane suddenly but I think you’re the best person to talk to Alex at this time. I believe you can help him out. Alex gets very unsettled when things like this happen. He had to deal with a fire incident when he was little and I know the toll this would have on him again. So can you find him and talk to him?”

“Wait, why are you telling me all this? You could tell his father, his….”

“Alex has no one. And I mean it.”

Silence went for seconds and Alicia finally breathed.

“I can’t promise that but I’ll try to find him. Where can he be away from home?”

“There’s a place we go to. I’m sure he’d be there.”

“I’m not doing this because I want to.”

“Yes. Thank you.”

-----

 Alex moved carefully through the dim hallway of his house, each creak of the floorboards sending a thin shiver down his spine. He wasn’t afraid of the dark—he was afraid of what it reminded him of. Fire had a way of leaving its heat inside a person long after the flames died. Even now, years later, the memory still lived in him like a second heartbeat.

As he straightened a fallen lamp, his fingers trembled. It always happened when he remembered. One spark in his mind and suddenly he was ten years old again, standing barefoot on the cold pavement outside his childhood home, watching orange light devour everything familiar. He remembered the roar, the cracking wood, the way the smoke blurred the world until it felt like breathing fear itself. His father’s arms had wrapped around him, but even they couldn’t keep the heat from sinking in.

Alex exhaled and tried to steady the picture frame on the shelf, but his grip tightened, and it slipped, shattering on the floor. Another mess. Another reminder. He crouched, gathering the broken pieces, telling himself it was just glass. Just a memory. But the truth lingered: the fire had never stopped burning—only moved inside him.

The jet landed softly. A car pulled up and she entered.

Loud blaring music. Loud chatterings. Alicia finally entered where Alex was. 

And truly, there he was, staring deeply at the space. Shattered glasses filled the floor and her eyes went to his hands. Bleeding.

She rushed to him. “Alex! What the hell are you doing to yourself?!”

“Who told you I was here? Adrian? Alicia, get out. Get out of this minute.”

Alicia looked at him. His shirt was soiled with the wine he held, his hands dripping blood hard and his lips curled into a deep weird smirk. What was she even doing here anyway?

“I’ll get out but that’s after you’re normal. I can’t stand seeing you this way and until then, we’ll be here together. Trust me!” She glared back.

“Alicia, you don’t know anything! You don’t..know… anything.” He gulped up the wine he held again.

“I’m not interested either. I just need you to be fine and you will.”

Before he could blink, Alicia pushed him to the chair and pinned him with her body.

“No . Alicia.”

“Look at me, Alex.”

He did not look at her. She grabbed his face and forcefully made him look at her.

“Look at me!”

He finally did. The pain in his eyes broke her.

“I love you,” she said.

Alex’s eyes widened in shock.

“What did you just say?”

But before he could say more she shut him up with a kiss.

Her lips brushed his with deliberate intent, soft yet commanding. Her lips were soft and sweet, a bit dominant. He was shocked at first but then he sat up, deepening the kiss as she held her face and pushed his tongue into her mouth.

The kiss ignited instantly

It was hot. It was passionate. It was consuming. His unstable emotions surged as he responded to the kiss with intense hunger. His mouth claimed hers, devouring it with an unyielding intensity that left no room for anything else in his mind.

He didn’t care about anything at the moment. Not the warehouse. Not the trauma.

His huge arms went to her waist, gripping it as she kissed her.

His mouth moved to her neck, sucking it, squeezing her body to his as her breasts pressed against his chest.

His other hand moved to her hair, as he trailed his lips up and down her neck, kissing and nipping with desperate fervor, tasting her like he couldn’t get enough.

She gasped against him and then suddenly pushed him back firmly, her eyes locking on his, wild, horny, wanting.

Without a word, she gripped the hem of her shirt and pulled it off, letting it fall to the ground. Alex looked on in surprise.

She had only a bra on, which held her big breasts that jiggled as she panted.

He could not take his eyes off them.

She smirked, taking his hand and putting it on one breast.

“Take me,” she whispered.

He threw his hand to her back, and immediately unhooked her bra, her breasts bouncing and falling free.

He kissed her again, fondling her boobs. She moaned. He lifted her and pushed her onto his bed.