His gaze softened as he moved closer to me, gently squeezing my hand. “I haven’t been hard on you on purpose,” he said softly. “I just don’t want you to get hurt, that’s all.”
I groaned and leaned my forehead against his shoulder. “Maybe I don’t want to tell you because you’re going to ask the same questions I’m trying to avoid asking myself.”
“I won’t ask anything if you don’t want me to,” he said, softly pecking my forehead.
I pulled away and approached his sculpture but my mind was back in Paris, in Mrs. Gallagher’s hotel room. I told him the details I’d left out and when I was through, I turned to face him.
“Why do you seem so sad when everything that happened would’ve made you jump to the clouds a week ago?” he asked.
“I’m happy and every time I remember, my hands tremble and my body reacts as though I’m standing right in front of her but I’m so confused.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know. What does this mean? Is it supposed to mean anything? I have all these questions and they’re driving me crazy.”
“You shouldn’t overthink it. Can’t you just focus your thoughts on the fact that it happened? That she initiated it?”
I was embarrassed to tell him the very thought of the memory left me extremely turned on. “I’m going back to work tomorrow and I don’t know how I’ll face her.”
“If she knows how you feel about her then I don’t think it should be a problem.”
“It is a problem. I won’t know how to conceal it and even if I try, we’ll both be aware of it.”
“You’re looking at this whole thing the wrong way,” he said as he took my hand and led me back to the couch.
“Have you considered how she might be feeling? Has it occurred to you that she might be into you and may be thinking about the same thing you are?”
I hadn’t thought about that.
“When you go to work tomorrow, you’ll play everything by ear. Just follow what she does. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself.”
I looked at him, realizing that he was right. “You know what? I don’t give you enough credit. You’re incredibly intelligent,” I said.
He flashed me his biggest smile.
“And your sculpture is terrifying,” I added.
“It’s a school project. I hope the art teacher sees the same thing you do.”
“How long have you been working on it?”
“A little over a week now, oh by the way, how were the exams?”
I groaned again. “I’m not very confident the results will be good.”
“You think you failed?”
I nodded and leaned back against the couch. “I enrolled for evening classes.”
“That’s great. You won’t have to fully rely on just studying.”
“I’m a little worried because of all the traveling.”
“But you need the job, and the traveling, if you ask me is a huge bonus.”
I laughed at his enthusiasm.
We talked a while longer then I left. On my way back home, I picked up some take out for dinner. I spent the rest of the evening going through the syllabus, as I prayed that Mrs. Gallagher would be a bit more transparent with information regarding the work she was going to assign me.
Chapter Sixteen
“Did you make it back on time for your exams?” James asked the following morning as he drove me to work.
“Yes,” I said as I smiled at him.
“And how was the trip?”
“It was great. I had a good time.”
I knew James had worked for Mrs. Gallagher for a long time, so he knew her better than any one of her employees. I also knew that he respected her deeply.
“Can I ask you something, James?”
“Sure, go ahead,” he said.
It was easy forging a friendship with him because he was easy to talk to. “How many personal assistants has Mrs. Gallagher had?”
His gaze met mine over the rearview mirror. “Several,” he said.
I expected him to give me a more articulate answer, but he didn’t seem willing to reveal any more information. I wasn’t surprised to hit another roadblock in my attempt to know my boss better.
“She had a long-term personal assistant whose name was Michelle Fields, but she resigned when she got married because she wanted to start a family and the job was a bit too demanding for her,” he said.
The unexpected information surprised me.
“After she left, no one could really fill her shoes. The chemistry wasn’t right with most of the employees and the job was too much for others.”
“How long did the best last?”
“A couple of months, but even then it was a bit of a struggle. Mrs. Gallagher likes people who take initiative when she’s absent.”
“Take initiative?”
“Yeah, like knowing what you need to do without her necessarily having to tell you.”
That explained why she wasn’t voluntary with details.
“I like you, Olivia. I think you’re the best for this job and I think Mrs. Gallagher thinks so too,” he said.
His words were comforting.
“Thanks, James.”
When I got to the mansion, I went directly to my office and stopped short when I found Mrs. Gallagher there waiting for me. She was seated on my chair going through the laptop when I walked in.
“Oh Gosh, I’m I late?” I asked nervously as I checked the time on my wristwatch.
“No, you’re on time,” she said calmly, leaning back against my chair as her gaze moved up, down, then up again, scanning me.
I nervously approached the desk and was inwardly delighted she was in my chair because it would be filled with her magical scent. “Good morning,” I said.
“Good morning.” She stood up and casually came around my desk.
She looked absolutely gorgeous in an official purple dress that femininely hugged her body, and the sight of her made me squirm in my controlled but thriving hunger for her. Memories of our time together were alarmingly alive in me, but I tried hard to conceal it because I didn’t want her to see it.
She leaned against my desk and crossed her arms over her chest where some cleavage was exposed and I looked away in an attempt to hide my desire for her. God, at this rate I was going to have a hard time having a face to face conversation with her.
“How were your exams?” How did she manage to be so calm?
One of my favorite qualities about her was her growing concern for me, or at least that was what I thought it was. It was titillating to know that she cared.
“They were okay.”
I couldn’t bring myself to tell her I was afraid I might’ve failed.
“You don’t look too certain.”
“I did my best,” I said, concealing the uncertainty with a smile.
She studied me for a moment then dropped her hand over an iPad on my desk. “This iPad contains my schedule, most of the projects I’m currently working on and a very important contact list of clients and business associates. I’ve giving it to you because I trust you.”
My heart started racing as I wondered if this had anything to do with my confrontation with her in Paris.
“You’ll be in charge of my time and most of what I do and you’ll be required to keep it updated. I need you to thoroughly go through it and learn everything because when I’m unable to take some meetings, you’ll take them, which is why I need you to be completely knowledgeable.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
“This is going to be the most challenging part of your job.”
She handed me the iPad and my hands shook at the responsibility I was taking on.
“Some of the stuff in here is very complicated but I’ll assign you someone to help you with whatever you’re unable to understand.”
She had to be the best boss in the world. I couldn’t believe she was going to have someone teaching me on the job. This was going to
build my resume for when I was done with school.
“Do you have any questions?” she asked.
I shook my head. “Not at the moment,” I said.
I was too excited thinking about all the possibilities.
She straightened up and approached me. “Do you think you’ll be able to handle it?” she asked.
I wanted to appear confident so I met her gaze and tried not to let my stance falter. “Yes, I can handle it.”
She smiled at me and said softly, “Good, because from this point forward, you’re going to be an extension of me Olivia.”
The words left me breathless. I knew it was a work-related statement but I wished it had a deeper meaning. My gaze followed her to the door and I remembered the pendant necklace she’d given me. “Mrs. Gallagher,” I said.
When she turned to face me, I almost forgot what I wanted to say.
“Yes,” she said.
“Thank you for the pendant,” I said.
She didn’t say anything. She just smiled and left my office.
My knees were a bit weak from forcing my leg muscles to hold still. Soon as she walked out, I weakly went around the desk and sat down.
I was a little disappointed she hadn’t broached the subject of what had happened between us in Paris. She’d behaved like it’d never happened at all. I’d been fighting my nerves and she’d completely held it together.
Where did she find the strength? Who was this woman? How could she conceal her emotions so well? I’d known her for weeks now and I still had no clue who she really was.
I took a deep breath and my senses were overwhelmed by the rich scent she’d left behind. I wanted to pretend it didn’t affect me but somehow, it made me even hotter for her.
Trying to focus my mind back on the project she’d just handed me, I opened the iPad and began my work.
Chapter Seventeen
Book Two: Amelia
At the age of eighteen when most young women were starting to discover who they were, I was stuck in a life I wished I could get away from. Most people would’ve thought me stupid, after all my family did own one of the most successful pharmaceutical companies in the world. But I wanted out.
My father was an extremely ambitious man and inherited the business from his father who inherited it from my great grandfather.
My mother was a socialite when they met but shortly after getting married, she quickly grew to be his ally and business associate. Together they ruled and made the business an even greater success.
I figured that was how they managed to stay together and in love.
From the moment I was born, I wasn’t meant to have a childhood. I was forced to grow up quickly and had tutors from the minute I could talk. By the time I was five, I could speak multiple languages and was on my way to becoming the hybrid child of two people who loved nothing more in the world than money and success.
All I ever wanted was to make my parents proud, so I did what was needed to make sure I’d be everything they wanted me to be. But woe unto me, they barely took notice. All they saw was mixed DNA of themselves; a product of two brilliant people who’d continue the lineage of the family business.
I had a cousin from my mother’s side. I resented him. He was a mean sonofabitch who was always in competition with me. He somehow managed to make my mother like him more than me. He was devilishly charming and cunning as a fox.
I was given a better education, maybe even a better life before my mother took him in and started raising him. She wasn’t any more affectionate with him, but he was always desperate to please her.
My father didn’t like him. In fact, if anything, he was nicer to me. This made Eric, my cousin, very hateful. We went to different schools because my father felt I deserved the best education money could buy. I was just glad I didn’t have to be around Eric.
He was a couple of years older than me and his resentment towards me grew when I skipped several grades because I was too smart for even some of my teachers. When I graduated a year earlier than him, I had to admit, I was a little proud.
My father couldn’t be happier. My mother didn’t care.
I graduated high school at fifteen and immediately went to campus. I never got to make friends. My parents thought making friends at such a young age was a waste of time.
By the time I was eighteen, my father had already given me a position in the company and Eric was furious. He went through four years of college, but I finished earlier and moved further up the ladder. It was amusing to know I was beating him at everything without even having to try.
Halfway through my first year at the company, my father died in a plane crash. It was by a stroke of luck my mother wasn’t in the plane with him since they worked so closely together.
At the funeral, there were hundreds of people. Faces I couldn’t recognize. My mother was inconsolable. I thought his death would somehow bring us closer, but I was wrong.
I didn’t mourn much for my father. I barely really knew him. Just like my mother, he was a stranger to me. But I did feel his absence and thought since my mother undoubtedly experienced it too, we could somehow build something from there.
Instead, she sent me to run one of our companies in Europe, creating as much distance between us as possible.
I grew resentful towards her and the world for being so cold to me. I resented myself for feeling lonely because it was a weakness that wasn’t in my genes and focused on work.
Within two years, my work spoke for itself. I was based in Germany, and managed to make it the main headquarters for all our European branches of Winston Enterprises. Since it was a privately-owned company, everyone wanted a piece of it but we managed to keep it in the family.
My mother started noticing me then because I was single-handedly making profits beyond my parents’ imagination.
I was a billionaire and should’ve been happy my mother had finally started reaching out, but I wasn’t content. I hated my life.
Due to how driven I was, I didn’t care about having a personal life. I had countless suitors from the wealthiest men in the world to some of the most powerful leaders. I knew being young, beautiful and brilliant was appealing to them, but I had no interest.
My mother came to Germany to visit me. I didn’t know much about what was going on in her personal life and to be honest I didn’t care. I should’ve been emotionally starved but instead, I was empty. There was nothing but a void where my heart should’ve been.
To me, the heart was just an organ that pumped blood through the rest of my body and the idea of love was nothing but all nonsense.
I’d met some of the most handsome men in the world, but none of them ever evoked any type of emotion in me.
The magazines said I was incredibly intelligent. They described me as a quiet person who didn’t say much. Most people thought I was shy and tried to take advantage of me, but to be honest, I found it easier to read people from observing them and listening.
It was a technique I’d learned from my father. I could tell the type of person anyone was from just one look. It infuriated most men when I rejected them, and because I led a private life, which was due to the fact that I had no personal life, I was called a lesbian.
I didn’t mind. I didn’t care. Women also come on to me and I rejected them as well. At some point I thought I was asexual. I had no sexual desire. Nothing turned me on.
I was a robot. The perfect machine my parents had created. I was ruthless because my feelings didn’t alter my judgment or get in the way of business. I’d somehow managed to eradicate all sorts of weaknesses.
The first time I saw my mother after my father died was when she came to visit me in Germany. I was a younger replica of her with my father’s intelligent blue eyes.
It was awkward and we treated each other like business associates. She’d never been much of a mother to me; I failed to see any reason why I should fake affection for her.
I offered to let her stay in my apartment, but was reliev
ed when she told me she’d booked a hotel. A day after resting, I gave her a tour of the mother ship I ran, introduced her so some of my employees and gave her a detailed report of how the companies in other European countries were doing.
I didn’t expect much from her so there was no disappointment when she failed to react.
I was a little surprised though, when she asked me to go back to America with her. The reasons stated were the company wasn’t doing well and she needed me to do something to change that.
Being the obedient child, and knowing my father would expect this of me, I packed up the life I’d built, and took the company jet back to America.
My mother insisted I live with her in a five-bedroom mansion she’d bought herself, but I turned her down and got myself a three-bedroom penthouse. I didn’t need much space and knew I wouldn’t spend any time in the penthouse anyway since I was always going to be working and traveling.
I didn’t like that she was applying more effort trying to reach out to me. Weirdly enough, it made me uncomfortable. I assumed that was how she’d felt when I’d tried to build a relationship with her.
It troubled me that I’d somehow turned into her and promised myself I’d change. I didn’t know how, but I was determined to turn out different.
When I started working at the American headquarters in New York, I thought I’d take over from her, but she insisted on being in charge. Our company occupied all the office space in the fifty story building and on the top most floor, there were only two unbelievably large offices where several floors lower, the space hosted at least ten offices and continued to increase in number as one descended down.
There were several private elevators, but only she and I had the key to the only private elevator that led to the top floors. I didn’t understand her obsession with space.
Personally, I preferred working around employees in order to establish a better relationship with them, so instead of taking the office she’d kept for me, I took one on a lower floor, where I was able to deal with most of the people I needed to help raise the company back to its original standard.
I could tell she wasn’t pleased but she needed my help and there was nothing she could do about it. She’d pushed me away all her life, so she could continue enjoying the isolation on the top floor all on her own.
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