The Billionaire’s Hidden Heiress

Knox POV

"Damnit Midnight where is it?" I cursed, looking high and low for my watch.

I could sense Lorelai's amusement as I turned the room upside down looking for it. I had begun training the furry little adorable creature and discovered he had a penchant for grabbing little shiny things and hiding them. I could see Lorelai's face as she turned away, struggling to contain her laughter as I scowled at her.

"This is all your fault" I huffed as she gave up and doubled over "You're the one who bought him."noveldrama

"You're the one who insists on letting him out of the cage to freely roam" Lorelai smirks "and is too soft to scold him for doing the wrong thing."

I flush and turn away. Screw it, I'd use a different watch. It's not as though I didn't have plenty. I could see Midnight lying on a pillow pretending to be asleep. I gave a growl of frustration. Lorelai giggles some more. I throw a pillow at her and she snorts. "Is that all you've got?" she raises a brow.

I dodge the one she ditches at me just in time. I grab another one and prepare to fling it when the door to the room flings unexpectedly open. We halt and turn to stare at a red-faced lan who is absolutely fuming as I sneer at him. Now he looks like he's lost control of his temper.

"He's taken my cufflinks," he says in outrage pointing at an innocent-looking ferret who runs underneath the bed "I can't find them anywhere. I've looked all over. Where the hell is he secreting everything?"

"Um lan, don't you think you should knock first?" I ask him as my brother stands there looking mutinous.

"Your pet is driving me insane" he hisses as my lower lip twitches "he keeps stealing my stuff and I keep finding it in the most random places. Yesterday I found my pocket watch in the refrigerator" he snapped.

It was amusing to see the normally composed lan looking this distraught. He normally never lost his composure this much. He was normally unflappable but it appeared Midnight was really getting under his skin. I took the opportunity to smirk at him. "He's just a pet," I told him wryly "You're taking this personally."

"Keep him out of my room," lan said shooting me a look filled with daggers "Otherwise I'm not responsible if he ends up as a shish kebab!"

"I don't know how he keeps ending up in there" I protest but lan doesn't look convinced. Lorelai has lost it and has tears trailing down her cheeks.

Her whole body is convulsing on the bed. lan sniffs, looking wounded as he peers down at her.

"Lorelai I expected better from you."

She howls with laughter.

Patches comes running in. The room is utter chaos. The puppy jumps onto the bed, his tail wagging enthusiastically. He licks an offended lan on the face, causing him to grimace and wipe his mouth with a disgusted look on his face. He proceeds to jump on Lorelai who playfully pats him, while Father comes running up, looking out of breath.

"Patches, here boy" he calls and then looks apologetically at both of us "Sorry, he got away from me."

lan runs a hand through his hair "Has this place gone mad?" he demands icily as everyone stares at him "This whole house is disorganized, chaotic, and mad, utterly mad" he throws his hands up in the air.

Our father laughs "Well you two are to blame for the puppy" he points out as Patches begins to tear into a pillow, scattering feathers everywhere.

Damn, now I had to clean up a mess. "Yes but" lan groans and gestures towards the room "what about the sneaky little thief?"

"Oh you mean Midnight?" my father says with interest "Fascinating little creature isn't he" he comments while Lorelai smiles at him "You know he keeps stealing my change and I find it in the most interesting places," he says with amusement "it's quite funny when you think about it."

lan can't believe what he's hearing. "You're all mad, all of you," he says with exasperation, throwing his hands up in surrender.

Lorelai giggles "I think this is what a family is meant to look like, isn't it?" she says as lan's face begins to soften, and a small smile curves on his face.

"Exactly" my father agrees, walking in and snatching a playful Patches up, "it's been a lot more warm in the house with Lorelai and Midnight here. Oh, and Patches" he adds.

"Thank you," Lorelai says warmly.

The television is on in the background. "Exciting News. We have none other than the mother and father of Lorelai Mathews present in the studio today to offer us valuable insight into what kind of woman she really is. Lorelai Mathews, as you might recall, is currently engaged to the infamous Knox Grant and the two of them have already been engagement ring shopping. Is Lorelai Mathews as kind and compassionate as she appears, or does she have a deep dark secret that only her family is aware of? Keep tuned and find out."

Our eyes swing to Lorelai who looks ashen now, her body trembling. My father looks concerned and lan no longer looks so frustrated. I'm confused. Lorelai's parents have never even made an attempt to speak to either of us and Lorelai had insisted that we never even try to make contact. I had respected her wishes. I had looked into her background secretly and it had broken my heart to find out what she had endured as a child, living on the streets at the tender age of sixteen. I hadn't blamed her for not wanting her parents anywhere near her. The fact that the media was now using them to put her in a negative light was infuriating to me and to her. I could see the fear on her face and it made me want to comfort her, but all I could focus on was the story that was about to appear on the news.

"No" Lorelai whispers, a hand to her trembling mouth "I don't understand. What could have brought them out of the woodwork? How could they have found me?"

My father's lips flatten "It's been all over the television and in the magazines that you're marrying Knox" he says quietly, with no trace of judgment in his eyes or on his face "I would say that they saw one of the stories. This isn't your fault Lorelai." "But, whatever they say is going to be full of lies," Lorelai says thickly, looking on the verge of tears, her eyes swinging to mine in panic "They can't be trusted to tell the truth. Neither of them can. God, this is a disaster," she said sounding hysterical.

I put a hand up to prevent her from speaking "Lorelai, I need you to calm down. Ian contacted the studio. It's too late to have the story pulled, it's live but ensure that no other studio or newspaper attempts to create a story with those two people. Something's made them come crawling out and I can only assume they've been offered a large amount of money for the story" I said glancing at Lorelai who still looked devastated.

"Of course," Lorelai said bitterly, all amusement was gone from her face "It's always about the money. They're nothing but despicable, disgusting human beings."

She sounded resentful. My heart hurt for her. This was something Lorelai hadn't envisioned happening. I guess she hoped she would never have to lay eyes on her parents ever again and personally I had hoped that too. For them to do this to her now, when she was moving on with her life and finally finding some semblance of security and love, it was beyond cruel but this was the type of people they were. They didn't care how much they might be hurting Lorelai. She had never been a priority to them. It disgusted me. It made me furious. Parents were meant to love their children unconditionally and instead, these ones were hoping to make a profit off of her. They should disappear without a trace and if I thought I could get away with it, I would arrange for just that to happen. Now we didn't just have Karen to contend with but Lorelai's parents as well. lan was already nodding and heading out of the room, his cell phone in hand. I turned to my computer and began to type furiously. "What are you doing?" Lorelai asked in a small voice.

"The network is about to experience technical difficulties" I growled shrugging at her.

"Knox you'll get in trouble" she protested, and grabbed my hand while I attempted to yank it back "I'm not having you go to jail because of them. Stop," she said sharply while I glowered at her "Whatever they say is not going to make a difference to what we're doing. I'm still going to marry you. I just....I don't want your reputation ruined" she admitted hoarsely. "Child, we can salvage this. It's more important that we take care of this now. I have a feeling that your parents are not about to stop here. There's a reason they haven't contacted you first before doing this."

Lorelai pales. I reach for her hand. She trembles. "I thought that they would be happy to leave me alone."

"Money," I said regretfully "it brings out the worst in people. I'm sorry" I told her kissing the top of her head "but I think this is going to get worse before it gets better."

It was instinctual. Ian came walking in pissed "I have lawyers on it but the story is going ahead without interference. Freedom of speech and all that bullshit" he snarled "I've told them that defamation of character is a serious offense but they're playing hardball. Whatever this is, Lorelai's about to be painted in a very, negative light" he said tersely, his expression extremely apologetic.

"Welcome back. Introducing Thatcher and Lisa Mathews, Father and Mother Of Lorelai Mathews, the current partner of the infamous Knox Grant. Let's delve into the background of Lorelai Mathews and see the character of the person she grew up to be from the people who know her best, having raised her since she was a baby. Welcome to the studio and thank you for coming. Now Lisa, what kind of child was Lorelai?"

Our eyes all rise to look at the television and there is nothing but silence in the room. Lorelai looks as though she is holding her breath as we wait for her mother to answer the question, all eyes on the screen..