My Unwanted Billionaire

I can’t believe it; this is really happening. I look down on my body adorned with a brown pencil skirt, a white blouse, and black stiletto heels instead of the usual jeans and t-shirt I used to wear for work. I am so excited and nervous to start my new job today.

I walk inside the building and walk over to the receptionist at the front desk to direct me to my supervisor’s office. I can’t believe I am going to be working here. Somebody, please pinch me; I need to make sure this is not a dream.

“Ouch,” I say, feeling a slight sting on my right arm. “Why did you do that?” I say to the pretty lady at the front desk. She is a beautiful brunette with grey eyes and an oval face with a lovely smile.

“You asked someone to pinch you, so I did,” She says, still with that beautiful smile on her face.

“I can’t believe I said that out loud,” I exclaim with wide eyes “You did honey, welcome to Crawford wine company. My name is Nora, and how can I help you?”

The company I am going to be working for is a wine company. Its family-owned and was founded in 1970. I know all of this because the person who helped me get a job here told me. I don’t know much about wines, but I don’t think I need to know too much to be a secretary in a wine company.

“I am the newly appointed secretary to Mr. Jason Crawford. Please, how do I get to his office?”

“I didn’t know Mr. Crawford needed a new secretary. Please could you wait a minute? I need to call and confirm what you are saying?”

“Sure, no problem” Oh my God, why does she need to confirm? Does it mean I didn’t get the job? Because if I didn’t, why would the older Mr. Crawford tell me I got the job. I am hoping there is a minor mix-up. I come back from my train of thoughts when Nora speaks.

“Sorry about my earlier statement and for keeping you waiting; take the elevator to the 20th floor. Once you get there, you will meet someone who will help you.”

“It’s fine, and thank you,” I say, releasing a breath of relief. Thank God, I was scared for a moment that I didn’t get the job. The older Mr. Crawford told me he really had to convince Mr. Jason to give me the job. I am so happy he did because this job is the beginning of many new things in my life.

I follow Nora’s instructions and arrive at the 20th floor after a minute or so. I am greeted by another beautiful lady once I step out of the elevator. She has the same dirty blonde hair as me, but hers is styled in a short bob while mine is in a ponytail. She looks older than me, maybe in her early thirties. If I am not wrong, she should be around the ages of 32 or 33. I am 23 years old, so she will be older than me by ten years if I am right. I could imagine if she started working here the same age as me now. She will probably have a lot of experience in whatever field she works in.

“Good morning; my name is Vivienne. I am Mr. Crawford’s secretary. I will be helping you settle in,” She says, with a stern face.

“Morning, I don’t understand how you are Mr. Crawford’s secretary. I thought I was hired to be his secretary,” I ask, confused. This is the second time someone is saying something like this.

“No, you are not. I am Mr. Crawford’s secretary while you are anything we decide you are going to be.”

“Excuse me, I don’t understand what you are saying. That was not what older Mr. Crawford told me.”

“Yes, of course, that is not what he told you, but that is what is happening,” She says, confusing me more.

“Can you explain to me properly what is going on?”

“As much as I would love to, I have a meeting to attend, but once the meeting is over, the CEO will answer all your questions.”

“Alright, thank you, and how long will I have to wait?”

“I don’t know, maybe an hour or two.”

“An hour or two, that’s a long time. Do you have someone else who could explain things to me?”

An hour or two is a long time to wait before things get explained to me.

“I am sorry we don’t have anyone, so it’s either you wait or say goodbye to your job?”

“Wow, don’t worry, I will wait.”

I don’t understand why she was speaking to me so sternly. The older Mr. Crawford told me he got me a job at his grandson’s office. He told me I would be his grandson’s new secretary, so I don’t understand what everyone has been saying since I arrived. I will just have to wait till the meeting is over to find out.

After two hours, I can’t believe she was not kidding. I am finally able to meet the CEO. I am a little nervous about meeting him. This is the first time I am going to see him in person. I have seen tons of pictures of him from the older Mr. Crawford, but nothing beats seeing someone in real life. I knock on the door of his office and wait for a response.

“Come in,” A deep voice says from inside. I say a little prayer while turning the doorknob and step inside.

I walk inside and find him seated behind his desk, waiting for me patiently to walk over. As I walk closer, I take in his features. His hair is black and grey in color. If I did not know his actual age, I would have thought he is a man in his 50s who looks very young and failed while trying to dye his hair. Mr. Crawford told me that his grandson is 37, so I know he is not as old as his hair would want you to believe. Once I am in front of his desk, I can see his face clearly. His eyebrows are full, black, and shaped perfectly. His eyes are hazel brown and look like a pool of caramel. He has beautiful eyes, I must say. His nose is straight and a little pointed, but not too much. His lips are just the perfect size and are peach in color.

“Miss Brown, please take your seat,” Mr. Jason says, gesturing to one of the chairs in front of his desk. I was so busy admiring him that I didn’t even take in the beautiful interior of his office.

The walls are painted all white except behind his desk that is painted brown, a nice mixture of colors.

“Thank you, sir,” I say, taking a seat on one of the white chairs in front of his desk.

“I will try my best to make this quick and not waste any of our time,” He says and places a document in front of me. “This is a contract that states you will leave my grandfather and I alone. I will pay you enough to make sure you don’t break the contract.”

Mr. Jason says, shocking me to the bone with his words. What in God’s name is happening today? I was so excited to start working today, but everyone has been making me feel like I don’t have the job ever since I stepped into this building.

“Why would you think I will sign such a contract?” I ask, feeling insulted to be offered such a type of contract. I don’t bother to pick up the document to read it because no matter how much is written there, I will never take it.

“Because it’s money you want, and I am giving it to you.”

“Yes, I want money, but I want to work for it.”

“You can quit the act; I am not my grandfather. I don’t believe you prefer a job than collecting settlement money.”

“Yes, you are not your grandfather. He knows I would never betray our friendship for a few dollars.”

“A few dollars,” He says, chuckling. “You insult me, Miss Brown; why don’t you check the document and tell me if that amount is a few dollars.”

“I don’t need to because no matter the amount written here, I will not take it,” I say, pointing to the document.

“Even though I still insist you have a look before you say anything else.”

“I am sorry, Mr. Crawford, but I am not going to read this document to see how much money you think is enough for me to stop being friends with your grandfather.”

“So you are telling me 1 million dollars is not enough to make you stop being friends with my grandfather,” He asks, smirking.

“Please repeat yourself?” I ask, wondering if I heard him correctly. Who pays someone such a tremendous amount of money just because they are friends with an old man?

“You heard me right, Miss brown; I will pay you 1 million dollars if you sign this contract that states you will never speak or see my grandfather again.”

I can’t believe he is serious right now; why does he not want me to be friends with his grandfather. The man is a lonely old man. I don’t understand why he is doing this. As much as the money would change my life around, I can’t accept it. The conditions to have the funds are too insulting to me as a person. I won’t lie; I want the money, but I can’t take it because I will be calling myself cheap if I do. I don’t believe I have everything in life, but I am not suffering to the point that I will stoop so low and accept such conditions and take the money.

“So, what do you say, Miss Brown?” He asks, eager to hear my answer.

“Mr. Crawford, I am sorry, but I still won’t accept your offer. I would prefer to work and make my own hard-earned money.”

“So you are sticking with your act, just tell me how much more, and I will have my lawyers draft a new contract immediately.”

“Mr. Crawford, I don’t want your money like that.”

“Then what do you want?” He asks, angry with me “I only want to work here and earn money. That’s all I want,” I say truthfully.

“That’s a lie; I don’t believe you.”

“I know you might not believe me because of how I became friends with your grandfather, but I swear to God. I am not friends with him for his money. I didn’t even know he had money until he got me a job. Please allow me to work and earn my own money,” I say, praying he will drop it and allow me to work here peacefully.

“I don’t believe a single word out of your mouth, but since grandpa wants you to work here. I have to allow you since I don’t have a reason not to.”

“Thank you so much,” I say, smiling. I was starting to get scared he wasn’t going to allow me to work here.

“Don’t thank me. I am not the one who got you the job.”

“I know but still, thank you, and please, I want to ask. Your grandfather told me I was going to be your secretary, but I met a lady earlier who said she is already your secretary.”

“That is correct,”

“If you already have a secretary, what am I hired for then?”

“You are my personal assistant.”

“I thought a personal assistant does the same work as a secretary.”

“Yes, they do, but not in your case.”

“What exactly am I going to be doing?”

“You will run errands for me at the office,” He says, casually waving his hands.

“Alright” Thank God my job is something I know how to do. I was worried he might assign me something outside my field of expertise, even though running errands does not have anything to do with my area of expertise. Anyone can run errands. I have a degree in business management.

“That’s all for now; you can leave. Vivienne will work you through the rest.”

“Thank you, sir, for allowing me to work here,” I say and stand up to leave “Don’t thank me yet because you will be leaving soon,” He says with an evil smirk.

“What!” I ask, shocked by his words “Nothing, Miss Brown.”

I walk out of his office with a lot of thoughts in my head. I can’t believe how my first day started. I don’t know why, but even though Mr. Jason allowed me to work here, I just feel things will not go well for me here.

I walk out of his office and walk over to the desk right across.

“Hello,” I say to Vivienne.

“I can’t believe you didn’t take the money; how much more money do you want.”

“Excuse me, how do you know he offered me money,”

“I am sure you want to work here so that you can seduce Jason and get more money out of him,” She says, ignoring my question. I can’t believe she called him by his first name. They must be really close for her to call him by his first name.

“No, that is not why I want to work here. Why would you accuse me of such?”

“I want to let you know that is not going to happen. Jason already has enough office romance, and your plan of seducing him is not going to work,” She says, ignoring my question again.

“I don’t plan to seduce Mr. Crawford. Please can you stop accusing me of all these things” I am starting to get annoyed with her accusations.

“Honey, you can pretend all you like, but don’t worry. The day you try to seduce Jason, and he rejects you and throws you out of here. I will be smiling and telling you, ‘I told you so,’” She says with an evil smirk plastered on her face.

“As I said before, I don’t plan to seduce him and to prove to you how much I won’t. I will tell you something about me; I don’t date guys his age. He is too old for me,” I say honestly. Mr. Jason might be an attractive man, but he is more than a decade older than me. If you add a few more years, he will be the same age as my uncle. It will be weird and creepy to seduce someone so close in age with the man who raised me.

She releases a fake laugh before speaking. “No, woman on this earth wouldn’t want to date someone as attractive as Jason. You can lie all you want, but I don’t believe you, and I won’t be letting my guard down around you. I will make sure to watch you closely.”

I think Mr. Jason and Vivienne are closer than a CEO and a secretary should be. I believe so because of the way she has been talking about him. You will think Mr. Jason is her boyfriend and I am trying to steal him from her.

“As much as I would like to continue arguing with you about my true intentions, I don’t think anything I say is going to change your mind. So why don’t we just move on, and you can fill me in on the things I need to do.”

“That’s a good idea; at least you are smart,” She says, rolling her eyes “Thank you”

“It wasn’t a compliment and follow me. I will take you to your first assignment for the day.”

I don’t say anything and follow her. We walk a few doors away from the CEO’s office before we stop. Vivienne opens the door, and it’s a small office. I can’t believe I am getting my own office. I am actually surprised because even Vivienne does not have an office, but I get one, or so I thought. The words that spill out of Vivienne’s mouth make the smile on my face turn into a frown.

“This is my office; I want you to move everything you saw on my old desk earlier here.”

“Okay,” I say, sad that the office is for Vivienne, and I get to help her move.

I do as Vivienne asked and move everything from her old desk to her new office. It takes me like 20 minutes or so. She did not have a lot of things on her desk, but it was stressful walking back and forth with files on my hands. She even made me carry her computer and refused to find someone to help me. I am going to be working the front desk now. I am happy I am finally given a real job.

I spend the whole day running errands for Vivienne and answering calls. I didn’t do anything serious today. All the errands I ran for Vivienne were not even work-related. They were all personal errands of hers. I can see her making my time at the office very difficult, and it’s because she thinks I am after Mr. Jason. I am not after him, even though that’s what she and Mr. Jason believes. Mr. Jason did not really ask me to do anything today. He acted like I did not exist at the office today.

I am on my way home after a long day at the office. I can’t believe the way my first day went. I arrive home after walking for a few minutes from the bus stop. I step inside the house, and the incredible aroma drifts through my nose. Uncle Jack must be cooking. I quickly walk to the kitchen to find out what he is cooking.

“Uncle Jack, what are you cooking?” I ask eagerly as soon as I step into the kitchen.

Uncle Jack works as an assistant chef at a fantastic restaurant. I believe he should be made head cook, but his boss thinks otherwise.

“Hello to you too; how was your day?” He says, smiling while stirring something in the pan over the stove. I could pass as Uncle Jack’s daughter with how much we look alike. We have the same blue eyes and blond hair. The same round faces with a pointed nose. He is a handsome man, and of course, I believe I am also not bad myself.

“My day was horrible, uncle jack,” I say, dropping my shoulders in exhaustion. I walk over to the stove to see what he is cooking. He is making creamy pasta, one of my favorite dishes.

“Why is your boss hard to work with?” He says while fixing me a plate “I wish,” I say and take a bite of my food. “This tastes amazing as always” I continue eating and tell Uncle Jack everything that happened in the office today.

“You know I love you, but I can’t blame the man for doubting you a little. His grandfather put you in the hospital for a week, and you refused to collect a dime from him.”

“Even though Mr. Crawford hit me with his car, I only sustained minor injuries. It was even partially my fault why I had the accident that day.”

I had an accident a few weeks ago, and Mr. Crawford was the one who hit me. We became good friends after I recovered. I was so stressed and depressed about not finding a good job that day so, while I was crossing the street, I walked a little slower than average. The lights had already turned green, and Mr. Crawford did not see me coming and hit me with his car. It was a minor hit because he caught the brake quickly. I stayed in the hospital for a week, but I had no severe injuries. I refused to collect settlement money since I was the one at fault, but Mr. Crawford refused to let it go and got me a job at his company that his grandson runs for him.

“I know that, but these are rich people; they don’t believe they are good people out there who are not out to get their money.”

“I am not out to get him for his money, and hopefully, he will see that.”

“Don’t worry, he will,” He says, giving me an assuring smile.

Uncle Jack is the closest family member I have. After my mom died from an overdose, I lived with him since I was six years old. He was very young when he had to take in his cousin’s daughter and raise her. He was only 25 when he had to take me in. Men that age might only be thinking of marriage, but he already had a six-year-old kid he had to take care of. I am so grateful to him that he agreed to raise me. My mother’s parents are alive, but I am not very close with them, but I see them once in a while. My father is also dead; he died while drinking and driving. I am his daughter, but I was not surprised when I heard the news. The man drank every time, so I was not surprised it killed him. Uncle Jack was married once, but the marriage didn’t last long because his wife cheated on him, my poor uncle.

After eating dinner, I walk inside my room to shower and get ready to go and visit Amber at her workplace. Amber is my best friend since high school. We are polar opposite, and I can’t help and wonder sometimes how I am friends with her. Once I am done showering, I walk over to my tiny closet to find what to wear. Since I am only going to the club because Amber works there, I put on black demi jeans and a green silk tank top. After I am done with my makeup, I find a taxi to take me to her workplace.

After a few minutes in the taxi, I arrive at Devil’s share; the club Amber works at. I walk inside without having to wait in line since the bouncer knows me because I come here all the time to visit Amber. I see Amber by the bar serving drinks; I walk over and take my seat on one of the bar stools.

“I will like a glass of sparkling water, please,” I say, ordering a drink. Amber turned her back before I got to the bar, so she does not know it’s me who just ordered.

“Who orders water in a bar,” Amber says as she turns around and places a cup of water in front of me. “I should have known; how are you doing,” She asks; Amber is a beautiful black-haired lady with piercing blue eyes.

“I am doing okay; how about you.”

“I am doing fine, and how was your first day at work. Do I need to poison your boss’s drink any time I see him at the club, or always give him a discount?”

“I wish it were the latter, but you will need to poison him if you see him.”

“Really, your boss is an asshole. I was hoping you will get a good boss this time around.”

“Me too,” I say, feeling sad that Mr. Jason hates me and will make things difficult for me. I have had horrible bosses all my life. While I worked part-time jobs in college, the bosses I had were not the best. I was really looking forward to a nice boss this time around, but maybe I am just not lucky. Sometimes I wonder if I was a horrible boss in my past life, and karma is catching up to me now.

“Don’t worry, I know you, and you are unlikeable; he will come around.”

“I hope so too.”

Amber and I engage in other topics; I also order a real drink and stay with her for a while. While talking, a stranger walks up to me and starts talking to me.

“Do you want to dance?” The sketchy-looking man asks while whispering into my ears as his horrible breath fans my neck.

“Thank you, but no, I don’t want to dance” I refuse politely

“Come on, baby girl, it will be fun,” He says, tugging on my hands, trying to pull me to the dance floor. Before I can pry him off nicely, Amber does it her way. She roughly removes his hand off me and uses her body to shield me. I don’t even know when she crossed over and came to this side “She said she does not want to dance, so beat it,” She says, crossing her arms over her chest while making sure to show off her tattoos. Amber can be very scary, and the fact that she is tall helps her. Amber should be around 5’7, while I am 5’5. I am not tall, but I believe I am of average height.

He puts his hands up in surrender. “Calm down, lady, no need to get aggressive, I will leave,” He says and walks away.

“Thank you,” I tell Amber

“Anytime, cupcake,” She says, smiling.

This is what I am talking about when I say Amber and I are polar opposite. The way she sent the man away is something I can never do. I have a degree, but Amber refused to go to college even though she is more intelligent than me. I will never let anything touch my skin, but Amber’s body is decorated with many tattoos. Regardless of all these differences between us, there is nobody on this earth after my uncle who understands me the way she does. I think that’s why she is my best friend. I spend a little more time with her before leaving. I have to leave early so that I can get some sleep before work tomorrow.