by Cidney West
Ella and the Billionaire
(A Once Upon a Billionaire Novel)
Cidney West
Ella and the Billionaire
Copyright © 2019 Amy Saunders
All Rights Reserved
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, brands, media, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. The author acknowledges the trademarked status and trademark owners of various products referenced in this work of fiction, which have been used without permission. The publication/use of these trademarks is not authorized, associated with, or sponsored by the trademark owners.
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CHAPTER 1
As soon as Ella saw the list of missed calls and texts on her phone, she groaned internally. She’d been away from her desk for a little while to copy some papers and deliver them to the floor below and it probably took her all of ten minutes. Somehow, in that time somebody had blown up her phone. And there were really only two people in the universe who would do that.
Angie, Ella said in her head as she read the notifications. Angie and Marie, her stepsisters. Despite the number of times she told them she couldn’t always respond when she was at work, they never got it. And how could they, really? They didn’t have to work.
Ella slipped out into the nearby corridor, calling Angie back. As much as she wanted to just ignore it right now, Angie would only keep calling, so she may as well get it out of the way. She brushed a lock of blonde hair behind an ear as she waited for Angie to answer, taking a couple of good breaths in the process.
“It’s about time!” Angie shrieked as soon as she picked up. “I could be dying, you know. You might be too late and have to live with that for the rest of your life.”
Ella shut her eyes, dismissing the snarky responses scrolling through her mind. Instead, she opted to ignore it as she leaned against a wall, speaking low as people passed. “What do you need, Angie?”
“I’m trying on dresses and I need your opinion.” So that was the big emergency. Ella wanted to sigh in exasperation, but she’d have to wait until later.
At the same time, Ella’s phone lit up with an invite to switch to video. She hated doing that, but she didn’t dare tell Angie she wouldn’t. She accepted and a second later, Angie’s long face filled the screen, her skin folded up around her chin like an accordion as she stared down at it. Ella tried to hold her phone high to avoid that problem as much as possible.
“Did it work?” Angie asked, then her brown eyes lit up. Ella always thought Angie had the nicest features except they were often eclipsed by…other things. “It worked!” To Ella’s relief, Angie held the phone out at a more normal distance from her pores. “Tell me what you think of this dress. Marie said I looked like a trout.”
Angie turned the phone so Ella could see Marie’s face. “I think it looks horrid,” she said with malicious delight. Her dark brown hair was slicked back, heightening the sharp angles of her forehead and jaw. Ella would never have thought of either of them as ugly, though their behavior left something to be desired. In fact, she’d thought they might make good models with their strong cheekbones and jawlines. Especially in contrast to her own, softer features.
The phone flipped back to Angie who pouted. “I want your opinion, Ella.”
Ella had to contain another sigh. How many times over the years had she had to play referee to these two? Marie would say something mean (though sometimes it worked the other way), and Angie would come running to Ella, demanding her…help? It took Ella a long time to realize she might want reassurance or comfort.
Even now that they were all adults, some things hadn’t changed. Ella had repeatedly told Angie she didn’t need to include Marie all the time since Marie tended to do things like this. But, as with everything else, Angie never listened.
“Let me see it,” Ella said.
Angie brightened and she flipped the phone toward the three-sixty mirror, contorting her boyish figure into what Ella supposed was meant to be a Vogue pose. “All right,” Angie said. “What do you think?” She tossed her head, her mess of short, dark curls simply falling in front of her face.
Ella had to seriously control the urge to cringe. The bright green, sequined mermaid dress (hence the trout reference, Ella figured) did not hug her stepsister in all the right places. It either added to or highlighted her slight paunch and did unnatural things to her boobs. And the color clashed with her porcelain skin. Not to mention, it looked too small.
“So…?” Angie snapped when Ella took too long. “Am I stunning?” She tried to flip her mass of unruly curls again, but they still cascaded around her face.
Stunning…that was one word for it. “I think…perhaps…you can do better.” No matter how many times Ella was thrown into these situations, navigating them never got easier…or more pleasant.
“You think she looks like a trout, don’t you Ella?” Marie said in the background.
Ella pressed her lips together. The attempts at entrapment hadn’t gone away, either. “I don’t think you look like a trout, Angie. I do think you should find something that looks more expensive. You always wear such refined dresses. This one looks too cheap for you.” Money and status, the two arguments Ella could always rely on. Angie might throw a fit if she told her the dress was unflattering. But she wouldn’t want to hear the dress didn’t flaunt their wealth.
Angie glanced down, picking at the sequins, her face scrunching up as she examined them. After mulling that over, Angie stood up straight. “I knew it. It does look cheap.”
Ella smiled wearily, telling herself it only mattered that the call ended soon. “Exactly. You can find something better.”
Angie’s thick brows knitted together angrily. “You would’ve let me walk out of here with this!” Ella wasn’t sure if Angie was yelling at Marie or some poor sales associate, but before she could find out, Angie flung the phone. After a crack, the screen went blank. How many cell phones had Angie destroyed in her lifetime? Ella couldn’t begin to count. It felt like she had a new phone every other week.
With no one around to see, Ella finally let out a long sigh, resting her head against the light gray wall. Now that she’d talked to them, Angie and Marie would likely forget all about her for a while and that was a relief. She could work without the interruptions. And she needed to. Especially with everyone on edge about the fate of their jobs.
The travel guide publisher she worked for, Vannoy Travel, had recently been bought out by Knightley Media, a mass media company that even owned other mass media companies. As soon as the buyout was official, layoff fever had affected everyone from the top down, though no one knew what plans Knightley had for the company.
With her family obligation out of the way, Ella hurried back to her desk before anyone noticed she was still missing. She was Maggie Evans’ assistant, the president of Vannoy, and Maggie was a fair boss, but Ella still needed to do her job. Especially since she’d been reprimanded before for disappearing to take phone calls–all from her stepsisters and none of them emergencies. If the buyout did mean layoffs in the end, she didn’t want to be an easy target.
So, Ella inhaled, putting her stepsisters behind her, and got back to work.
CHAPTER 2
Cedric picked at the croissant, wondering how on earth anyone could rightly call it that. It must have been made days ago, and not very well from his perspective. After living in Europe for a while recently, he’d become quite the pastry connoisseur and this thing did not come close to qualifying. He was tempted to fling it at the wall and see what happened.
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br /> As that idea came and went, his father’s voice floated into his consciousness. “…Cedric to step in and implement the changes.”
Cedric rubbed pastry crumbs between his fingers, slowly looking up as he realized people were staring at him. He gazed out around the black conference table at a matched set of starched white shirts and grim faces. Maybe he should try and bounce the croissant off one of their bald heads instead. Except they were all watching him in surprise and horror and he didn’t know why. Maybe he’d said something out loud about the croissant accidentally?
The man across from him cleared his throat, adjusting his suit jacket. “Edward, we appreciate you want to give the boy some more serious experience in the field, so to speak. But there might be a better way to warm him up to it.”
“Such as?” His father widened his small gray eyes as far as they went, staring out at his audience. Everyone at the table looked at each other. Desperation, and possibly defeat clouded their faces. “Precisely,” his father announced when it was clear they didn’t have a better idea. “He needs to learn, and this is the best way to do it.”
They did realize Cedric was sitting right there, didn’t they?
When no one could argue or was too afraid to, his father smacked his hand on the table like a judge with a gavel. “Then it’s done. Cedric will oversee the transition of Vannoy Travel.”
A piece of the croissant shattered as Cedric pinched his fingers together. “I’m doing what?”
A few sighs and groans escaped around the table as his father’s mouth closed into a hard line. “We’ll talk in my office.”
Cedric followed him down the hall to an office that was probably the size of some apartments in the city, licking specks of croissant from his fingers as he walked. He’d done everything to protocol today, smoothing his sandy hair to the side, wearing a suit and tie, and sitting in on a meeting with the board of directors. It would momentarily pacify his father and then he could go back to what he’d been doing the last couple of years–globetrotting.
Truthfully, he probably still would be doing just that except for his best friend, Hunter Masseron, who had suddenly asked him to visit after years. And then he’d been invited to his wedding. Cedric couldn’t say no and once he was back and so close to New York, he couldn’t ignore his father, either. So, he’d showed up today to play the part of the CEO’s son with plans to leave later in the week. He had a feeling he might need to delay them.
His father shut the door, tearing off his suit jacket and tossing it on a coat rack. But that wasn’t a sign that his father was putting aside his business demeanor. It usually meant the opposite. “Here’s the deal, Cedric: This is a family-owned and operated company. Has been for a hundred years. And that’s because it’s been passed to each generation. You are my only child and I don’t want that legacy to end with me.”
Cedric stifled a sigh, throwing his head back. Here it was–the talk. He thought he’d get to leave before it happened, but his father wasn’t messing around this time. Usually, he pretended to be interested in Cedric’s personal life for a while before breaking out into what he really wanted to say. Not so this time. “Come on, Dad. You saw how everyone reacted. I’m not cut out for this. And you said it yourself. This is a family-owned business. Other members of our family work here. Dan, for instance, would be perfect.”
His father gripped the back of his office chair, pulling out his power face and staring him down across the room. “Then what would you do? Spend the rest of your life wandering aimlessly around the planet?”
Cedric shrugged, wishing he could loosen his tie, which felt like a noose now. “I don’t know.” He did know that he’d dreaded the moment he had to return to this.
His father let out a long, exasperated sigh, running his hand down his face. “I was hoping it wouldn’t come to this. I realize I can’t force you to do this. And I really didn’t want to have to pull my ace.”
Cedric sensed a “but” coming on. And he thought he could guess what it was. He’d managed to avoid this for a long time, but a pit in his stomach told him that might be about to change.
“But,” his father said, his face drawn and gray, “you’re not giving me any other choice. You know that holding onto the fortune that sustains your lifestyle is dependent on one thing.”
Cedric gulped. Yep. He knew it.
His father took a breath before letting it out. “You must accept your responsibilities as heir to this company. Otherwise, per the rules of the trust, you forfeit everything.” He gripped the chair and stared intently at Cedric. “That was not my decision; it’s how your grandfather did things. I had the exact same stipulation. I’ve given you a lot of rope, here, Cedric. But you’re running out of time. You’re turning thirty soon. I won’t be able to do anything if you keep blowing this off.”
Cedric’s eyes dropped to the gray carpet. To his father’s credit, this was the first time he’d ever used this card, though it had been there all along. He knew it, and his father knew it. But they never discussed it. He knew the deal of the trust expired when he was thirty. If he took on his role as heir to the company, he finally gained control of it. If he didn’t…well, he’d always ignored that part.
“I know you don’t want this,” his father went on. “But it’s now or never, son.”
Cedric lifted his head, though it felt very heavy for the first time in his life. “Then I guess it’s now.”
CHAPTER 3
Ella heard the news directly from Maggie first thing that morning. But it quickly spread (though Ella didn’t make a peep) and soon her entire floor was a buzz of whispers and hushed conversations in the breakroom.
Knightley Media was sending over a representative, though none of the other employees knew that it was the son of the CEO, Cedric Pearce. Ella had no idea if that was typical or not. She did know it set all the department directors on edge because of the responses she got after sending out an alert. Maggie seemed unfazed, so Ella tried to brush it off herself as a normal thing to happen.
“I think he’s here!” A woman at a cubicle down the room shouted. As one unit, everybody got up from their desks and rushed to the windows.
Ella couldn’t resist and followed, hugging a file folder, and squeezed in next to a workmate named Olivia. She scanned the street below, skipping over pedestrians and taxis. The only thing out of place was a man on a motorcycle who’d taken the spot reserved for their visitor today. But that couldn’t be him. She’d seen his photos on the company website, and he wore designer suits and silk ties. He should have arrived in a black car with a chauffeur.
“Someone needs to go down there and tell him to move,” another employee said. Ella had to agree. The last thing they needed was to make a bad first impression of how they ran things.
“That might be him,” one of the editors said, checking his watch. “He’s a little late, but no one else has shown up yet.”
Ella inclined her head as the man pushed off the bike and secured it, then pulled off his helmet and straightened out his light hair in the side mirror. Her eyes went wide. Except for the looser hair and black leather jacket, it was definitely Cedric Pearce. Was this informal appearance normal?
Another editor gasped, covering her mouth with a hand. “That’s…that’s the son!”
“Whose son?” The watch editor asked.
“The CEO’s,” she hissed. “I can’t think of his name, but it’s definitely him.”
“How on earth do you know that?” Watch Editor said.
She rolled her eyes. “The website. There’s a photo of him with his father.”
Ella turned her eyes back to the street, watching the man stride toward the front door, her heartbeat picking up. She thought about chiming in and confirming it was Cedric Pearce, but she didn’t have permission to tell anyone. And they’d find out for sure soon enough.
“Is this good or bad?” Olivia said, her eyes glued to the street.
Watch Editor shook his head. “I have no clue.”
Olivia’s big eyes met Ella’s and she smiled reassuringly, though she couldn’t tell her it was normal or that everything would be okay. Because, truthfully, it might not be, and a little knot formed in her stomach admitting that to herself.
Ella’s phone rang making everyone at the windows jump. She ran over and answered on autopilot. It was the reception desk with a Mr. Cedric Pearce for Maggie Evans. Surprised he didn’t just breeze past the formality, Ella alerted Maggie in person. Maggie looked on as Ella told her, not even blinking. After a moment, Maggie nodded. “Then let’s get on with this.” She stood up and smoothed out her black pants, the long string of maroon beads around her neck settling against her body. “How do I look?”
Ella smiled. “Like a pro.”
Maggie’s lips twitched and she motioned with her head to the door. “Come with me. I may need you.”
Not expecting that, Ella snatched her tablet from her desk before hurrying to keep up with Maggie’s steady strides. Everyone in the room watched with wide eyes and parted lips as they left. Olivia gave her a thumbs-up from across the room.
Ella tried to steady her heart and breathing as they hurried to the elevators to meet Mr. Pearce. They stopped in front of the doors and Maggie straightened her shoulders, clasping her hands in front of her, looking perfectly cool. Ella wanted to look that way, but she felt more like a shaking Chihuahua, so she took the time to breathe in and out and tried to mimic Maggie’s stance. This wasn’t up to Ella, anyway. But she felt the weight of the room down the hall on her back.
The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Cedric Pearce stepped out and flashed a smile. Ella’s heartbeat had slowed down but now it raced again. Not to say she didn’t notice he was handsome in the website photos but seeing him up-close and personal was a completely different experience. His face lit up as their eyes met and his hazel eyes twinkled. As he turned to Maggie, she noticed he hadn’t quite fixed all of his sandy hair after taking off the helmet, which was propped under the other arm as he shook Maggie’s hand enthusiastically.