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Thread: The Myth (NC-17) Updated 7th November 2015

  1. #81
    NS Senior Member Senior Member malugargula's Avatar
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    Re: The Myth (NC-17) Posted 29th October 2013

    OMG
    I can only imagine how much that delicious man can do in an hour lol
    Really great, can't wait for the next one
    I'm just confused about one thing: did she really go to Lex's room or she was daydreaming while touching the bite on her neck?
    Malu

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    Re: The Myth (NC-17) Updated 30th October 2014

    Anticipating whether Lex really wants "peace" & just can't help his attraction later or if he's setting her up from the start. & for what purpose? To show Lionel he was right; he usually thrives on combat (we know it won't remain innocent regardless, of course - which I can't wait for by the way!). I can't help but assume at this point Lex has all the wrong motives...Oh how interesting that backfire will be when she captivates & controls his very consciousness. hee hee hee. Can't wait for next ch, Nice job!!

  3. #83
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    Re: The Myth (NC-17) Updated 30th October 2014

    Zulucnjy: Thank-you, your enthusiasm is contagious. Will work on this as soon as possible. Next few days hopefully.

    Malugargula: Me too but that isn't going to happen. Gotta wait a while longer for Chlex smut. I know, I'm sad too! She was daydreaming. Thanks for reviewing as always.

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    Re: The Myth (NC-17) Updated 30th October 2014

    can't wait to see what happens next

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    Re: The Myth (NC-17) Updated 30th October 2014

    A/N: Thank-you for everyone who is sticking with this.

    Chapter Eight

    Lex led Chloe back up to the house and held the door open for her. She was too eager to get back into the warmth to consider his motivation at that moment or if he was going to try to slam the door into her back as she entered. Her brain, like her fingers, was frozen.

    He didn’t launch an attack on her turned back, he merely followed her into the house and informed her that there was a fire in the dining room. Chloe eagerly sought it out, entering the dining room and huddling next to it. Lex followed her, never more that one step behind her.

    Chloe tried to ignore his presence as she held out her frozen appendages to the heat, her fingers so close that the flames almost licked her flesh. It should have been painful but she was too cold to notice. She knew that Lex was watching her, she could feel his eyes boring into her but she refused to give him the satisfaction of knowing that he was getting to her. She would just stand there until the feeling returned to her skin, leaving him to do as he wished.

    As she decided on this course of action, her shivering hands moved forwards a quarter of an inch and Lex’s arm moved out towards her. In spite of her decision to simply ignore him, her survival instinct was too strong. She darted to the side, out of his reach and away from the fire.

    “What are you doing?” They demanded of each other at the same time, his eyes filled with confusion, hers with fear and fury.

    “Oh no. You’ve got to be fucking kidding me”, he exploded as he realised what she must have thought. There was the sound of his hands slapping against the sides of his thighs as he flung his arms back to his side. “I wasn’t going to push up into the fire. For God’s sake, I saw you about to put your hand into the fire, I had a natural human impulse to stop that happening. That’s all it fucking was!”

    “Oh”, she didn’t look wholly convinced.

    “What the hell do you think me?” He roared.

    “I don’t know you”, she responded without even flinching. Oddly his overt anger and volume scared her less that Lionel’s honeyed tones.

    He took a deep breath, obviously doing his best to keep his anger (or at least his tone) in check. “And”, he asked, his now quieter voice drenched with sarcasm, “do you always think that people you don’t know are going to throw you into a fireplace?”

    “Sometimes”, she said without emotion.

    His eyebrows lifted, apparently having no idea what to make of that.

    “It depends on what books I’ve been reading”, she tried to make it into a joke but didn’t know if he got it.

    “Try something happier”, it should have been a suggestion but it came out like an order. Even if a mild one. He got that from Lionel.

    Chloe did not deign to answer that, she just returned her attention to the fire although this time she didn’t get quite so close. Lex followed suite. They both stared into the slowly flickering flames.

    The only sounds were the sizzling of the fire and the ticking of the clock on the mantel piece; neither of the room’s inhabitants were willing to even acknowledge the other’s presence in spite of the fact that their thoughts were all consumed with each other.

    Finally there was a sigh, “You don’t have to be afraid of me Chloe”.

    “I’m not”, her tone was clipped and not entirely believable. She had a long way to go before she became a fully fledged Luthor.

    “That was convincing. The lack of eye contact really lends that touch of authenticity”, he remarked dryly.

    She didn’t know how to respond to that, denying it again seemed pretty pointless. “Believe what you like”.

    He seemed to want to say something, but refrained, looking slightly strained. After a few more minutes had elapsed, he seemed not to be able to contain himself. “I don’t hurt women”, voice was tight. “Ever”.

    Chloe did not respond to this but she was finally warming up - physically at any rate -, her cheeks were slowly turning pink from the heat.

    “Shall I give you the grand tour?” Lex inquired, his eyes slanting to the side.

    “Your father has already done so”, she reminded him.

    “Ah yes”, he smirked, “but he would have given you the official tour.”

    “There is an official tour” She baulked at the idea. Her father had taken her to visit several grand houses in her youth on open days. She hoped that people weren’t actually going to come traipsing around the house after paying a few dollars.

    “There are aspects of our family’s history that we like to highlight”, he extended his hand to the crest which was etched into the mahogany mantle piece, “and others”, he left her dangling as he sneaked around behind her and back around to the wall. He reached out to brush his thumb over a tiny scratch on one of the walls wood panels, “that we like to keep to ourselves”.

    Chloe span around to follow him gasping as she saw the wall somehow folding in on itself. “That is so cool”, the words slipped from her lips before she could stop them and her feet carried her over to the dark gaping hole. She peered inside eagerly. She had spent half of her life as a child devouring books, many set in castles and boarding schools. The idea of a secret passageway thrilled her as much as it terrified her.

    She could feel her son-in-law, the man who must hate her, right behind her, his hand about to place itself on her lower back and she darted back and out of the way. She didn’t know where it lead, it could have gone down to a dungeon, to a sheer drop which would send her plummeting to her death, to a ...

    “Come on Chloe, do you really think that I’m going to shackle to a wall in the dungeon?” Lex sneered, “You’ve been reading too many Gothic novels à la Catherine Morton”.

    “You read Jane Austen?” She stared at him. She had taken him for a Ayn Rand reader.

    “Does that shock you?”

    “Yes”, she stated simply.

    “Well then maybe you shouldn’t be so quick to judge”, he smiled suavely.

    She didn’t bother to answer him.

    He smiled smugly. He reclined on the wall, next to the opening, crossing his ankles and his arms in a relaxed manner. As if she and her opinions were not of the slightest interest to him, which they probably weren’t.

    “So, are you going to give me a chance and brave the tunnel of doom”, he raised an eyebrow, “or are you going to live your entire life convinced that everyone is out to get you. Convinced that ....”

    “And you are convinced that you can manipulate me into doing anything? Are you going to call me chicken if I don’t? Do you really think that you can manipulated so easily?” She challenged.

    He stared at her, hard. It made her uncomfortable. “Actually yes, I do”.

    She raised her chin.

    He smirked.

    He pushed himself off the wall using only the power from his legs and strode towards her languidly. His arms falling to his sides before raising one slowly towards her face.

    Chloe’s head jerked back, he was ready for the reaction and his hand snaked around her, tangling into her hair at the nape of her neck and bringing it forward. Fear flashed in her eyes.

    “I already told you Chloe, I’m not going to hurt you. And yes, I do think that you can be manipulated, very easily”.

    Her face tightened.

    His smirk broadened. “If it will convince you that I’m sincere I’ll even tell you why”.

    “Fine”, she crossed her arms over her chest.

    “That is why”, he used his free hand to tug her arms back to her sides. “Someone who is not afraid is not so defensive”.

    She bristled, but couldn’t deny the truth behind his words.

    “Besides”, he smiled disarmingly, “denying anything three times is a dead give away. As is moving your chin up and that flare in your eyes ...” He pulled her head so close to him so that their lips were almost touching.

    As much as she detested him, as much as she feared him, she forced herself to relax slightly into his embrace. Just to prove that she wasn’t scared.

    “Good girl”, He whispered. “So, what is your decision?”

    “That your methods of manipulation are far more sophisticated than I had previously thought”, she didn’t exactly draw back from him, but she did get out of his grasp, pushing past him.

    “And?” He turned to see her heading for the passageway.

    “If someone isn’t going to fall and break their necks, then we are going to need a torch”.

    “I stored a collection of them just on the inside of all of the tunnels”, he stated simply.

    She reached around the corner and searched until she found one and flicked it on. The pale strands of light stretched out before her, but were no match for the all enveloping darkness. She breathed in deeply, inhaling the old musty scent as she crept inside the passageway slowly. The floor board creaked under her foot. It was just like in a book. She loved it.She could have played in there all day long as a child. A ball formed in her throat. There was no one there with her to play with her. The days of fun were gone.

    “Hey”, Lex whispered softly, not wanting to make her jump, she looked to be about a thousand miles away. “It’s not that scary, I promise”. He moved her back a step and then moved ahead and took her hand.

    It was narrow and a little difficult to manoeuvre inside the first few times. With the help of his hand and the torch they made their way up to the second floor, and came out behind a large family portrait.

    “See, wasn’t that more fun than the normal way?”

    “Scaling the outside wall?” She replied deadpan.

    He gave her a shocked look.

    “I was joking”, she explained.

    “Yes, of course”, he nodded.

    “Ninjas don’t normally go around telling people that they are ninjas”, Chloe elaborated.

    “Good point”.

    She turned around taking in her surroundings. “So this is the portrait gallery?”

    “It is”, he agreed, watching her form as moved along the corridor, inspecting each of the portraits. Apparently she really did have a genuine love of art.

    “An entire history of the Luthor clan”, she whispered, then adding louder, “Trying to make me feel out of place?” Her portrait was not up there among all of the other beautiful ones.

    “Not a all”, he smiled. “The portraits, came with the house”.

    She stared at him, in confusion. They couldn’t possible have.

    “Dad’s father was a dime a dozen crook who vaguely recalled some stories of Scottish heritage from his grandfather. He got caught and thrown into jail and Dad stole what money he had left over and set up his own company. Luthor Corp was a great success, very quickly and Lionel wanted to create a noble past for our family. He brought this house along with all of the furniture and portraits. He then had them altered to display a family likeness which could never really have. He was ashamed of the idea of being new money”.

    “Why is he ashamed of that? I am impressed, a man carves his own destiny, he doesn’t inherent it”, she said, her eyes fixing on the beginning of the portraits. That scot had a fine pair of knees.

    “Is that a dig at me?” Lex inquired mildly.

    “You’re too sensitive Lex”, she travelled back along the hallway, her eyes travelling from picture to picture until finally she reached her husband. “Lionel is gorgeous here. Does it actually look like he did in his youth”.

    The portrait was almost life sized and had his piercing blue eyes but she had never seen a picture of him as a young man. She wondered whether he had looked the same or more closely resembled Lex.

    “Pretty much”, Lex decided after coming to her side and studying the image for a minute, “although obviously I don’t think that he was attractive”.

    “That’s a relief for both of us”, Chloe said, staring at Lionel for another few seconds before moving on to the final one. “Is this you?”

    “What gave it away?”

    “The dozy look. Plus, it was the last one”, she explained her logic.

    He smiled at her but then scowled at the image, “Yes, it’s me”.

    The picture was of a tiny pale boy, with flaming red curls, sat up up primly. It was painted in the same style as the pictures hidden away in the room. Was she a long forgotten relative or something?

    There was a space between the two pictures of father and son. Someone was missing.

    “A space for the newest member of the Luthor family”, Lex commented in an odd tone, noting the direction of his gaze.

    “I’m not the sort to sit for hours and have my portrait painted”, she said dismissively.

    “That will probably change”, Lex said, meaning ‘that will definitely change’. Any wife of Lionel Luthor was going to spend long bored hours doing tedious things for his image.

    She stared at him.

    “Balls, gowns, living in this house ...” He opted for only telling her the less oppressive things but watched as she paled. “I didn’t mean to make it sound like a prison”.

    “Sure you didn’t”, she continued on down the hall.

    “Where are we going?” He wondered, following her and catching up in only a few seconds.

    “Away”, she stated simply, not bothering to turn to look at him.

    He stepped in front of her, halting her progress. “I’ll make it up to you”. She blinked at him and he explained, “the first part of the tour failed so, I’ll show you something really cool. You’ll probably need a coat”.

    She rolled her eyes. “Fine”. This was ridiculous, she didn’t like him, she didn’t want to be around him and she certainly didn’t trust him but the thought of retreating to the room she shared with Lionel and just sitting there thinking and waiting made her anxious just thinking about it. Besides, forging a second alliance might not be a bad thing.

    Chloe made her way back to her bedroom, finally able to remember the way and moved to her wardrobe. As much as she tried to maintain an air of aloof detachment, feeling that she should be used to a life of privilege after several days to accustom herself but she was still awed by the number of items. She reached her hand out and traced her fingers over the soft material.

    “Find anything?” Lex walked in through the open door after her and noted the expression on her face before she had the chance to hide it.“Not used to having so many things?”

    “I just don’t know where everything is quite yet”, she said, taking out one of the coats and putting it on before heading back for the door, giving him a clear visual clue that the conversation was over and that he was not welcome in her room.

    Apparently the Luthor scion was impervious to clues and her disapproval; he continued to wander around the room taking everything in. She was sure that he was doing it just to annoy her.

    “Is something wrong?” She asked, curtly.

    “Of course not”, he turned to her with a half smile.

    “This had better be ‘cool’”, she walked towards the door, keeping her eyes closely fixed on her son-in-law.

    “It will be”, he assured her, somehow beating her to the door in spite of the languor with which his steps were taken. He held the panel of wood open for her and followed her out, his eyes trailing over her as she moved away.

    ~*~

    The wind ripped into her like a thousand knives as she stepped outside. She was going to have an earache after this.

    “This had better be worth it”, she groused as the wind almost knocked her back.

    “It will be”, Lex placed his hand on her lower back and pushed her forwards. They moved towards a thicket at the back of the formal garden.

    “Going into the woods, in this weather with someone who hates me. Yeah, this is safe”, Chloe muttered through chattering teeth.

    “If you don’t want to see the Luthor secret then ...”

    She snapped her jaw shut with such force it was a miracle that her teeth didn’t shatter. They went into the woods, down a winding pathway flanked by trees, until they reached a huge pile of ancient looking rocks.

    “What is it?”

    “What does it look like?”

    It looked like a best play ground for a kid ever. You could clamber all over it. You could hide in the little bit below and pretend it was a cave. It could be a witches coven. A dragon could be lurking inside. Ruins of an ancient civilization, full of magic. It could be so many things. She could have played with every day of her young life and never got bored. Her excitement was almost brimming over, but she just answered sullenly, “It looks like a brick wall. What is it really?”

    “I haven’t the faintest idea”, Lex chuckled.

    She stared at him incredulously. “You dragged me out here, and you don’t know what it is? How can this be the Luthor family secret or something cool?”

    “It’s a great secret and really cool”, he grinned as a howl of wind crashed into him. “No one knows it”.

    She smiled at him. She couldn't help it. “Was it brought over with the rest of the estate?”

    “Of course”.

    “Are there any other rock clusters like this one?” She studied thoughtfully.

    “No”.

    “Where there any others? I mean, Scotland has loads of rocks, right?”

    “Right”.

    “I’ve got to get a closer look”, she said even as she was already dashing over to it.

    She was a geek. She peppered him with questions about the time, the era, the layout. This was so exciting, for a few hours she stopped thinking about everything else around her and once she relaxed Lex became interesting and enthusiastic.

    ~*~

    “Good evening my darling”.

    “Hello Lionel”, Chloe lay down on the bed, on her stomach, her feet touching each other. She had returned to her room an hour ago, finding it no less large or unnerving without her husband there with her. She found herself having to remind herself continuously why she was there.

    “Darling?”

    “What? Sorry, pardon”.

    A low chuckle came from the other end of the phone line. “Distracted?”

    “A little”, she admitted, rolling over onto her back.

    “What have you been up to?”

    She knew better than to lie to him; there was probably at least one person watching her every move and reporting back to him. “Lex and I went on a little exploration of the house”.

    “Oh”, he sounded mildly interested. She took that as a sign that she was supposed to continue talking.

    “And the grounds, you know there is this huge lump of stone in the forest” she couldn't describe it as a back garden. It was far too large to possibly be considered as a garden. If she lifted her head only a few inches she could see the edges of it from her bed, it look distinctly spooky in the looming darkness. She hadn’t used to be such a wimp. Really, she hadn’t.

    “Yes, I know”, Lionel once again dragged her attention back to him. She could tell that he was laughing at her.

    “What is it?”

    “What is it?” He repeated the question, “My dear, it is what it appears, a large lump of rock”.

    “But there must be more to it that that”, she sat up on her knees. “An ancient burial plot? An alter a...”

    “Lex’s fascination with the structure is rubbing off I see”.

    “You don’t think that it is interesting?”

    “Not especially no. Why, do you think that I am keeping something underneath there?” He teased her gently.

    “Of course not”. He wouldn’t hide anything there. He was too smart for that. He would either in plain sight or underground in a foreign country. Unless he was triple bluffing. She could never be sure with Lionel.

    “My angel. Is there something you want to tell me?”

    “No”.

    He emitted a soft chuckle, “Allow me to rephrase that, is there something that you should tell me? Have you been behaving yourself?”

    “Of course”, she changed the subject, “what about you?”

    “Me?”

    “Alone, in the city, no post wedding bachelor parties?”

    “No, just thinking of you”.

    She should have smiled, should have swooned but she did neither. Instead she lay back and stretched her legs as she continued the conversation until it came time to hang up but after their goodbyes, before she could quite let go, she had to ask, “Why?”

    She didn’t stipulate that she was referring to the block of rock, but he took it as a reference to the earlier part of their conversation anyway, replying simply, “Because I can”.

    “Oh.”

    A/N: So, what did you think?

  6. #86
    NS Senior Member Senior Member malugargula's Avatar
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    Re: The Myth (NC-17) Updated 30th October 2014

    Really good
    I loved their little expedition lol
    Can't wait for their next 'adventure'
    Malu

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    Re: The Myth (NC-17) Updated 30th October 2014

    A/N: Thanks Malu.

    Chapter Nine

    “Honey, I’m home”, Lionel’s voice rang through the castle.

    “What a terrible sentiment”, Lex responded in a calm dry tone as he strode into the hallway to see his father’s absurdly pretentious entrance. “Besides haven’t you always told me that it is crude to raise your voice indoors?”

    “Indeed son, it is common when it is yours. When it is mine, however, it is ... musical”, he said with a theatrical air as he strode into hallway.

    “Musical?” Lex looked unimpressed.

    “Yes Lex my boy, musical”, Lionel stretched. It was good to be home some days. “Mia cara, mio sole, mia deliziosa sposa, dov’e’ sei? Amore, amore, amore”, he belted out, in full operatic chorus.

    While he had never taken singing lessons he had a tolerable voice, yet his son did not appear to appreciate his efforts, merely asking, “What opera is that from?”

    “Honestly son, your knowledge is terrible”, Lionel lamented, “all of those years of expensive education and you don’t even know the basis of music”.

    “I don’t recognise it”, the younger man admitted, stonily.

    “That is because I invented it myself. Mia cara, mio sole”, he began again but still Chloe did not appear. “Where the hell is that woman?” He snapped, the first cracks in his good mood beginning to appear.

    “Careful Dad, you don’t want to let her know what you are really like”, Lex reclined against the wall, crossing one ankle over the other.

    Lionel shot his son a look before shouting for a maid and sending her to fetch his wife.

    “You know Dad”, Lex said, seeming to enjoy getting under his father’s skin, “You could have gone to her”.

    “But a conquering hero must be greeted properly”, Lionel insisted.

    “In the foyer?”

    “Yes, son, in the foyer”, Lionel couldn’t understand why that concept was so difficult for his errant offspring to grasp, but then again his first born always had been a disappointment. He hoped that Chloe would not prove to be as undependable as Lex was, she was supposed to be his second chance.

    Everyone seemed to be letting him down that day, he had had to deal with idiots in his business meeting, the one bright spot of the horizon was returning to his beautiful wife who was still no where to be found because apparently the maids he employed were incapable of walking and finding one person and his useless progeny seemed intent on hanging around bugging him.

    The irritated which had etched itself into Lionel’s features over the few minutes suddenly smoothed away causing his son to scowl. His father wanted to smirk but kept his mouth neutral as he said, “My darling wife tells me that you showed her that bloody pile of rocks”.

    Lex raised an eyebrow.

    “I embellished the language, of course”, he wandered over to the large mirror affixed to the side of the staircase, where he could see his own reflection and his son’s. “I never understood what your obsession with that rock was”. The father and son were not so different really. They were both tall and lean with the patrician Luthor nose and hard, determined green/blue eyes.

    Lex’s head pulled to one side for a second, “I never understood why you didn’t want me to explore it”.

    “It is a waste of time”, Lionel clasped his hands behind his back, “so you decided to get under my skin by getting my wife on board?”

    “I didn’t know that I could get under your skin”, Lex gave a tiny, almost imperceptible smirk.

    “That’s all you ever do, isn’t it son?” He turned around to face him.

    “Apparently”, the notice of being a thorn in his father’s side did not apparently bother the Luthor scion much.

    “So”, Lionel moved closer to his son, almost an inch taller than him now that he was reclining, “what is your sudden interest in my wife?”

    “What’s the matter Dad?” Lex asked as he stood up straight with a surprisingly casual air seeing as he was now staring him down. He smiled placidly, “Are you worried that the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree? That I’m plotting revenge for all of the times you seduced my girlfriends?”

    “Worried? About you?” Lionel sniffed, “Hardly!”

    “Lionel”, Chloe’s voice was heard from the top of the staircase.

    “Cara mia”, Lionel called out, his ill mood quickly dispersing but not his desire to rub his son’s nose it what he now had.

    “Che cosa vuole mio principe?” Chloe responded, smiling prettily as she floated down the stairs.

    “She speaks Italian?” Lex queried.

    “She speaks Italian”, Chloe took a step with each word until she reached the final step and reached out her arms as Lionel came to stand before her.

    “Bellissima”, he took her hands in his and kissed each of them, before placing them on his shoulders. “You are the most gorgeous creature I have ever seen”, he declared as he lifted her uo and whirled her around, almost knocking Lex over before placing her on the floor and placing a hard kiss on her mouth. He reached down to grab her ass for good measure.

    “Subtle Dad”, Lex commented.

    “Lionel”, Chloe protested at the display.

    “What?” The lusty husband nuzzled her ear, “You do look absolutely ravishing and it is cruel to part a man from his bride for so long. In fact”, he pulled her up into his arms, “I think that we need to make up for lost time”.

    Chloe blushed deeply and Lex seemed to be suffering from in digestion.

    ~*~

    “Lionel”, Chloe gasped in protest, as they reached the landing. “You can’t just drag me off to your lair”.

    “Quite clearly my dear, I can”, he smiled down at her. “And I’m taking you to our bedchamber my love, not my lair”.

    “Potato potato”, she shrugged but kept her hand snaked around the back of his neck and reached out for the doorknob to let them in.

    “Minx”, was his only response to her alternate pronunciation of tubular vegetables as he kicked the door behind them.

    “How long have you spent working out?” Chloe asked.

    “A few months”, he answered easily. He had always kept himself in good shape but had greatly increased the duration his daily workouts wanting to be ready for her and being aware of the difference in their ages. “Why? Are you implying that I’m a decrepit old man who shouldn’t be able to carry my slender waif of a wife around?”

    “Yes”, she replied with a cheeky grin, “that is exactly what I am implying”.

    He responded with an all too knowing, wolfish smile as he laid her down on the bed and shirked off his jacket.

    Chloe reclined on her elbows allowing her eyes to devour him, an impish expression playing around her lips.

    “Well then I guess that I will just have to prove myself”, he crawled onto the bed and grabbed her ankle. He raised it to his mouth and kissed her insole before using it to drag her to him.

    She gasped as her body slid along the cool silk until she was splayed out before him, her slender ankle still held captive. She opened her mouth, perhaps to protest at such treatment, but only a whimper escaped her as he began to tend to her again. With the air of a devotee at worship Lionel kissed his way up her thigh, whispering endearments as he went.

    “So”, his teeth nipped at her inner thigh, “what have you been up to?”

    “Oh”, it was clearly an exclamation of surprise, rather than the beginning of a sentence but she attempted to dissemble. “Nothing much, just what I told you about yesterday the ... Umm”. He nuzzled her soft intimate flesh through the lace of her panties and her eloquence suffered the consequence, “Stone thingie”.

    “Ah yes, the stone thingie”, he grinned smugly, allowing his stubble to scratch her leg on his way to her other foot.

    Chloe shivered and mewed.

    “So”, he ran a finger along her insole, making her twitch with suppressed laughter.

    It was no coincidence. Lionel always did his research. He knew how ticklish she had always been and how desperately she had always fought to hide the fact. His fingers continued their torturous caress as he prodded, “I take it that you spent a lot of time with my son yesterday?”

    “Yes”, she replied even as she appeared more concerned about the fate of her foot.

    “Why?” His chin scraped against her instep.

    “Lionel”, she complained and he grinned wickedly. Although the gesture had provided relief from the faint tickling sensation, it would have heightened everything else. It would not be long before she was too lost of lust to think of anything else.

    “Tell me”, he said succinctly, offering her no incentive to do so but expecting her to all the same.

    She lifted herself up onto her arms once more as if she only wanted to get a better view of his face as they spoke but attempted to regain her foot as she asked, “Why is it a problem for you?”

    He smirked and allowed her to slip through his loose grip, the pads of his fingers tickling her soft sensitive flesh until she had just escaped and his hand shot out to hold her ankle firmly. “Chloe”, he began to kiss his way back up to her core, allowed the stubble to scratch her, his teeth to nip her, and his tongue to sooth her.

    “What?” She demanded, shifting her hips slightly as she did so.

    “I don’t like things being kept from me”, he warned her, his head raising so that his eyes locked with hers. “And have no problems dealing with errant females. As I think you know”. Not that he had got the chance to adequately demonstrate his ability before marriage.

    “How am I hiding anything from you? I told you”, she protested showing no sign of fear or having even registered his threat.

    “But you aren’t answering all my questions now, are you?” He replied with a smug, knowing smile.

    “You’re not answering mine either”, she countered, tugging on the foot which he still held in spite of his altered position.

    He placed her leg on the bed and crawled up her, his ever vigilant gaze never leaving her face. So this was how it was going to be? The naughty little madam. He should have punished her right from the start but she always got around him.

    “Do you not want us to get along?” Her question snapped him out of this thoughts.

    “Of course I want you to get along”, he replied mildly.

    “Really?” She narrowed her eyes at him, “Because I think that you want us to fight for your love and attention”.

    “That is preposterous”, he declared with a mixture of disbelief, annoyance and admiration.

    “Is it?” She placed her hands on either side of his grizzled face and pulled it up the inch needed for them to be perfectly in line. Eyes to eyes, nose to nose, lips to lips. She wasn’t strong enough to compel him to move so it was mostly a symbolic gesture on her part, but it was key. “Or are you hiding something?”

    “Darling”, he shot her a wounded look, which was of course completely feigned, “I’m hurt”.

    “No, you’re not”, she answered unimpressed.

    “Brat”, he grabbed her thigh, pulling her against him. He groaned at the feel of her.

    “Maybe”, she raised her hips against his, that coy smile which always drove him crazy firmly in place. “Why don’t you tell me what this is really all about?”

    If he weren’t more careful this woman was going to drive him insane. He knew that she was playing him, she was hardly trying to be subtle about it and yet he allowed to her get away with it. One way or the other he would have to bring her to heel.

    “Darling”, he purred softly, “All I want is to protect you”. He pressed a kiss against her temple. “To give you the world”, he pressed his lips against the soft flesh just below her ear.

    “The entire world?” She asked in a breathless voice.

    “The entire world”, he confirmed, as he nuzzled her ear. This might prove easier than he had thought.

    “What, on a key chain?” Her tone returned to its normal flippant one.

    Or maybe not. “You think that my devotion is something to be sneered at do you?” He demanded as he grasped her by the hips but pulled back enough to stare down at her.

    “Maybe”, she stared right back up at him looking deliciously impertinent and unrepentant.

    “Maybe”, he repeated the word as he raised her hips, grinding her against his burgeoning erection.

    She licked her lips slowly, making him focus on that part of her anatomy and what she was about to say. Clearly thinking that she could win back control, manipulate him as easily as she probably had Lex but she was in for a surprise. Lionel had had enough of playing the pussy whipped husband, it was time for him to take control and remind her of just who it was that she had married. He flipped her over.

    “Oh”.

    He grinned at her, leaning down to brush her hair away from her neck and kiss it. Then he nibbled her ear for good measure.

    “Mmmm”, the noise appeared to have been torn from Chloe in spite of herself as she didn’t look particularly relaxed. In fact, she was attempting to turn herself back around.

    Lionel straddled her and ran his hands up over her back to tangle his fingers with hers as his teeth tugged gently on her earlobe.

    “Lionel”, she complained in a moan and he felt the warm weight of satisfaction low in his belly. He might not be able to control that smart aleck mouth of hers, but he could control her body. He could make her moan. Make her melt. Make her drip.

    “Don’t pretend you don’t like it”, he growled.

    “Who says that I like it?” She asked even as her back arched.

    He chuckled and allowed his blunt nails to slowly, gently drag over her hand, down her arm and across her back until they reached the curve of her ass. He moved to the side and his skilled fingers slipped below the skirt which was now so high that it barely covered anything and inside her panties.

    “The evidence would seem to suggest that you do”, he teased her with word and deed for a second before removing his now slick digit and slipped it into his mouth.

    He was well aware that her head was resting on one side and that eyes were fixed on him. His movements were accordingly slow and deliberate.

    Her lips parted and he witnessed a flash of pink tongue before her answer came. “Okay, yeah, maybe I do. I could do without the teasing though”.

    “Could you now?” He enquired conversationally even as his fingers slipped back below the line of her intimate apparel. “And, I wonder”, his thumb brushed against her slick opening, “Do you deserve not to be teased?”

    Her only reply was to gasp as her hands fisted in the bedspread.

    “So”, he allowed his other hand trail back down along her body until it rested on the lush curve of her ass, “have you been good while I was away?”

    “Good enough”, came her response.

    He squeezed her.

    “What is your interest with my ass today?” She asked, not shying away from the caress.

    “Well, it is a very nice posterior”, he had always admired it. Even though there was a bit less of it after the months of stress.

    “I have always received compliments on it”, she informed him, “Oh!” His hand descended on it. “I was kidding. Well not really but hey!” He popped her on the but a few more times. She pouted at him over her shoulder but made no move to get away from him.

    “It’s wasn’t that hard”, he rubbed and squeezed the afflicted area, knowing that the five pats had wounded her pride rather than her flesh.

    “Argh”, she groaned into the mattress, rolling her hips against his caress.

    Lionel smirked and reached down to hastily undo and shove down his trousers and boxers, not having time to worry about the rest. He grasped his hardened length and stroked it down the crack of her ass then down until it was pressed against her panties.

    She shivered and he could feel the heat from her slick, warm opening even through the damp cotton. The little minx wanted him. He had always known it.

    “I want to please you”, he leant down to whisper into the delicate shell of her ear.

    “I know it”, she whispered back.

    “There is something else that you might not know”, he teased her.

    “And what might that be?”

    “I want you”, he used himself to push aside her pesky panties.

    “I kind of got that”, she laughed.

    “No, I mean I want you like this. From behind. I want to take you on all fours, I want to hear you scream my name”, his deep voice took on a level of rawness which made her shudder.

    “But Lionel, that is so ... primitive. Uncouth. Ungentlemanly”, she continued the list of vices and he licked his lips. He was definitely going to have to teach her some manners at some point.

    “So you aren’t interesting?”

    “What on earth gave you that impression?”

    He laughed at her and released himself so that he could seize her and turn her over long enough to kiss her soundly and declare warmly, “I love you”.

    “Well I should bloody well hope so”, Chloe barely got out before she found herself flipped back over this time on her hands and knees. Lionel growled at the sight from where he was kneeling behind her and flipped skirt up and yanked her panties down until they ripped.

    “Really are enjoying the whole primitive thing, aren’t you?” Chloe asked as she redistributed her weight.

    “Really asking for it, aren’t you?” Lionel countered.

    “Maybe”, she shot him saucy look over her shoulder.

    If he hadn’t been hard before, that one word would have had him ready to pitch a tent. He could make a fortune selling that smile as a natural alternative to Viagra. He took only a few seconds to double check that she was wet enough for him before slamming himself into her. With finesse, of course.

    “Oh oh”, Chloe moaned her hands once again balling up in the bed clothes.

    Lionel smirked and pushed back into her. Hard. He was never normally gentle. He took the women he wished in an elegant manner but as forcefully as he needed to. And now that his wife was broken in, he wasn’t going to pander to her quite so much. She would get used to it. She would like it. Based on the noises she was emitting and the way that she moved against him, she already did.

    Chloe’s hips rolled back against him eagerly but inexpertly, a problem which Lionel took care of taking charge of her movements. He didn’t come out with any bad porn style language, didn’t tell her to take it. She would take it, she would do exactly what he wanted and she would come when he demanded it too.

    He gave her a few minutes, training her in the dance until she had mastered it, before he wrapped his arm around her waist and yanked them both forwards until he could reach the headboard over her.

    Chloe squealed but moved with him the way that he wanted, close to coming already.

    He smirked. There was more where that came from. Grabbed the headboard and used it as leverage as he bore into her.

    The bed rattled. She whimpered, moaned, mewled, and begged (but not for him to slow down).

    He eased up on her just enough to sneak one back between her legs, “Come for me, darling”, he demanded as he rubbed the small bundle of nerves.

    “Lionel”, she moaned his name, almost as if she were in pain but he knew better.

    “Come for me”, he repeated, leaning down to growl against her ear. “Tell me what you want. What you need”.

    “I ... Oh fuck yes”, she panted out as his fingers had found the right spot, leaving it only for a second to slap her ass. He rolled in between his fingers again and the cussing returned.

    “You really are going to have to watch that mouth of yours, darling”, he warned her and removed his hand again to punish her but this time she transferred her weight onto one forearm and took matter into her own hands. Or rather, between her own fingers.

    “Chloe”, he groaned.

    “Wha?”

    “Stop”, he commanded.

    “But, it’s so good”, she complained.

    “I know”, his voice was raspy and pulled out of her unwillingly with an embarrassingly wet sound. He was painfully hard and the cool air on his wet cock did nothing to ameliorate the situation. But he was greedy and needed all of her. “Turn over”, he demanded, his hands already on her to ensure her compliance.

    “So good”, she repeated her complaint as she found herself on her back, her fingers temporarily interrupted from their sweet torment.

    “Definitely, but I should probably punish you for it”, he considered as he stared down at her. She was gorgeous. Her hair was slightly dishevelled, her pupils were diluted, her cheeks were flushed and her full, pouting lips were parted. The skirt of her hopelessly wrinkled dress was hitched up around her waist, revealing all of her glory to his wicked gaze.

    She grinned up at him. “You could never punish me”. She was apparently to sure of this fact that her hand sneaked back down, taunting and teasing him as much as herself.

    “Oh really”, snatched both of her wrists and pinned them, “are you sure about that?”

    “Yes”, she wriggled unrepentantly.

    “God I love you”, he purred.

    “Going to just leave me like this or help a girl out”, she asked, wiggling her fingerd as much as she could.

    “Demanding little thing, aren’t you?” He stayed as he was, kneeling between her spread legs, but took her hands and brought them to his mouth. He licked each digit slowly before realising her hand. “Okay, but I want to watch”.

    “So that’s why you turned me around”, she cottoned on.

    “Of course”, he smirked.

    “Voyeur”, she tossed the insult at him but she was evidently determined to on a show for him. Her smile faltered a little, she was nervous but he knew her too well to doubt her. His tiny timid temptress was burdening into a sexual creature.

    ~*~

    They lay in each other’s arms, bathing in the afterglow. Lionel stroked her golden tresses and kissed her head before allowing his hand to travel down her now completely naked form. He had removed her dress somewhere between the second and third time.

    “You know, I meant what I said”, he murmured into her hair.

    “Wha?”

    “That I would do anything to make you happy”. She turned over so that they were face to face rather than spooning. “I’m not blind, you know”.

    “I know”.

    “I know that you are not comfortable here yet. I want you to be at home here”, whispered earnestly, “Whatever it takes. Change anything that you want. If -”

    “Anything?” She interrupted him.

    “Anything”, he agreed, surprised but pleased. He wanted to give her things. To spoil her. To prove to her that marrying him had been the right thing to do.

    “A trampoline in the great hall?”

    “Anything”, he smiled at her, waiting for her to get to her real request.

    “Pink walls?” She pressed.

    “Anything”, he was resolute.

    “Moustaches on the portraits”, she continued.

    “An-y-thing”, he pressed three kisses against her beautiful mouth.

    “Actually”, she smiled, “there is something that I would like”.

    Lionel held Chloe’s hand as she led him back through the house, pleased that she was embracing the house, although he wasn’t thrilled about having to get out of bed, not being allowed to shower with her and having to get dressed again. He had had plans for the rest of the day and all of them had involved them both, naked, in bed. What could be so important?

    “Ta da”, Chloe announced as she lead him into a room.

    Lionel looked around the room. “We have a junk room?”

    Chloe turned exasperated eyes onto him. “You call this a junk room?”

    “What else?” He couldn’t see anything special about it.

    “You are so spoilt”, she muttered.

    “I worked hard for this, I deserve to spoil myself and you”, he wrapped his arms around her and she tensed up. From shock he was sure. “What is it that you want?”

    “To redecorate, not painting things pink”, she shuddered at the thought, “but I saw these pictures a few days ago and I was fascinated. They are so gorgeous, can we put them up? Look this one, the detail, the texture, the colour. This would look just perfect in the dining room”. She looked over at him when she didn’t receive a response, “Don’t you think that there is something missing?”

    He smiled tenderly at her, she was being so careful the way that she moved the first picture to see the next. She treated the paintings with such respect, as if she understood their worth not just their monetary value. She might not have been schooled in art but she certainly appreciated it more than most.

    Lionel laid out the pictures one by one with less respect but equal care so that she could examine them all.

    “You have an excellent eye, my dear”, he stood back to admire the pictures. “You are quite right, it would look very well in the dining room”

    “Almost as if it were designed for it”, Chloe agreed, “and this one for the entrance hall”, she pointed at the next one.

    “That is, in fact, where it was originally”, he stated carefully.

    “Originally?” She regarded him from beneath furrowed eyebrows.

    “You have no idea who she is, do you?” Lionel asked softly, moving over to her side and rubbed her back gently.

    “A painter’s muse? Well, a composite I would suppose because no one really looks like that”, she referred to the perfection of her skin, her features, she didn’t look quite human.

    “Darling”, he moved in front of her and cupped her face, “it’s Lilly”.

    “Lilly”, she repeated.

    “My first wife”, he clarified.

    “Lex’s mother”, Chloe said, slowly.

    “Lex’s mother”.

    “Why is she in here?” She wondered.

    “I didn’t want you to feel out of place so I had them all taken down before we arrived”, Lionel explained.

    “All taken down”, she repeated.

    “There appears to be an echo in here”, he joked.

    “You had them all taken down”, apparently she was having trouble wrapping her mind around this one idea.

    “Yes, there is definitely an echo”, he said thoughtfully and looked around as if searching for a source.

    “How could you do something like that?” She demanded, her voice suddenly harsh.

    He frowned.

    “You ordered him home and just took away every trace of his mother?” She gaped at him, her voice filled with accusation.

    “What do you care?”

    “Because it’s mean! It’s cruel! It’s despicable!” The words tumbled out of her.

    “May I remind you that you are supposed to be my wife, not his”, Lionel hissed.

    “Oh for God’s sake Lionel, I only met the man a few days ago and we don’t get along. I don’t care a jot about him but that doesn’t change the fact that what you did was terrible and if you wanted a wife who wouldn’t tell you that then you should have thr-” She broke off suddenly her eyes going wide.

    “I should have what?” He closed the gap between them. A dangerous crackle in his eyes.

    She took a deep breath and raised her chin and said, with only a slight tremble in her voice, “You should have married someone else”.

    He remained silent.

    “Don’t use me as an excuse to continue whatever the hell the vendetta you have against your son”, she walked out, trying to look calm but visibly shaken.

    ~*~

    Lex’s fist clenched around the handle on the inside of the secret passageway so tightly that his knuckles turned white. He almost shook with the effort it took him not to storm in there. The only thing that prevented him was the fact that his father knew nothing of the web of secret passages which littered the castle. As long as Lionel didn’t physically threaten Chloe, then he should not risk the war for the sake of a battle. However, badly he might want to.

    The conversation unfolded before him as did part of the image. It was small and distorted through the grate but still made his blood pressure rise. Something was going on there. Something more than even he had realised. Suddenly, he began to look at her with fresh eyes.

    Chloe was a young woman, cold, stubborn and haughty but also hurt and hiding something.

  8. #88
    NS Senior Member Senior Member malugargula's Avatar
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    Re: The Myth (NC-17) Updated 30th October 2014

    I'm glad Lex heard it all... And I'm curious too about all she's hiding lol
    Great chapter, thanks for sharing
    Malu

  9. #89
    NS Senior Member Senior Member HotCrossedBunny's Avatar
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    Re: The Myth (NC-17) Updated 30th October 2014

    A/N: Thanks Malu. Here's the next part. Finally!

    Chapter Eleven

    It had been several days since Lionel and Chloe had fallen out and made up but she still felt as if something had become strained between them and it was only a matter of time before it snapped.

    She was just wondering when Lex would be getting back - and whether that would make it better or worse - as she strolled into her bedroom only to come to an abrupt halt. She stared at the chaos in the normally orderly room. There were several suitcases lying open on the bed and her clothes in several piles.

    “What is going on here?” She demanded and a maid came out from one of the wardrobes.

    “Mrs Luthor”, she greeted with a nervous smile.

    “What is going on here?” Chloe repeated her question, the panic rising up in her chest making her tone sharper than she would have liked.

    “I am packing, Madam”.

    “I can see that”, Chloe said through gritted teeth, her hands coiling by her sides. “Why?”

    “I ...” The elder woman stammered, “I’m just following orders”.

    Chloe swallowed, her jaw quivering with suppressed fear and fury. “Whose?”

    The maid blinked at her as if that were the strangest question that anyone had ever asked her. “Mr Luthor”.

    “The elder or the younger”, the young wife clarified. It had to be Lex. That had to be it. He had called from New York, or Metropolis or wherever the hell he was now. He was trying to make her life a hell. The truce he had requested had just been a trick. He ...

    “The elder”.

    Chloe blinked at her. “The elder”, she repeated the two words. Thinking that her world was about to end.

    “Yes Madam, the elder. Mr Lionel Luthor”, the maid looked like she might burst into tears at any moment but Chloe couldn’t worry about that when she was sure that her heart was about to stop beating. There was no way that she could survive this.

    She waited. A second passed. Then two. She focused on forcing air in and out of her lungs. Her heart pounded in her chest and blood rushed through her ears. She felt dizzy and sick but apparently was be to spared a spontaneous death.

    “Lionel”, she screamed his name at the top of her lungs as she tore out of the room. Suspecting that he was probably in his office and raced there, barging into the room without knocking and declared, “You are not getting rid of me”.

    He looked up from his phone call, calm but perplexed.

    Chloe’s breath was coming hard and ragged. She opened her mouth only to see Lionel holding up one finger to her to indicate that she was to wait. Before she could think better of what she was doing, Chloe had stormed over to him and grabbed that infuriating finger, “No”.

    Lionel’s eyebrows rose to high that they became absorbed by his hairline. “My apologises, your Highness. I will have to call you back; there is a disturbance which I must take care of you. Yes. Quite”, Lionel rang off with the correct form of address.

    “Was that the ...?” Chloe began to ask in disbelief. She knew that her husband was well connected but surely he wasn’t acquainted with any Middle East potentates.

    “Yes, that was his highness. We were discussing oil prices”, he gave her piercing look but seemed pleased that she was so obviously awed by this knowledge. “So, as you felt the need to interrupt I trust that it is something of extreme importance?”

    “You can’t get rid of me”, Chloe snapped back into action. “I won’t let you. I’ll ... I’ll go to the media. I’ll get a lawyer You married me. You promised to protect me. You can’t just throw me over, you can’t just ...”

    “Are you threatening me?” He asked carefully, getting to his feet.

    She felt a cold shiver of warning travel down her spine but she refused to be cowed. “If needs be, yes. I didn’t ...”

    He raised an eyebrow.

    “I wasn’t the one who instigated all of this”, she reformulated her sentence.

    “Instigated?” To a casual observer he would have seem calm almost to the point of being lazy, but she knew him better. She could see the anger bubbling up inside him.

    “Proposed”, she clarified.

    “Ah”, he nodded, “that meaning of instigated”.

    “Yes, you can’t do this to me Lionel”, she protested, her desperation making her panic.

    “What is it exactly that you are accusing me of?” He placed his hand on the desk, leaning forwards across the piece of wood, bringing his face closer to hers.

    “Chucking me”. There was another quirk of the eyebrow. “For the love of God, learn a new facial expression!”

    “What makes you think that I am ‘chucking you’?” He straightened up once more and rounded the table before leaning back against it and crossing his arms.

    “The maid is packing.”

    “And she told you of my plans?” He apparently thought that this was highly unlikely.

    “She didn’t tell me anything, she just follows orders”, Chloe tried not to fidget as the possible and probably consequences of this flashed before her. “Your orders”, she added tightly.

    “And why, my dear”, rectified his posture and caressed the side of her face, the apparently loving gesture only made Chloe think of a cat playing with a mouse, “would I want to rid myself of you?”

    “You know damned well why”, she hissed, fighting her urge to pull away from him.

    “Remind me”, he drew his face closer to hers once more. This time so that they were almost nose to nose.

    “Because you are you”.

    “An expansive answer certainly”.

    She sighed, “Because you are one of the richest men in the United States”.

    “In the world actually”, he corrected her gently.

    “Because you are used to the best”, Chloe continued, her voice wavering slightly. “You are accustomed to being surrounded by supermodels. Rich supermodels. From similar backgrounds to yours. Some of them are probably even smart”.

    “That is certainly true”, he smiled placidly, “but I don’t see what relevance that has on our current predicament”.

    “Because”, the word came out in something close to a sneer, “you like to have power”.

    “Once again my dear”, he drawled, his thumb brushing against her cheek, “you are entirely in the right however I fail to see ...”

    “Was it fun?” She demanded, her control finally snapping.

    “I beg your pardon?” His voice became softer, silkier, the way that it always did when he was angry.

    “I’m certain that it was probably fun for you”, Chloe continued, ignoring the warning signals. She pulled out of his grasp and threw her arms out as she demanded, “What did you do, watch My Fair Lady one too many times and thought that it would take some random insignificant creature and make her a great lady?”

    Lionel’s brow furrowed as he reached out of her again but she retreated, “Was it just for fun?”

    “Chloe, I have no idea w ...”

    “Or was it more sinister than that?” She sneered. “See how high you can bring someone, how much they can be made to depend on you and then ...” She swallowed, nervous even though she knew that she might as well already be dead once Lionel’s protection was gone, “And it was probably fun to run someone’s life for a time but ...”

    “Chloe that’s enough”, he snapped. She opened her mouth but snapped it closed as he grabbed her and heaved her to him. “I told you that is enough”, he growled, his hot breath against her skin. “How dare you speak to me like that. Need I remind you that I am your husband?”

    “You are the one who seeks to change that, not me”, she reminded him, terrified but not quelled.

    “The maid is packing your clothes because I can’t bear to be without you and it is your right as a stock holder to attend the meeting in Metropolis”, he snapped.

    Chloe blinked up at him. Still shaking, still close to tears, unable to wrap her mind around the fact.

    “Don’t misjudge me again”, he warned her.

    “You ... You mean, you aren’t making me leave?” She asked in faltering accents.

    “No”. He let out a long, low sigh as he stared down at her. As if realising for the first time the position that they were both in, he loosened his grip on her arms and pulled her into his arms. For several minutes he stroked her hair and rubbed her back as he whispered soothing words in her ear. Once she had finally stopped trembling he eased her away from him just enough to be able to look into her eyes as he asked, in the tone of one who has been gravely wounded, “Why didn’t you trust me, darling?”

    “I”, she faltered, “I can’t say”.

    “Chloe”, he filled the word with such warm and tenderness, there was no explaining why she felt as if she might throw up through sheer terror.

    “Well”, she hedged, “we haven’t been getting along. You were mad about the wall. We had that fight”.

    “Darling”, he tangled his hand in the hair at the nape of her neck, “I’m never going to let you go”

    ~*~

    A few hours after the painting argument had taken place Chloe walked into the dining room. She had made a special effort with her appearance that afternoon even though it might all have been for naught. She hadn’t seen Lionel since he had walked her back inside the house and she had no idea whether he would deign to join her for dinner. She had spent the entire afternoon inside, a good portion of it worrying about their altercation, feeling increasingly cooped up and stifled. She longed to go outside, to return to the ruins but was too afraid to risk it.

    Several times she had found herself wandering over to the nearest window and staring out at the landscape. She couldn’t even see the bloody rock from any part of the enormous house and what she could see only depressed her further.

    The lengths of metal holding the hundreds of panels of glass in place made her feel as if she were behind bars, and the stained glass shapes rather than impressing her with their beauty only succeeded in reminding her of Lionel’s power. It altered and distorted everything about her world even stretching beyond the physical walls in which he could keep her trapped.

    She attempted to retreating into the world of literature but returned her chosen book to the library very soon after opening it. It was no good. It was there that an idea occurred to her. She looked around furtively before heading into the adjoining room and heading for the secret passage which Lex had revealed to her.

    There, cloistered in a dark little hole unknown to her husband, she somehow felt inexplicably better and free. She began to explore, losing herself in the musty, ‘old worldy’ smell which permeated the tunnels. She tried to pretend that she was still a young girl. Carefree. Safe. Knowing that if she got lost her Dad would be there in a few seconds to rescue her. To teach her how to vanquish the evil shadows and make her feel protected again.

    This attempt was not entirely successful; doubts and cares bubbled up within her but she tried to push them down as she walked the passageway. It went up to where Lex had shown her but also in several other directions. After walking the route enough times to know where everything was she placed her hand on the knob but couldn’t bear to leave. She didn’t want to return to Lionel’s world.

    Instead she lowered herself until she was sat on the steps where she turned off the torch and let the darkness consume her. She had thought, or rather hoped, that the peace of her location might have helped her figure out her next move but within seconds she found herself in floods of tears.

    She had sobbed until she had nothing left and slumped against the cold wall, lacking the energy or motivation to bestir herself. She didn’t know how long she had sat there, she had only risen when she had heard maids scurrying past the passageway talking about starting dinner. Then she had known that it was time for her to leave. Slowly, careful not to be observed, she left her cover and felt another overwhelming sense of foreboding and sadness as all of her senses were assaulted simultaneously by reminders of her situation. Everything from the antique wood and family portraits to the smell of beeswax - which no one she knew but Lionel’s servants used - served only to further depress her.

    “There is a reason”, she reminded herself. She muttered these words during the hour that she was locked in her en suite getting ready and thought them as she made her way down to the dining room that evening.

    The butler opened the door to the room for her and she was struck by just how right she had been. The picture was perfect there. Lillian was there, staring down at her in all of her perfection.

    Chloe walked over to it mesmerized. It somehow looked different now that she was back where she was supposed to be and Chloe knew who she was. She looked like the perfect wife, the perfect mother, the type of woman that Lionel should have been married to.

    “She is beautiful”, Chloe whispered.

    “She was”.

    Chloe almost jumped out of her skin. She span around to be faced with Lionel standing there, in all of his glory.

    “Good evening, my love”.

    “Lionel”, she replied politely enough even if her voice was a little tight.

    “I see that I am not exactly in favour”, he said with a slight smile. “I can not say that I blame you”.

    “I’m not angry”, she lied, only causing him to shake his head and she turned back to look up at the picture.

    “She really was a beauty”, Lionel continued as he wrapped his arms around his new wife’s waist from behind and looked up at his deceased one. “Beautiful but cold”.

    Chloe didn’t not reply although she listened intently.

    “I don’t speak about her except when absolutely necessary and I have certainly never told anyone what I am about to tell you”, he ran his hand across her soft stomach. “I like the world to believe that nothing can faze me. I wish to be invulnerable, or at the very least believed to be so, but I’m not. She hurt me”, he acknowledged in a thick voice, “very deeply”.

    Chloe covered his hand with hers, partly to stop its motion, partly out of instinct. She felt for him even as she was sure that he lied.

    “She was so cold. So indifferent. Well, at least to me she was”, he shook his head, the image of a heartbroken man, “She had affair after affair and every one came closer to destroying me. It is hard for me to trust anyone now, even family. I never thought that I could care for anyone again ... Until you”.

    He turned her around, his eyes boring into hers. “Nothing that I did ever made her happy. Nothing Lex did either. She spoiled and neglected him by turns leaving me to deal with the consequences. She made our lives a misery and her ghost haunts this place”. Lionel blinked several times, as if determined not to let a tear form. “Help me dispel her, my angel”.

    She was powerless to resist. Or so she appeared. “Lionel”, she ran her hands up his arms, “I am nothing like her”.

    “No”, he grinned and she gasped. He looked so different, so young, so happy, so in love. “You”, he squeezed her close, “are raw, fresh, gorgeous, pure, just you”.

    She should say that she loved him, it was all that it would take to cement their new good rapport but she just couldn’t bring herself to do so. “Do you want to get rid of the pictures?” She offered.

    “No, keep them there if you like. I probably did act rashly, but I am a reasonable man”, he grinned at her roguishly.

    “Since when?” She asked, making sure that he knew that she was teasing. She allowed her hands to travel further and entwine behind his neck.

    He grinned down at her. “Since always. But more especially since I loved you”.

    She didn’t look as happy as such a sappy statement should have and couldn’t keep herself from asking, “When was that?” She had never had as much control over her tongue as she would have liked.

    He blinked. “You tell me first”.

    “I ...”

    “You can’t”, he acknowledged sadly and reached behind his neck to take her hands. “Let’s just say it’s been a while”.

    “A while”, she repeated blankly, wondering how that was even possible.

    “A while”, he gave her a tight smile. “Shall we dine?”

    ~*~

    “What are you thinking about?” Lionel asked Chloe as she sat next to him in the helicopter, waiting for take off and staring out of the window.

    “Hmm?” She turned to him with confusion.

    “I asked what you were thinking about?” He informed her gently.

    “Oh, nothing”, she dismissed the question and was turning her head back to the window when Lionel continued: “You seemed to be a million miles away”.

    “I wasn’t”, she assured him.

    His only response to this obviously mendacious answer was to raise one eyebrow.

    She looked down at her attire and smoothed her dress down and straightened her coat. “Is this okay for a meeting?”

    He looked her up and now. “Of course. Is that what is preoccupying you?”.

    “I told you, I’m fine”, she answered wanting to end the conversation without starting an argument.

    “Actually, you told me that you weren’t thinking about anything”, Lionel corrected her, reaching over to take her hand as he did so.

    “Oh”.

    “You look splendid”, he assured her and kissed her on the cheek.

    “Thank-you”, she favoured him with a small smile.

    “So”, he entwined his fingers with hers, “now are you going to tell me what you are thinking about?”

    She looked down at their hands and then back up at him. “Everything”.

    “Everything? Well then it’s no wonder that you appeared preoccupied. Everything is quite a lot for one person to contemplate”, the corners of his mouth turned up, “I don’t suppose that you might consider narrowing the field down a little bit more, for those of us with less well developed mental faculties?”

    “I’ve never been in a helicopter before”, she offered, “and we are on our way to a very important meeting”.

    “Both unmistakable facts but hardly necessitating such a reverie”, he cajoled, “what is it really?”

    She looked him dead in the eye and replied with utter frankness, “We aren’t getting along very well are we?”

    “Aren’t we?” He raised his brow in apparent surprise.

    “You know that we aren’t”, she huffed. “We ... Had an argument. And then you said that you had been in love with me and things seemed better but then things”, she didn’t have the words. “Then the next argument this morning. You know as well as I do that things aren’t right. They are ... I don’t know”.

    He nodded, “This makes a nice change from you ignoring it”.

    “I don’t know what to do here. How to act. I’ve never ... I’m not used to ... You know that I’ve never had a relationship before. Well, not a real one. I’ve never been married. I’ve never been away from home before”, the rest of her problems didn’t even bear mentioning.

    “You’re not away from home now”, he reminded her, taking her into his arm. “This is your home, with me. You are safe. You are secure. Nothing and no one can harm you”.

    “I know it”, she whispered into his neck.

    “But you don’t feel it”, he surmised, “Don’t worry, you will. You will get used to all of it”.

    His comforting words did little to console her and by the time that they landed in Metropolis her sense of foreboding had only intensified. This was not going well.

  10. #90
    NS Senior Member Senior Member HotCrossedBunny's Avatar
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    02 Dec 2012
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    Re: The Myth (NC-17) Updated 30th October 2014

    Chapter Twelve

    “What is this place?” Chloe wondered aloud as she entered the large room.

    “This, my darling, is what we in English call an apartment”, Lionel smiled softly at her.

    “I know, but ...” She broke off as she surveyed her surroundings.

    “But what?” He enquired as he strode up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her back against him.

    “Lionel, this place is enormous”, she gasped, staring up over her shoulder at him. Well, at his chin really but she could still make out part of his expression.

    He studied the room for a moment, “I thought that it was a bit small personally”.

    “A bit small?” She expostulated, pulling away from him as much as he would allow and turned around. “Lionel, this is the largest room that I have ever seen! It is easily twice as large as any of the rooms in the castle”.

    “Oh, three times, I would say”, he informed her as if it were nothing.

    “And those are huge”, Chloe reminded him.

    “Spacious, but not huge”, was his considered opinion.

    She stared at him for a few seconds trying to decide how she was supposed to act. Lionel scared her, she knew that she needed to respond as he wished but she was so often at a loss to know exactly what it was that he wanted. She studied him and he raised an eyebrow at her. He had made it clear that day that she wasn’t going anywhere and he had wrapped his arms around her. She rolled her eyes at him. Friendly. Teasing. Not in any way afraid of him.

    “Rooms in apartments always have to be larger to make up for the fact that there are fewer of them and no outside space”, he explained, pulling her back into his arms properly.

    “Only in your world is that true”, she poked him in the chest. This was clearly the Chloe that he wanted.

    “Your world too, darling”, he reminded her as he ran his hands up her back.

    “This, is my world”, she repeated as if only really considering the matter for the first time. She peered up at the vaulted decorated ceiling metres about them. “Lionel ...”

    “Darling?”

    “Are you aware that there are perverted babies staring at us from the ceiling?” She kept her chin tilted upwards.

    “They are cherubs”, he said without bothering to tear his gaze away from his wife’s lovely face. “They are sweet and romantic”.

    “They are ugly, aren’t wearing nappies - which is rather unsanitary -, and that one is staring right at me”, she studied the work of art. It really was too bad that such skill had been so wasted.

    “I thought that you like babies”, Lionel said mildly enough but the way that he tightened his grip on her, apparently unconsciously startled her.

    “Whatever gave you that idea?” She asked, treading softly.

    “Women tend to like babies”, he answered neutrally.

    “Right”, the syllable came out slowly even as her brain raced. “I’m not a big fan, especially not of him”, she pointed at the one who looked like a pervert.

    Lionel followed her gaze but apparently did not find the image as repellent as she did as he merely took her hand, brought it to his lips and kissed it before placing it on her chest. “You will be when it its ours”.

    Her eyes snapped up, fixing on his face. She saw nothing alarming there. Not a Machiavellian master mind determined to ravish her right there and then and implant her with his seed. Just a man. Made of flesh and blood. Looking at her calmly and decidedly. His strength and warmth wrapped around her in a manner that should have been comforting. In moments like that she could almost forget what he was and why they were in the situation they were in.

    She continued to stare up at him and said the only thing that she could,”I hope so”.

    “You will. You can’t imagine how wonderful it is”, he smiled, almost tenderly, and pressed his lips to her forehead. “I don’t like babies, at least, not in general but when you hold that tiny little creature in your arms and it looks up at you”. He let out a breath, “You will adore our children”.

    Children? It was going up with every second.

    “Do you have any children?” The question escaped her before she had chance to think better of it.

    “Yes Lex”, he regarded her teasingly, “I believe that you have met him”.

    “Yes, I’ve met Lex but I asked about children. As in, plural”, she clarified, knowing that there was no way that she could back peddle at this point and curious to know the answer.

    “Children, in plural”, he repeated slowly.

    “Yes”.

    “I ...” He began to think of how to answer that question when something else occurred to him, “Why do you ask?” His eyes narrowed, only fractionally, but she noticed it.

    “I don’t know”, she attempted to skirt around the issue but Lionel wouldn’t allow that.

    “Have you heard something?” He asked, placed a finger under her chin to ensure that she couldn’t look away from him. “Has Lex told you something?”

    “No, nothing I just wondered”, she didn’t have to worry about her delivery of the line as it was the truth.

    “Right”, he let her go and stepped backwards but ran his hands up and down her arms.

    “Lionel”, she gathered her courage, remembering that information was power, and asked, “do you?”

    “Yes, darling”, he admitted slowly, “I do”.

    “Oh”. She took a deep breath trying to decide how to proceed. She needed to know. It was essential for her to know. But asking could get her into a whole world of trouble. She should be cautious and clever and ... Even as she thought this, curiosity got the better of her. “Where are they”

    His hands stopped their soothing motions, resting on her shoulders and he stared at her a glint of suspicion in his hazel eyes. “What do you want?”

    Blinking her large expressive eyes would have been too obvious. Should have practised looking innocent in the mirror before she was dragged into this. She snorted mentally. She was beginning to suspect that Lionel had deigns on her since the very beginning and never planned on letting her go. She tried to keep her features as passive as possible as she said simply, “I want to know about you. About your family”.

    Lionel merely nodded. “We should sit down”.

    Relieved, and pleasantly surprised, by his attitude and willingness to communicate Chloe allowed him to take her hand and lead her over to chaise lounge where she perched delicately.

    Lionel reached out and cupped her face with his hands, brushing her cheeks with his thumbs. “I love you so much darling, I could never be this open with anyone else”, he allowed himself a small, self-deprecating smile, “I am out of practice so I must ask for your forbearance”. He allowed his hands to slide down her neck, over her shoulders until he possessed her hands once more. He kissed each digit before stealing himself, staring into her eyes and continuing.

    “I”, he sighed, “I wasn’t very happy in my first marriage and, as a result, I did things that I wasn’t proud of. Things that I’m even more ashamed of now”, he admitted. “I was having trouble with pretty much everything in life at the time. After all of the years that I had spent ploughing all of my money into getting my business off the ground and trying to build a family, when I finally had them I couldn’t cope”.

    Chloe’s brow wrinkled and disentangled her hands from his. He looked at her in concern, verging on anger until her purpose was made clear. She held his face, “You never have to be afraid to tell me anything. I don’t judge you for what you see as weakness”.

    He looked as if he wanted to smile, but couldn’t quite bring himself to do so. “I felt constantly guilty. When I was working, I was neglecting my son. When I was with my son, I was neglecting my business. I needed a helpmate but instead I had, I don’t want to say a Prima Donna, but nothing that I ever did made her happy. Every night I returned to a cold home, a cold wife and one who was training my son to despise me”.

    “That’s terrible”, Chloe murmured then shook herself, as if it had just slipped out without her meaning it to. “I mean, under such circumstances, it’s natural that you would search for comfort elsewhere”.

    “You are amazing”, he turned his head to press his lips against her palm. “So sweet, so kind, so understanding”, he trailed kissed across her wrist and seemed as if he would have continued if she hadn’t prevented him.

    She coaxed his head back around to face her, “I will understand. But I need to know Lionel”.

    “Why?”

    Her heart rate quickened, but her voice didn’t quaver as she answered, “Because it is a part of your past”.

    “Exactly, it is my past. You are my future”, his eyes bored into her.

    “But that is what makes you who you are. I already told you, I’m not going to judge you for it. I don’t want to know because I want something to hold over your head or anything like that”, she actually managed to appear slightly upset by the notion, “It’s just that there is a part of you, several parts of you possibly”, she smiled, “out there. I’m not saying that I need to meet them, or that they have to come to Sunday lunch - unless that’s what you want. But I do need to know.” She placed her hand over his heart. “I know what it is like to hold a secret inside”.

    She saw him opening his mouth to protest and pushed on. “Or, if not a secret exactly, something which is not common knowledge. No one every means to deceive anyone”, unless their surname was Luthor. “It starts out as something small but then it grows. It takes a piece of us and we are worried about what will happen if anyone else finds out. It ... It forces itself between the people that we love even if we don’t mean it to. Please, Lionel. I want to be a part of your world”.

    He blinked.

    “Our marriage it didn’t start .... It isn’t ... You’ve made it very clear that this”, she pushed her hand against him, “is forever. I don’t want to just be a piece of arm candy. I want to be your wife”.

    He stared into her eyes and she had no idea if he had brought one syllable of what she had just said.

    “There were other women”, he started and she felt a wash of relief, she fought it. That was when people got sloppy.

    “They were not as beautiful as Lillian. Nor did they have such breeding. But they were warm. Decidedly warm”. He took a long pause between each part of his story. “When they looked at me it was not as if I were a piece of dirt on the bottom of their shoe but with respect”, he shook his head. “Unfortunately, at the time I mistook respect for my status and desire for my money for love for me”. He spoke as one whose heart had been shredded many times over.

    “I don’t use it as an excuse. Whatever my feelings at the time were, it wasn’t the right thing to do”. He stared at her and seemed to be encouraged by what he witnessed there. “I must unfortunately confess that I was ridiculously easy to seduce. They showered Lex with love and affection and I was a gonner”.

    “Since when did you care about Lex?” Crap. She had to get a hold of her tongue. She was playing far too dangerous a game to allow these stupid slips.

    Lionel looked genuinely shocked, “I love him. He is my son. I would give my life’s blood for him, but”, he acknowledged, “we don’t have the best relationship. He always let me down. Maybe I let him down too ....”

    Chloe knew that that was a load of crap. His love for Lex, not the fact that he had let him down and yet she found herself being pulled in by him. It took all over her self-control not to believe him. His eyes, how was it possible for someone to look so honest and be lying?

    “Their kindness to Lex seduced you?” She whispered, pretending that she believed him regardless of her actual feelings.

    “You could say that. I fell for them, each and every time only to find myself guilt gnawing away at my guts. “ he looked down, the picture of repentance, “and a demand for money”.

    “A demand for money?” That was too much to believe. No one in their right mind would try to blackmail Lionel Luthor.

    “Yes, that is how they announced their pregnancies”, he informed her calmly.

    “And you paid?” Those women had balls.

    “Of course. They are my children, I loved them from the second that I heard about them. I had to look after them, protect them as best I could but”, he shrugged, trying to seem nonchalant about the whole matter but gave the impression that his arms weighed a ton a piece.“It was better for them to be with the mothers and I didn’t get to see them often”.

    Chloe reached out and pulled him to her, cradling his head against her shoulder, using the part of her that wanted to believe him to lend credibility to her performance.

    “I can’t do it again Chloe”, he spoke softly against her ear.

    “Do what? I thought that you just said that you wanted children”, she asked as she stroked his head.

    “I do”, he turned up his head to stare at her. “I mean that I can’t not be in my children’s lives again. I got it wrong the first time, I admit it. Lex was ...” he shook his head. “I just got it wrong. And the others, it killed me not being able to be around them. The next time, I need to get it right. A wife I love. Who loves me back. Children I can see everyday. A real family”. He held her. “I’m going to get it right this time”.

    He was convincing, Chloe considered. He really should have been on the stage.

    ~*~

    Lex strolled up to the LuthorCorp building with a confident swagger and a smirk on his face. The bright sunlight glinted off the glass and chrome building and he could see his smart reflection in the door. It was a flattering portrayal of his sharp suite, bald head and the knowing glint in his eye. It made him look ten feet tall. Which, incidentally, was about as good as he felt.

    Before he could reach his hand out towards the door it was opened for him. He smiled at the porter warmly. “Has the old man showed up yet?”

    “I do not believe that the elder Mr Luthor had arrived yet, sir”, the employee replied in a manner more befitting of his station.

    “Good”, Lex said, with a smile. He whistled a jaunty tune as he sauntered over to the lift. He was in a good mood this morning because - unlike most of the other times that he had taken on his father - he had more than just one ace up his sleeve. He had an entire stacked deck.

    “Hi ho, hi ho”, he whistled as he stepped into the highly polished conveyance and was on his up and away. It took only a matter of seconds to ascend more than one hundred floors and for the doors to open with a ping. It was one of the new modifications that had been made in the last few years as his father tried to move the company in a new direction. Unlike most of his other innovations, Lex actually appreciated the more efficient lift.

    He continued whistle as he made his way down the hallway to the board room, surprised to note that in spite of the fact that he was at least ten minutes early for the meeting, everyone else was already assembled. The tension in the air was palpable. It generally was when his father’s arrival was imminent. Or just when he was mentioned, come to think of it. Even when no one had done anything wrong.

    Whilst Lex appreciated that it was necessary to take a firm hold of a company and to inspire respect - along side a small about of fear and awe - in the employees, he often thought that some of his father’s methods were actually counter-productive. A man who was close to tears was hardly likely to be an efficient worker.

    He looked around from face to face, an arrogant smirk firmly in place. Some where his allies. Some were not. Some where double, triple, quadruple agents. There was one in the corner who looked close to tears that he thought probably just wanted to get out of there.

    Lex wondered how they were going to react when they discovered that their boss was married. It might seem like a minor thing. A trivial bit of trivia of no consequence to the business world, but such was not the case. So often in financial decisions came down to the inscrutable factors. A wife. Children. A future. These things made a difference to him. To all of the investors.

    With a few nods he made his way over to his assigned seat and lowered himself into it with languid grace. He stretched out his legs before him, he was going to enjoy this now that he had his new information. Very soon, he was going to be the dominant Luthor.

    “Oh fuck he’s coming”.

    Lex looked over at the man who had let that slip. He had been almost hanging out of the window to watch for Lionel’s arrival.

    “Lex, Mr Luthor, I’m sorry ... I ... I ...” He stammered as he turned around and saw who had arrived.

    “Not to worry”, Lex held his hand up. “I quite understand”. Quite a good idea to have a look out really.

    The man came away from the window, got his handkerchief out and wiped his forehead with it before stuffing it back into his pocket.

    “Anything out of the ordinary?” Lex inquired, pleasantly enough.

    “I could only see the top of his head”, he confessed.

    “Any dandruff then?” Lex asked, apparently unconcerned as he began to study his cuff-link.

    “Not that I could see”.

    Lex smiled.

    “Nor on the one next to him”.

    Lex looked up. No one else was expected. That could only mean one thing. “Blonde?”

    “Yes, blonde and female. Is it his new secretary or something?”

    “You’ll just have to wait and see”, this was going to be even more fun than he thought.

    ~*~

    The board room was still and silent, fourteen pairs of eyes turned towards the door, when Lionel Luthor arrived. A blonde in tow.

    Lionel sauntered into the room, a smug expression on his face, leading his new wife by the hand. The sign of affection would be the board members’ first clue that something was up. Chloe followed her husband wearing a dark blue dress to match his suit and a slightly nervous expression in spite of her obvious efforts to hide it.

    Lex looked around, the entire room was staring at them both, trying to work out what the hell was going on. She couldn't be a secretary. He was holding her hand. She couldn’t be a girlfriend because he didn’t have girlfriends. He wondered how long it would take them to work it out.

    “Members of the board, I would like to introduce you to my wife”, Lionel announced.

    Apparently not that long. Lex fought to contain his smirk as jaws all over the room fell comically open.

    “Chloe Luthor”, Lionel completed his introduction.

    This was fun, Lex decided as he studied every face around him, taking in their opinions of the newcomer but he found that his eyes kept dragging back to her. He watched general anxiousness turn to horror before him. His eyes snapped to the man who she was studying who also looked as if he had seen a ghost.

    Lex tried to be discreet but his eyes flicked back and forth between the trio. The businessman. Chloe. His Father. The businessman. Chloe. His father.

    Lionel, seeming not to notice his wife’s distress, led her to sit at the end of the table. He studied her form - but not her face - as she slid into the chair and allowed him to push it in without complaint. The patriarch leant down to kiss the softly before turning his back on her as he moved to the head of the table. Everyone else’s eyes followed him. Except for Chloe’s, Lex’s and one other person’s.

    “Please. Don’t”. The words that she mouthed were as clear to Lex as if they had been audible. They were evidently obvious to the other man too for although he looked confused, shocked and shaken, he nodded.

    “Interesting. Distinctly interesting”, Lex thought, not sure if the reaction had been to her words or to her palpable fear.

    Her eyes were still wide and then fixed on Lionel as he called the meeting to order.

    Lex studied them both. Lionel actually looked like he cared about her and she shot him a small smile, as if she were just nervous about being in a new place with so many ‘important’ people.

    “Welcome gentleman and beautiful lady”, Lionel smiled at her. “Now that all of our stock holders are present, we will begin with this months meeting”.

    Lex’s ears pricked up and he continued to scrutinize the newly weds’ interaction throughout the meeting. It was clear that she was actually a stock holder and Lionel was on his best behaviour. He was being far kinder and more genial than normal. He didn’t even threaten to throw anyone out of the window, a first for their meetings. Chloe, for her part, was perfect although a little pale.

    About two thirds of the way through the meeting Chloe slipped out of her seat and over to Lionel as one of the board members was taking them through the figures for this month’s transactions.

    She whispered something in his ear causing him to stare up at her in concern and hold her hand gently. He looked as if he would have left with her right then and there but she shook her head and left softly. Her husband looking after her, a hint of longing in his gaze.

    Under the table, Lex hit a button and a few minutes later his phone buzzed. Lionel shot him a look and Lex mouthed, “Japan”. His father nodded and let him go outside to answer the call. They had been waiting for that for several days now and Lex saw no need to inform his father that they had contacted him and been dealt with over twenty-four hours ago.

    Lex strode outside, nodding and speaking in fast paced Japanese until he was out of sight when he put his phone away and hurried off in the direction that Chloe had gone. There were any number of places that she could have gone but he followed a hunch.

    He turned the corner, treading softly and spotted her as she slipped inside Lionel’s office.

    “He gave her a key?” He thought to himself but dismissed the idea almost immediately. Lionel might be ‘in love’ but he wasn’t that stupid.

    Lex sneaked up on her. She had someone managed to break into one of the filing cabinets and slipped something into her top before closing it, turning around and coming face to face with, “Lex”.

    “Chloe”.

    “Do you know where the bathroom is? I appear to be lost”.

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