His Beautiful Addiction

Claire stood in front of the white house, her hands gripping the handle of her luggage a distraught look on her face. She stood there for the longest time, just staring at the house as though contemplating whether to go in or not. After much hesitance, she finally took the first step;

\'\'Claire dear, what brings you here? \'\' Mr. Howard asked with all smiles on his face as he walked out of the house, as though he had been expecting her.

Claire stared at him and bit her lower lip, walking past him into the house, she heard him call her several times, but she didn\'t reply.

Mr. Howard muffled a chuckle; he knew she would come around soon, once she realized those fantasies of hers were not real. Thankfully she had made the right choice, but… wasn\'t it too soon for her to come to him?

He wondered but then he decided to watch her closely, if she knew about the deal, Leo would have lost and he didn\'t seem like someone that wanted to take chances.

Claire snuggled in bed once she got into her room, wrapping herself with a blanket. She wasn\'t in the mood to speak to anyone. Mr. Howard came by a couple of times that day but she totally ignored him. He had a meeting in another state so he wasn\'t home for a few days, but when he came back and heard she was still in, he was surprised.

Thankfully, that day, he met her eating in the dining so he joined her. Claire cast him a spiteful glare but she did not say a word. Her eyes fell back to her food and she continued eating;

\'\'If you are going to be giving me those looks at least tell me the crime I committed; \'\'

Claire did not respond to him, she just pretended as though he was not there.

Mr. Howard watched her for a minute and then he picked his cutleries;

\'\'I\'ve done nothing wrong to deserve this treatment from you, \'\'

When Claire heard those words, she scoffed;

\'\'You don\'t say? \'\'

Her eyebrow rose in a surprised manner and she chuckled;

\'\'you\'re the last person on earth that those words should leave from his lips, Mr. Howard. \'\'

Before she called him father, but now, she was calling him by his name. Mr. Howard squeezed the cutleries in his hands.

\'\'Then what have I done wrong? \'\'

\'\'You\'ve done everything wrong, Mr. Howard. \'\'

His name again…

Claire drank carefreely from her cup of wine,

\'\'I apologized for everything I did to your mom; I told you I was sorry… \'\'

\'\'Please… \'\' Claire stopped him, tilting her glass of wine towards him;

\'\'I\'ll appreciate if you don\'t talk about her, let her just rest in peace. \'\'

Mr. Howard gritted his teeth with a sigh and then he dug into his food.

\'\'I never see your wife when I come around, where is she? \'\'

Claire asked with a mockery in her tone, she knew that woman was just ambitious and just wanted power, the power she could get from him that was why she married him, and now she had gotten the power, she was nowhere to be found.

His eyes flashed with sadness and although he tried to mask it, Claire caught it. He made a mistake the moment he lost them, and he was going to regret it all his life.

\'\'let\'s just eat in peace, Claire, for once. \'\' he pleaded this time, not wanting to argue with her again.

Claire blinked; \'\'you know, when you talk like this, you seem like a good person, tsk tsk, now I know how you won your elections, with this face and this voice, you can actually fool anyone. \'\' she smiled and shook her head;

\'\'don\'t worry, even if I don\'t say a word, you will never have peace because there is no peace for the wicked. \'\'

She smiled and picked her glass, tilting it towards him, and mouthed a \'cheers\' then she drank from it.

Mr. Howard did not reply. He just stared at her quietly, and then his head fell.

They ate quietly not saying a word to each other anymore, and then suddenly, Claire asked;

\'\'What did you say to Leo? \'\'

The man sitting in front of her smiled inwardly, he suspected that was the reason she was bashing out on him. So she didn\'t know a thing after all!

He looked at her with a crease of his brows;

\'\'Leo? Why are you asking about him all of a sudden, I thought you two weren\'t together anymore? \'\'

Claire bit her lower lip,

\'\'You knew we didn\'t really break up, didn\'t you? \'\'

Mr. Howard leaned back on his seat with an amused expression;

\'\'This is new; tell me, you were pretending to have broken up all these while? \'\' he wanted to laugh but he held himself back.

Claire did not say a word.

\'\'Why are you asking about him now? What changed? What happened? \'\'

\'\'don\'t ask me that as though you don\'t know, you said something to him when he came over and he doesn\'t want me anymore. \'\'

She didn\'t know she was a good actress until that moment, as she said those words, tears gathered in her eyes.

\'\'Really? \'\' Mr. Howard creased his brows as though he was shocked by her revelation.

\'\'What did you tell him? What did you say to him, that made him not even want to see me; \'\'

She vibrated as she spoke making the fork in her hands fall to the floor causing a sharp sound as it made contact with the crystal tiles.

\'\'Nothing, I just told him you would not get married to him and that he should leave you alone, and that no matter what happens, he would never be with you. I promised to get him connected with high profile and gorgeous women with high social status, and that was it. He didn\'t even argue, it seems you were the only one in that relationship Claire. Your Leo didn\'t value you as much as you thought. \'\'