Chapter Five

“You live here Uncle Raine?.” Gabi’s voice was filled with awe.  “Alone?”. They were standing by the car looking up at the house as the maids carried their bags inside the house.

His house was two storeys high, breathtaking and looked like it was practically made of glass but it really wasn’t. Meira couldn’t tell exactly where it started or ended. 

“I live here with my housekeeper Hanna and five maids but they have their own quarters so… yes I live alone here.” Raine replied.

“Your house is so cool sir.” Gabe said. "Do you have a swimming pool?”.

“I have two.” He grinned.

“Nice!!”. Gabe laughed. "It’ll be okay for me to swim in it right?”.

“Of course.” Raine nodded. "The house is yours to do with as you please.”

“You didn’t just give them permission to destroy your house.” Meira said.

Raine shrugged. “Who’s tired and hungry and very very sleepy?.” He asked the twins. 

“Tired and hungry, yes but sleepy… No thanks.” They replied before running ahead into the house.

“You didn’t have to take us in but you did. Thank you very much Raine.” She said, "I used to think of you as a world class jerk but you’re really nice.”

“I consider you my friend Meira and I help my friends who are in need.” Raine said.

“Right. So you dream of banging your friends… in different positions?”. She raised a brow.

“Just you.” He grinned.

Meira gasped and hit his arm, making him laugh.

“I’ll take that as a joke.” She said, “Unfortunately for you… I’m sorry to say that all you will ever have are your fantasies because I don’t plan on shacking up with any man anytime soon. Maybe never.”

“Once bitten twice shy and all that shit?”. He made a face.

“Yeah.” She nodded. I’m going solo from now on.”  She sent him a sweet smile before strutting to the house and going in.

Raine shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans and smiled.

“We’ll see about that, Meira.” Raine said. "I get what I want; always.”

“Are you going to show us the house or do you plan to spend the night outside?”. Meira called from the doorway. “I’m starving.”

“We’ll eat first.” Raine said and walked up to her. "Then I’ll show you the house.”

“Before we go any further…” She paused, stopping him from walking ahead. “You don’t have a girlfriend abroad that’d pay us a surprise visit right? I mean… even if she did, she won’t be mad that we’re living here with you right?”. She questioned.

“Meira Hidelsie Daniels,” Raine muttered as he moved closer to her and placed his hands on her shoulders. “Do I look like a man who’d have a girlfriend and still want to sleep with you?”.

“How do you know my middle name?”. She frowned.

“Don’t change the subject.” He chided. 

“No.” She replied.

“But?”. He inquired.

“There isn’t a but.” Her brows furrowed in confusion.

“Isn’t there?”. He drawled. "But?”.

Meira sighed and narrowed her eyes at him wondering how he could read her mind by just looking at her face.

“But… I don’t know you.” She said, "I only know your name and the fact that you’re the wealthiest man in the world. And you used to be Richard’s boss.”

“Didn’t we spend any time together at all in the past eight years?.”  He frowned. "I know everything about you.”

“Of course you do.” She muttered, rolling her eyes.

“Well I’ll tell you everything you want to know about me over coffee after dinner.” He said.

“You drink coffee?”. She looked surprised. "We don’t…”, She let her voice trail off. He could have had it imported.

“I don’t like tea.”

“Oh.” She said, “Sure.”

“It’s a date.” He grinned and walked away.

“No it’s not.” She objected and ran after him.

After dinner and the kids had been put to bed, Raine and Meira sat on the balcony in silence looking up at the stars when Meira suddenly sighed and sniffled.

“Are you crying?”. Raine asked.

“No.” She shook her head as she wiped her tears. “Something got in my eyes.”

“Right.” He scoffed.

“Don’t make fun of me.” She glowered at him.

“I’m not.” He protested. "Don’t cry Meira, your tears are precious so don’t waste it on that scumbag.”

“He’s dead to me.” She frowned.

“Then let him stay that way.” Raine told her. "He shouldn’t take your happiness away from you.”

“I won’t let him.” She vowed.

Raine placed his hand on hers and rubbed gently consoling her for every pain Richard had caused her. She didn’t deserve to pay for something she knew nothing about.

“Tell me about you.” She turned to face him fully with a bright smile on her face. “I’d like to know Raine Cruz… the man.”

Raine chuckled and sighed then took a sip of his already cold coffee, grimaced and dropped the cup.

“I’m twenty eight years old, I used to love playing basketball and sometimes… soccer but all that changed when I turned sixteen.” He said.

“What happened?”.

“I was injured in an accident that killed my parents and my twin sister Raina.” He said. "Our private jet crashed.”

“What?”. She rasped.

“I was in a coma for six months and when I woke up… my parents and sister were already buried. They’d probably turned to dust by then.” He gave a half shrug. “I found myself all alone.”

“How did you cope? You had relatives right?”.

“My parents were the only children of their parents so I had no uncle or aunt but my grandparents were still alive so they took care of me.” He smiled ruefully. “Up to this day, I still can’t remember how it happened and every time I try to remember… I pass out.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that.” Meira whispered. “Are your grandparents still alive?”.

“They died two years after the accident on my eighteenth birthday.” He replied. “It felt like… my world had ended and I didn’t want to live anymore but Hanna didn’t let me hurt myself.”

“She was your nanny?”.

“No, she was my grandma’s friend who was living with us at the time.”

“What about your friends?”. Meira inquired. “Did they leave you all alone?”.

“Friends.” He scoffed disdainfully. “They are both dead.”

“What do you mean?”.

“My father had so many enemies and unfortunately for me, I didn’t know my former best friend Talon’s dad hated my father so he used his son to get close to me.” He sighed. “We were returning from a destination wedding of some sort of one of my mom’s numerous friends when we had that accident. It was caused by Talon’s dad.”

“Did you have him arrested?”.

“I did nothing.” Raine replied grimly. "I had just lost my parents so it didn’t occur to me to do anything at the time but I got my revenge. I made sure I did.”

“Guess my life story can’t be compared to yours.” She said. 

“It’s the same. We were both betrayed by the people we cared about and they didn’t care.” He growled, clenching his jaw. “As if that was not enough for Talon, he conspired with our friend Axel who was the son of a don and had my grandparents killed so I got my revenge too but I made sure they suffered before they died.”

Meira didn’t even notice she was crying until Raine wiped her tears with his thumb.

“Why do good people suffer?”. She asked.

“The bad ones are always jealous of the good ones so they hurt them.”

“Why did you leave England?”. She asked.

“There was nothing there for me anymore and it was just too painful to stay so after I recovered, I went to Italy.” Raine answered. "Do you know I’m Italian?”.

“Are you?”. She raised a skeptical brow. “You have an English name.”

“My name is actually Emeliano Giovanni Brillantes.” He informed her. “And… this is not my real face.”

“What?”. She studied him to see if he was joking but he looked dead serious. “What do you mean?”.

“This is not my real face.” He repeated.