Undercover Billionaire Boss: A BWWM Contemporary Romance

by Mia Caldwell

  “Can’t you try and explain to him in an email? He can’t walk away from email.”

  “I don’t have his email address, or a phone number other than his cell for that matter.”

  “A past reference? Maybe they could tell you where he is.” Kelly said.

  “Maybe.” Raina was doubtful. She recalled his resume had been filled with a lot of random odd jobs.

  “I have no way of contacting him and he seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth. I went to the homeless shelter on the third and fifth street; you know the last place he lived in. They had never heard of Christopher Smith.”

  “He might have gone by other names,” Kelly said. “I mean, ‘Christopher Smith’ is about as unique as John Doe. Are you sure that was even his name?”

  Raina was stricken at the thought, but she sensed some truth to what Kelly was saying. She was starting to wonder if she had ever really known Christopher at all.

  Kelly looked into Raina’s eyes and said softly, “You know, you may have to accept that it’s truly over.”

  Raina slumped into her chair. She knew that Kelly spoke the truth. How would she cope with not having Christopher in her life? He had been a part of it for such a short time, but it had felt so good to be loved. It had felt amazing to have a partner who was there for her and the kids. Her life had acquired color and a purpose with him in her life.

  Worst of all, the kids had really taken to Christopher and now they were constantly asking her when he would return. “What will I tell the kids?” Raina said.

  “They’ll forget him soon enough … and so will you,” Kelly said in a gentle voice. She opened her mouth to speak again, but they were interrupted before she could get out a word.

  The door to the office swung open. “I knew you’d be here, you little bitch.” Roger sauntered in with a huge grin on his face. “But you won’t be here much longer.”

  He kept his eyes on Raina and the moment she met his cold ones, she knew it was the news she’d been expecting. He was sacking her.

  He held a big, shiny, white envelope in his hand which was marked “Confidential” and had her name emblazoned on the front. He waved it around like a trophy.

  “Your day of reckoning is finally here. This is your letter of termination Raina McMillan. And you’ll be getting no severance from us.” He said her name like it was a dirty word. She had expected this but the reality was still a cold shock. “You’re getting fired.”

  “I’m being fired? On what grounds?” Raina said, thrusting out her chin. She wanted to hear what he would make up, since legally “not sleeping with your boss” was not a good reason to put in writing, so she assumed he wasn’t stupid enough to have done that.

  “Theft.”

  The word hung in the air for several moments. Raina’s gasp was audible.

  He grinned wider at her look of genuine shock.

  “Yes, that’s right. Stealing money from the company is a punishable offense under the law, dearie. And this little bit of larceny could land you 10 to 20 years of hard time.” His oily voice took on a sinister edge, and for the first time Raina felt genuinely afraid of him.

  Roger snarled. “Lucky little whore though, aren’t you? The company has decided not to press charges as long as you sign a statement owning up to your misdeeds and returning the funds. If it were up to me, I would have you locked away for 50 years.”

  Raina gaped at him. “Theft?”

  She still did not understand what was happening. Of all the reasons Roger could have trumped up to get rid of her, she hadn’t expected something as nefarious as this.

  “Yes Raina,” Roger said in a mocking sing-song tone. “Posing as a supplier and diverting money from the Del Mar to your off shore accounts. Your scam has been discovered. Get the hell out of here! You have five minutes to clear out your things.”

  Kelly stared at her, mouth ajar.

  “I didn’t do it!” Raina said to her friend. She begged Kelly to believe her.

  “I know, Raina.” Kelly said her voice miserable. Her head hung low, avoiding looking at Roger.

  “Do you want me to get security? Move your fat ass now. And don’t let me catch you within 500 feet of the Del Mar ever again.” Roger threatened.

  Raina scrambled to her feet and then took her time straightening her skirt. She knew it would give Roger great pleasure to have her hauled out by the security in front of her staff.

  It hurt.

  She knew his cruel pettiness did not reflect on who she was as a person or impeach her integrity, but her heart sank at the stories she knew he would tell about her.

  She walked out of Kelly’s office with as much dignity as she could muster. To her chagrin, members of staff hovered around the hallway. Damn, Roger! He had no doubt ensured that her exit would be as humiliating as possible by calling the staff to witness her departure.

  She smiled bravely and blinked away the tears. The staff watched her in ominous silence, their faces grave. Many of them avoided her eyes. What must they be thinking? She wondered. Raina hoped they would know her well enough to figure out the truth. She went into her office, picked up her handbag and a couple of photos from her desk and walked out. She didn’t give a damn about any of the rest of it.

  She began the long walk of shame down the hallway where the staff was still lined up.

  “We’ll miss you Raina!” someone called out.

  “We know it’s not true!” another said.

  “You’re the best, girl! Don’t let ‘em get you down!”

  “No one can replace you, Raina!”

  The voices were clamoring in unison, growing ever louder.

  She turned, and looked at them, the tears that had been threatening to fall chose that moment to spill over her cheeks. She smiled back at them and waved. “I love all of you too.” she said simply, her hands over her heart. She blew them a kiss.

  The more than twenty staff members started to clap slowly, then faster and louder, until it became a crescendo. Her eyes landed on Roger who was standing at the end of the hallway with a self-satisfied grin on his face. She felt a smidgen of glee as she watched his face start to crumble as the staff continued to shout praise at her.

  “That’s enough! Get back to work or you’ll all be fired,” he snarled at them.

  She felt nothing but contempt for him. The silver lining was that she would never have to lay her eyes on his grotesque face again. He was an evil man.

  In the car, Raina’s control broke. She cried and hugged the steering wheel. After all the years at Del Mar, it hurt to leave under a cloud of shame. Where was Christopher when she needed him? When the tears subsided, Raina started her car and drove home. She was glad it would be hours before the children got home from school.

  In the hallway, a letter had been dropped from the mailbox. She took it with her to the kitchen. She smiled sadly. It was from the hospital. She now owed them nothing. It was odd to have so much money in her account, yet she felt as though pieces of her had broken away.

  She had identified herself with her job for so long. It would take getting used to not going to work in the morning. As for Christopher, it was time she faced reality. He was not coming back and the sooner she got that into her brain, the better it would be for her. Raina made herself a scalding cup of coffee and sat in the kitchen sipping it.

  It was time to go into survival mode. Since she had received the check, Raina had idly gone through properties for sale in the paper and circled those that interested her.

  But now? Now it was time to think seriously about her future. It was a future that didn’t include Christopher Smith.

  The following morning, after the children had gone to school, Raina left the house, walking towards her car with a renewed sense of purpose.

  She’d let herself have a good cry the night before. One of those times when you find yourself crying for everything and nothing all at once. She cried for her sister and brother-in-law, for her nieces and nephews, for losing the Del
Mar, for being wrongly accused … but most of all she cried for Christopher. She cried for believing that a fairy tale might come true for her for once, for thinking “happily ever after” was going to be in her cards.

  But after her good cry, she had wiped her face and gotten down to business.

  Sure, she had been humiliated and she had lost the man she loved, but Raina was made of sterner stuff, or so she told herself. She was dressed formally in her work clothes, a chic little ensemble from when she’d had money in the past. It was a youthful skirt suit in a cream-colored silk with which she wore a purple ruffled blouse and a long gold necklace that bounced with every step she took.

  She tried to exude the confidence she did not feel. The confidence she used to have when she was the manager of the Del Mar. She tried to channel that energy now.

  She had an appointment with the elderly owners of the bed and breakfast she’d liked best—circled and starred multiple times in the paper. It was at the edge of town, about thirty minutes away. She had liked the cozy, homey picture of the B&B, the Cliff West Inn. It had eight rooms and several common rooms like the dining area, the TV room and a huge kitchen.

  Raina pulled up to the brown bricked property thirty minutes later. A blue flowered sign with the name of the B&B hung cheerfully above the entrance. Several stone steps led up to the swinging door, and on the side a wrought iron railing that had been exquisitely detailed by hand.

  She knocked lightly, heard a voice call out, “Come in!” and pushed open the door. She was met by the delicious smells of bacon and fresh bread. Her stomach groaned in reply. She hadn’t eaten anything the previous night and had left the house without having any breakfast.

  A wide hallway had been converted into a reception area, but at the moment, there was no one manning it. Muted voices could be heard from further inside and she assumed that guests were having their breakfasts. She stood uncertain for a few moments, and then heard footsteps coming her way. An older woman greeted her with a smile on her face.

  “Hi, I’m Martha. You must be Raina?” she said with a motherly smile.

  Raina liked her immediately, and smiled in return. She stuck out her hand and wished that she hadn’t dressed so formally. Martha herself had on an apron over a simple dress and her hair was held back in a loose ponytail.

  “That’s right, I’m Raina McMillan,” Raina said matching Martha’s grin.

  “Welcome to Cliff West Inn. Would you like a cup of coffee?” she said.

  “That would be lovely,” Raina said, eager to see the dining room.

  The room was square in shape, a light brown carpet covered the floor and the tables were decorated with pink and white table clothes. There were about ten tables, arranged with a differing number of seats. At the moment, three quarters of the tables were occupied, which pleased Raina. Martha hurried to what Raina assumed must be the kitchen and returned moments later bearing two cups of coffee.

  I haven’t had any coffee myself, so this is a welcome break,” she said, sitting down opposite Raina.

  “It gets very busy in the mornings?” Raina said.

  “It’s crazy right now, and I hope I’m not putting you off, but if I can do it, so can you.”

  Raina smiled. “How many employees do you have?” Raina said.

  “Well, let’s see …” The woman started to count off the people on her fingers. “There’s Maggie who is the cook and a Godsend, then there is Rita who is the receptionist part-time, and Abigail who takes care of the cleaning with my help. Do you have any background in this type of work?” Martha asked.

  “Well, yes, I’ve been working in a hotel as the manager, but I started as a housekeeper,” Raina explained.

  Martha’s eyes widened. “So you’re not afraid of hard work. I’m impressed. When I bought this place, my only experience had been baking cookies. You’ll do well if you do decide to take it on.”

  “Why are you selling, if I may ask?”

  “Oh, I’m getting on in years and I want to enjoy the rest of my life. My children are all grown now with lives of their own and I figure that it’s my time to travel and see the world. But this little B&B has been good to me—and she’ll be good to her new caretakers too, I’m certain.”

  Raina nodded, sharing a small smile with her. She and Martha sat and chatted like people who had known each other for years and years, and they soon lost track of time.

  Martha offered Raina a tour of the property, which Raina gladly accepted. The downstairs held the dining room, kitchen, and a washroom. The guest bedrooms were on the second floor, as well as another common room, which had a wall mounted TV and a few comfortable sofas.

  “And I live on the third floor,” Martha explained, leading Raina towards the stairs. “There’s an efficiency apartment accessed through the stairs behind the receptionist’s desk. It’s a bit of an inconvenience, but also secure if you have kids. I always liked being right on the property to keep an eye of things.”

  The third floor was a tiny three-bedroom apartment. The kitchen was equally small and looked unused.

  “As you can imagine, I’m rarely in here, even when my kids are around,” Martha quipped. “There’s always so much to do on the main floors of the B&B, it never felt cramped.”

  The bedrooms were more spacious than they had first appeared from the landing, and in Raina’s mind, she started seeing the three kids and herself living here happily.

  The girls could share one of the bedrooms and she and Jeremiah would take the other two.

  Then she remembered her own house. She loved it and didn’t want to move. It was near the kids’ school and so close to the Del Mar … and then with a jolt she remembered then that she was no longer an employee of Del Mar hotel.

  The management had been cruel enough to deny her a severance package, saying they had fired her for “cause.” She seethed inwardly at the unfairness of it.

  What had she done to deserve being fired? Raina knew that it was all Roger’s slimy schemes, but she wondered how he had done it.

  “So, what do you think?” Martha said, interrupting Raina’s musings.

  Raina looked up, grateful to have been jolted out of her reverie.

  “I love everything,” Raina enthused. “I just … I just don’t know if I can move from my present home. It’s close to the kids’ school.”

  “That’s what I thought too, initially. But there’s a wonderful private school—one of the best in the country—nearby. It’s just a short bike ride away, and if your kids are anything like mine, they’ll enjoy living here. My kids loved that I was always nearby for them, and I always worked with ease knowing that they were safe upstairs.”

  “I can see how convenient it is,” Raina said.

  She left the B&B minutes later and spent the rest of the day looking at other properties that had piqued her interest, but none impressed her as much as Cliff West Inn.

  Every other property just had something wrong with it. Too few rooms or a run-down building or just a bad atmosphere.

  When Raina drove into her driveway later that day, she felt upbeat on the realization that throughout the morning, her thoughts had only drifted to Christopher twice. That was an improvement, she thought to herself.

  Although, she wondered, If I’m thinking about not thinking about him, does that count as thinking about him? She snorted out loud at her ridiculous, circular logic.

  Work was the key, she now thought. Still, the reminder of what she had lost hit her with fresh pain.

  She went in, busied herself preparing the kids’ snacks. She glanced at the time and saw that they would arrive in just a few minutes. Thank God for the kids to keep me in a routine, Raina thought as she ushered them into the house.

  “My team won the game, Aunty!” Jeremiah cried jubilantly, dropping his book bag as he ran to her and wrapped his chubby arms around her waist.

  “I don’t like Shanise anymore,” Crystal said dropping her bag near her brother’s and slumping into a dining room cha
ir.

  “Well done Jeremiah! Why, Crystal? I thought Shanise was your best friend forever?” Raina said, amused by the skills she had gained as a new parent—the magical ability to hold two conversations at the same time.

  Chantal followed her siblings into the house and shut the door behind her before sitting down with them to share some goodies.

  They chattered over their snack and then settled to do their homework. Raina took that time to prepare dinner and to think. She had a lot on her mind.

  Martha had shown her where the B&B stood financially as well as the profits she made every month. The money would provide her and the children with a good life and if she sold the house, with the settlement she had received, she could buy off the property and also put away some money for college for the children. She looked around the kitchen and imagined someone else there.

  Another family.

  She would feel a little sad at having to sell the house, but then again, it would be a fresh start for all of them. As she glanced around her home once more, she realized that there weren’t any spaces in her house that didn’t carry a memory of Christopher.

  Her skin rose in goosebumps as she remembered some of the events that had transpired right there on that kitchen table.…

  When dinner was ready, Raina went for the mail and saw an official looking letter bearing her name. Her stomach clenched. She was so used to bills and threats of legal action, that every official looking letter gave her the jitters.

  As she read the letter, Raina grew more puzzled and her brow furrowed.

  It was a notice telling her that the children were the recipients of the “Better World” Children’s Scholarship fund. The letter was from an accounting firm but contained very little information beyond that. It stated that each child’s tuition and all other school expenses would be covered by the fund for the rest of their lives. If they wanted to go to college or graduate school, that would be covered as well.

  The letter was puzzling and her initial instinct was to toss it in the garbage, thinking it had to be an elaborate scam. Still, she started searching online for more information, and while she couldn’t find any information at all about the “Better World” Scholarship fund, she did find information on the accounting firm of Parker & Pierson, and her eyes widened at the impressive clients they represented.