The Billionaire's Little Miss Superstar

One & The Same

“Boss,” Rodney spoke, snapping Chris back to his reverie.

He had just visited his grandpa. Almost five years had already passed ever since the patriarch of the Harrington family fell into a deep coma. The night prior, Chris received a call from the hospital that Arthur Harrington had finally awoken.

Chris thought that this day would never come given the old man’s age. In fact, he had considered removing the life support multiple times, thinking that it would be liberation for his grandfather's suffering. But that single call made him thank the heavens that he had not done such a horrible thing.

He was not an emotional man. However, it would be a different story if it involved Arthur. For the old man was the one who raised and spoilt Chris rotten. His affection for his grandfather could not be explained in words. It was a mixture of respect and worship that he’d willingly jump in front of a train if he told him so, no questions asked.

Chris trusted Arthur with his life.

And truth be told, he was not yet ready to lose the only family he had.

On the other hand, it was never in Chris’ wildest dreams that he would see a very familiar figure right inside the elevator in front of him.

He barely had any sleep as he immediately rushed to the hospital right when his private jet landed in Letherbridge. He had just come back to the city after sealing a multi-billion deal with a partner in Pearsville. But his vision and mind were still crystal clear.

The woman clad in a black coat and baseball cap was Chloe Brooks – his very last endeavor during his gallivanting days.

“Hmmm…” he hummed as he stepped inside the elevator.

From the corner of his eyes, he could see Chloe’s intrigued look. But he did not spare her a glance lest she take it with a different meaning. Fortunately, his height gave him a little more access to see her expression and her pale complexion did not escape his observation.

Is she sick?

He sniggered at his thoughts. Whether she was sick or dying was none of his business. She was just an insignificant passing character in his glamorously complicated life, and he had no intention of smearing the one he had painstakingly built these past few years.

Levi Bowman died several years ago.

And Chloe, along with several other women he shared his bed with, did not deserve a minute of his precious time. He might recognize them and vice versa, but just like a programmed computer with many layers of firewall, he denied them access without remorse.

They were just toys he had discarded.

And he was not one who would pick up the trash he had already thrown away.

Christopher Harrington – head of the Harrington household and chairman of Harrington Holdings, sitting on top of the world, a pillar of the country’s economy, and a man elusive to the public’s eye. This was him.

What happened in the past would stay behind ㅡ where it should belong.

Ding!

“Sir,” Rodney spoke in trepidation the moment he stepped out of the elevator, leading him to the readied convoy in the underground parking lot.

Chris met his assistant’s anxious gaze and raised an eyebrow. Rodney was giving him his poop face and, to him, it spelled catastrophe.

“Speak,” he ordered.

Gray and Josh followed closely behind them. They were the best in his elite twenty-one, the team of bodyguards Arthur had trained to protect him ever since he was a child. The two were his age and had played in the same football team with him when he lived his life as Levi, developing their relationship into a close bond of brotherhood. They were the only ones who were aware of everything that happened in Chris’ life, including the string of women he unwittingly dragged into his bed.

So, it did not escape Chris’ eyes when the two exchanged glances after realizing Chloe’s presence in the elevator.

Rodney looked around apprehensively but did as told anyway.

“Mr Stanley of Astrowitz Jewellers wants to pull out from the project in Colesberg.”

Chris’ expression turned grim as he marched to his black Bentley. Rodney was talking about a stadium project in Colesberg which has one of the largest markets in the world. They were dealing with billions and even if he did not lack the money or the ability to secure another partner, it did not sit well with him that someone dared to back out from a project he personally handled.

“WAIT!!”

It was Chloe, calling out from the elevator.

Gray and Josh quickly moved, making sure she did not get too close to their boss. But Chris gestured to them to stop. He’d like to see what the woman was up to.

Looking back, Chris found Chloe’s weak figure slowly advancing towards his direction with the same man in tow, protectively supporting her by holding her shoulders. She pulled her baseball cap lower as if it would hide her face from him. And just like that, he stood next to the ajar car door, waiting for the drama that would unfold right before his eyes.

“You dropped this.”

Chloe extended an arm and opened her tiny, fisted hand, revealing a sapphire cuff link. The nagging feeling bubbling inside her was telling her that the indifferent man right before her eyes looked extremely identical to the man she once shared a few moments of drunken comfort and lust.

Lifting her head to meet his gaze, she felt her stomach twisting, her pulse racing, and her heart pounding. She tried to see the familiar smirk in his mouth or the playful glint in his eyes. But he only looked at her stoically. He was expressionless, as if he was looking at a crappy piece of art – devoid of interest and acknowledgment.

“Thank you,” Chris spoke, reaching out for the object in her small palm.

When the tip of his finger brushed against Chloe’s skin, she could not help but gasp and shiver at the contact. His deep and magnetic voice was seared into her brain that she did not realize until that very moment, making her already weakened knees grow jelly.

It’s him! It’s Levi!

Chloe, clueless as she was, was blindly and hopelessly wishing they’d bump into each other again. She had run countless simulations in her mind on how to break it to Levi that they had a child. These ideas played on repeat whenever she wandered back to the memories of her past.

Nope, she was not delusional, and she never dreamed about having a fairytale-like happy ever after with a stranger she had a one-night stand with.

Truthfully, she was not expecting Levi to accept her son wholeheartedly. But she hoped that maybe… just maybe… he could provide the fatherly love and guidance the child badly needed.

However, now that she came face-to-face with the person who shared the same flesh and blood with her adorable son, she could only bite her tongue and swallow her words, realizing that he did not recognize her.

Of course, did you expect him to keep you in his memories?

She sneered, inwardly mocking herself at her id!otic wishful thinking.

“No problem,” she muttered softly, turning around to hide the disappointment on her face.

With Jack’s support, Chloe settled in the passenger seat of his Mercedes. She was foolishly trying to console herself as she watched the retreating convoy of the black Bentley and Audis. She told herself that Levi was an athlete who had retired from the football scene due to his unknown illness, not some arrogant, posh, rich kid who looked like he hated the entire world.

At least that’s what she knew.

Her heart sank.

Deep inside, Chloe was certain that Levi and the owner of the expensive cuff link were the same. She had met countless good-looking guys due to her work in the entertainment industry, but her body never responded to such a degree as it did with Levi.

As much as she hated to admit it, her body recognized his touch. It was as if her senses memorized every callus and every rough edge of his hands.

She sighed and clicked her tongue as Jack drove away from the hospital’s underground parking lot. Tilting her head, she watched him maneuver behind the steering wheel, slowing down when the light turned red.

“Are you okay?” he asked worriedly.

Chloe chuckled, feeling silly.

“I’m fine. Why wouldn’t I be?”

“B-But…”

“Maybe I got the wrong person…” she cut off.

She did not want her friend to waste his time worrying about her complicated life.

Jack kept mum. He wanted to argue and tell Chloe that the man was indeed Levi Bowman they had met in Wellington five years ago. But his conscience told him not to push it, seeing his best friend’s disappointment.

It took a darn lot of courage for Chloe to come clean to him when she found out that she was pregnant with the football star’s child. And Jack, being the supportive friend and brother, assured her that she would never be alone in raising her son.

He used to admire Levi. But after watching his exchange with Chloe, Jack could not help but feel furious. He wanted to throw a punch at his smug face right there and then.

How could he not recognize Chloe?