Athena seemed so determined to buy the museum. She was fighting me tooth and nail! She must be very bored with her life doing the daily routine-- unreasonably spending money.

I could not let her take the museum, our family had been wanting to get hold of the property for ages. Mr. Murphy was just too stubborn to sell his property to us before.

Strategy. I need strategy to divert Athena's attention away from this museum and to influence Mr. Murphy's decision.

"Follow me this way." Mr. Murphy said as he went ahead of us.

"This museum is not a good investment for you. You're young, free and single-- you should make valuable investment like stocks, bonds, gold or real estate that will rise in value. It would give you more freedom. But this museum, you will lose a great deal of money." The advice I gave her was true. She would be wasting a lot of money in this museum-- and a lot more when she would restore the place. "I doubt that you could get the return of your investment in thirty years."

Athena stopped and faced me squarely. One hand went to her waist as she looked at me. Her eyes were hard and filled with dislike.

"I had half of the contents here appraised by an expert and it cost much more than the price that I would be paying Mr. Murphy. He has too many unique and original arts, paintings and artifacts that every billionaire would be willing to pay in an auction at any price to display in their living room."

Damn it. Being a billionaire's daughter, she knew too much about the weaknesses of every billionaire -- acquiring the most expensive original artifacts, his name plastered in newspaper headlines for days, being listed in the Guinness book of records for winning the auction and displaying the item in their huge living room to brag to friends.

"I need this property Athena, very badly, so I can start my own hotel. I can help you get another museum, I'll use my family's connection. I swear we can make it possible for a week or a month's time."

I had not missed her flare of temper. Her eyes widen as she continued to glare at me.

"I'm not going to back out. This museum is going to be mine." She said firmly, like a real spoiled brat! "I already talked to Mr. Murphy for many days, we agreed that he's going to sell his property to me. Everything turned out really good until you're here and meddling our negotiation. Don't you have any decency to respect our agreement?"

Respect. Respect. She's talking about respect now. A word that never existed in our vocabularies from the moment we met.

I cleared my throat and replied to her in a very calm manner. "He negotiated to us first. He promised that if ever he would sell his property, it would be to US. That's very clear."

"Ha! Can you prove it? Do you have that documented? You really think I'm stupid!"

I shook my head. This girl is impossible! "Did you hear me say you're stupid? You said it baby, not me." I chuckled. We were back at our own game again - the provoking game.

She stared at me and I stared back. Oh yeah, my favorite, the staring game.

"Don't ever call me baby again. Or I swear..."

"What are you going to do... baby..."

"Stop it!" She hissed.

I just loved her expression. It was priceless, couldn't help but to chuckle.

"You don't have any proof that he is selling the property to you, so back off." She gritted her teeth and saw her lips quivered.

"No, but his word is enough. I understand that he is a man with a word of honour." I rose my eyebrows mocking her.

"He's eighty five. I don't think he'll remember what he said years ago. My grandpa is seventy four, he can't even remember that he already ate breakfast." She suddenly let out a bitter laugh and caught up with Mr. Murphy.

She's very stubborn and feel like she holds the cards now. Let's see.

Going down to the basement proved to be very difficult for someone wearing a high heeled shoes, fashionable white long dress and carrying an expensive bag. The steps were rough, made of cracked bricks and stones. Some were slippery and needed good footing to get through to the bottom.

"Not our lucky day, the bulb light burnt out yesterday." Mr. Murphy said, referring to the lights at the stairway.

I looked down the stairs, it was so dark that I could not see the bottom. It was kinda old and peculiar, not I expected in a big building like this. It was like leading to a dungeon.

"Bring this flashlight, Hunter." He handed me an old long metal flashlight.

I took it from him and tested the lights, satisfied that it was glaring brightly.

"There's a switch at the left side of the wall at the bottom." Mr. Murphy continued his instructions. "You two go ahead. I'll get down when you turn on the lights. I need to see the steps."

"Sure, Mr. Murphy. No problem." Athena answered bravely, not finding the stairs peculiar at all. She turned to me and said. "Go ahead."

"You go ahead." I said to her, trying to see how brave she projected she was.

She rolled her eyes and gave me an impatient look. "You're the one holding the flashlight."

Without argument I went down to the dungeon... I mean the basement with ease while Athena was holding the walls trying to keep her balance.

I offered my hand to help her but she dismissed it by waving her hand. "I can manage."

"Okay." I said and continued going down. There were about thirty steps and it became narrower and darker to the bottom. "Are you okay?" I turned to Athena who was having difficulty catching up with me.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said with staggering steps.

"You should remove your shoes."

"Don't worry, I won't fall. I'm used to this, I studied ballet when I was in grade school, remember?"

Yeah, I remembered. The first time I saw her, she was about seven and I was nine years old. She was wearing this overall pink ballet outfit with her hair pulled tightly in a bun. So funny how I found her so cute at that time, until I found out her real attitude a few years later.

Finally, I reached the bottom and was about to switch the light when Athena shouted. "Carterrrrrr!!!!!!"

I turned and saw Athena fell straight at me. I lost hold of the flashlight and heard the breaking sound of glass. The lights went out immediately and everything turned so dark.

"Everything okay in there!" We heard Mr. Murphy shouted from above.

"Yeah! We're okay!" Athena shouted back.

Well, glad she made it okay, but my back really hurt. I was lying on the floor with her sprawling above me. I could feel her softness - her breasts, her stomach, her legs and arms all over me. Her hair so soft like silk on my face. My lips were pressed on her neck and she smelled divine... delicious. Oh God, what am I thinking? I was nearly paralysed and I was thinking of crazy things with this hateful woman!

"I'm not okay. My back hurts a lot. You nearly killed me." I snapped at her.

"I'm sorry. I lost my balance, that last step is terrible." I felt her move instantly away from me. It was so dark, everything was black and our voices echoed.

"Get the flashlight." I instructed her and slowly sat up, using my elbows for support behind me. My legs spread apart as I tried to stretch my aching body.

"Where? It's so dark."

"Come on Athena, use your hands."

"Okay." She obeyed and became silent.

I jerked when I suddenly felt Athena's hand.

"I got it!" She said excitedly.

Oh fuck!

"I swear that's not the flashlight you're holding Athena." I muttered in agitation.

"What?" She asked with a confused tone in her voice.

I hissed and said. "That's my dick!"