THE BILLIONAIRE’S RETURNED LOVER

PINK IVORY

Cold, wet and frustrated, Eli dragged himself through the hallway, ignoring the questioning look the maids threw him. They knew better than to cross him when he had his face scrunched up in anger, so they scurried quickly out of his sight.

"Well, s**t!" He muttered. He had thoroughly messed things up. In his defence, he hadn't been thinking. All senses abandoned him when Ivory was around him. Not after the night before.

He turned a corner in the west wing of the mansion, determined to find the hellion and explain things to her.

Explain what? His mind questioned and he paused in his step. Yeah, explain what exactly? That he wanted to tie her down to his bedpost so she would never leave again?

Eli winced and tugged at his lip. Considering how she yelled at him and ran off like he was the big foot, Ivory would not give him an ounce of her attention.

But what if she leaves?

Clenching his hand in determination, he resumed his walk towards her room, leaving a trail of water behind him. They needed to talk. They needed to iron all these complicated s**t out before he lost his darned mind. His father's will, the s*x they had the previous night, the crazy make-out in the pool, the whole shebang.

"Eli!" Henry called behind him, causing him to turn around quickly. The five-year-old looked adorable in his blue onesie, clutching his teddy, but his bright blue eyes that were watery with tears immediately alarmed Eli. Covering the few meters between them in rapid steps, he lowered himself to a stoop to look at the boy in his eyes.

"Hey, little man. Hey." He murmured soothingly, patting Henry's black hair repeatedly. "What's wrong?"

The little boy drew in a deep breath and whispered in a shaky voice. "Ivy... Ivy's fighting with momma."

Eli's brows furrowed in confusion. Why would Ivory fight with her mom? Those two had the best mother-daughter relationship he could ever imagine.

Forcing a smile to his face, he hoisted the boy up in his arms trying to pacify him. "Don't cry hmm? Ivory's just...." Darn! Talking to kids was hard. "Maybe Ivory doesn't feel too happy. Let's go to my room okay?"

Henry nodded and stuck his thumb in his mouth. Eli gave him a wide grin and slapped his hands lightly.

"You need to stop doing that, little man. It's embarrassing."

The little boy stuck his tongue out in reply.

****

A groan escaped Elijah's lips as the hot water cascaded down his back, trailing his skin in ripples.

"That's the stuff." He whispered, washing the shampoo out of his hair and swiping the lather through his blonde locks. He paused when he heard a crash in his bedroom, shrugged, and then continued scrubbing.

He had left Henry in there and was certain the boy had found something to destroy. Like he always did. Ever since Madeline Star and her adopted son came to live in the mansion, He'd had to replace half the things in his bedroom. Henry was quite destructive, not that Eli minded, he hadn't been any different when he was five either.

The shower was the one place he could be without interruptions. Where he could forget all the things that were going wrong and lose himself in the feel of the water running along his skin. He didn't want to think. Not about his dead father. Not about sizzling Ivory. Not about his icy mother.

A sharp thrill intruded his thoughts and he groaned audibly in frustration. "Well, this sucks."

The sound of running water was cut short and in a few seconds, he was rushing out of the bathroom in just a white towel wrapped around his waist. Henry sat on his bed, looking at him bright-eyed and innocent while holding up Eli's phone.

"Elijah? Is this a prank or something? Why the heck is a kid answering your darned phone?!" A man's voice blared from the device.

Giving Henry a mock glare, Elijah snatched the phone out of the giggling boy's hands and tapped Henry's nose before placing the phone against his ear.

"Calm down Finn. It's just Henry."

"Who the hell is Henry?" Finn demanded.

If there was one person Eli was grateful to have met in the past two years, it was Finn Bradley. His very close friend, head of security and secret Investigator are all wrapped up in a man in his late twenties. Finn had his hair in a hippie ponytail all the time and wore a ridiculous flowery t-shirt, it cranked on Eli's nerves, but he was one person Eli would never doubt had his back.

"Ivory's brother? Who has been living here for almost a year and has pranked you at least three times in the past three months?" Eli explained exasperatedly. "He's five Finn, I don't get how he gets you every time."

"Because kids these days are freaky robots," Finn grumbled from the other end.

He laughed, amused at the older man's antics and lowered himself to his bed. It was a king-sized bed, that sat majestically amid the large and wide room. The thick royal blue duvet, dampened from his moist body, covered the grey mattress. A couple of aqua-coloured pillows lay askew against the black headboard. Their overall blue theme matched the white and grey walls. Beside him, Henry launched into a childish wrestle with his teddy bear while Eli mostly ignored him.

If Finn was calling, then it meant there was news. And news meant things were fishy.

"How are you holding up man?" Finn asked and Eli gave a non-committal shrug. "I'm sorry I couldn't make it to the funeral. I know it's hard on you man, I'm truly sorry."

"Thanks, Finn." He muttered, feeling a prominent ache in his chest. "And... Well, Ivory came for the funeral."

Silence prevailed in the air for a minute before Finn scoffed. "The Ivory?"

"Yes, the Ivory."

Finn cackled wildly causing Eli to push the phone away from him and glared at the device.

"What's funny?"

"Oh, I can imagine how things went." Finn taunted. "Oh dear Ivory, how I have pinned like a fool, waiting by the window, hoping that one day, you will spread your wings and soar through-"

"Please stop. Your voice is nauseating." Eli reprimanded, pinching the bridge of his nose. "And I'm fairly certain you didn't call me to play charades."

"You're just mad that I did a fairly good impersonation of you." Finn retorted and laughed a belly full. Eli waited patiently until he was done. "Okay, got it out of my system."

"Good. Now tell me why you called? Anything yet?"

The older man sobered up and cleared his throat. "Yes. You were right in suspecting there was missing cargo. Got confirmation from the Accounts and Foreign trade department. There was a missing trunk of Pink Wood from Zimbabwe."

Elijah sucked a breath. "Pink Ivory."

It was the finest and rarest of wood. With its natural beauty and durability, it was important to Carter's Industries for furniture making. A missing trunk would not destabilize the company, but it would shake it on its foundations.

"Yup Pink Ivory. You know It's funny that your girlfriend goes missing first and then the wood that bears her name goes missing too." Finn mocked.

"That's not funny," Eli growled, feeling edgy with each passing minute. "This is a big deal, Finn. Something is going on in the company."

"Gah! You think I don't know that?" His friend asked. "Who busted their ass looking for the culprit? Me! That's who!"

A brow arched on Eli's forehead, and he gripped the phone tighter, swallowing a lump that had formed in his throat. His father had left Carter Industries as a legacy to him. Yes, he was inexperienced, young and would probably make a ton of mistakes, but he would be damned if he allowed anything to raze Carter Industries to the ground.

"You found who's responsible?" He murmured.

"Well, I wouldn't say found." Finn drawled. "It's more like suspicion. I'm like ninety-five per cent sure."

Eli growled, his right eye twitched in irritation. "Just get to it."

"Patience, patience." His friend sang. "I spoke to the captain of the ship responsible for delivering the cargo, he said some Nick Caraguay was on board and was quite fishy."

Eli rubbed his forehead in slow circles. Somehow that name sounded familiar. "Nick Caraguay... Isn't he working in the relations department or something?"

"Ding ding ding!"

"Ding ding ding!" Henry yelled beside him, peering up at Eli with an impish grin when Finn launched into a cussing tirade.

Eli having enough of the duo's fighting, rose from the bed and walked back to the bathroom. Assured that there would be no more distractions, he continued. "Why would my employee try to sabotage the company? He had to know there's no way a missing cargo of pink... Wood would go unnoticed?"

"Good thinking. As a treat, I've got two words for you." Finn replied. "Jose Santiago."

Eli's eyes widened and a chill breezed down his spine. "s**t!"