Bound to the billionaire

Quit staring at his picture.” my best friend says, her red hair bouncing on her shoulders as she walks from the kitchen, a plate of spaghetti balanced on each arm.

I groan, hitting my head repeatedly on my palm.

“Don’t hit your head on the table or your palm.” she adds, stretching her hand to give me a plate of the spaghetti.

“Thanks.” I murmur, collecting it.

“Sloane, what are the odds?”

“What odds?” she gives me a quizical look.

“The odds that Xavier Steele is going to fire me as soon as he goes through the employee database.”

“Why don’t you eat first?”

“Aaa-rggh!. I can’t stomach anything right now.”

“You need strength to be able to fight whatever is coming for you.” Sloane says.

My heart drops, “What’s coming for me..”. I repeat, my eyes widening in fear of the unknown.

“Yeah, my fortune teller says something is coming your way soon.” she smirks.

“Sloane!. Don’t scare me like that.” I jump up, rushing over to her to tickle her.

“S--Sto-- stop. My --- fo-- foo--- fo-- food!” she wheezes out laughing.

Soon, I join her laughing, both of us doubling over in the middle of my living room.

“I don’t know who’s crazier; you or your fortune teller” I say to her.

“I think the girl who exchanged words with a billionaire on the street of New York with a beggar as an audience and expecting the beggar to support her like a lawyer is the crazy one.” she chuckles, going back to the sofa.

I facepalm, “Don’t remind me. I’m dead.”

“How did you not even recognise that that was Xavier Steele?!”

“How was I supposed to know?! plus, I told you about it as well and you didn’t know.”

“You told me he was painfully handsome. So many people can be.” Sloane quirks her eyebrows at me.

“And I said he also has green eyes.” I retort.

“Do you know how many people has green eyes?” Sloane looks at me, her mouth half full with eyebrows raised.

“Apparently less than 4% of the population in the world. Less than that in New York and you couldn’t identify him from my story.” I reply, shaking my head at her.

“You’re crazy. That’s what you are.” Sloane turns her attention back to her plate.

I shrug, “If you couldn’t identify Xavier Steele from my story, then why do you assume I’d be able to identify him?”

“Because you saw him!” Sloane raises her hand in an exasperated fashion.

“For someone who knows nothing about him, there’s no way I’ll be able to recognize him and for you who knows all about him, why couldn’t you identify the villain of my story?”

“Fine. You’ve made your point.”

“Good, cos’ I only know celebrities.” I retort.

“So, what will you do now?” Sloane looks at me.

“I don’t know!” I cry out.

“There’s one thing though.” Sloane begins.

“What?”

“How many people are working at your company?”

“Over one hundred.”

“Exactly. If he’s looking through the employee database, he’ll most likely skim through it and not look at it like a chef tearing through layers of onions.” Sloane clicks her fingers.

My eyes widen, “True! Sophie said that he mentioned his goal is to enter the Car industry, so he’ll focus his remaining time there. Oh. Thank you, thank you, thank you.” I say to Sloane.

She winks at me, “Will you show the spaghetti some love now?. Remember you still need strength for what’s ahead.”

I stick out my tongue in a playful manner, “I’m not a consumer of the heebie-jeebies of your fortune teller. Everything is just business and she’s scamming you to keep a roof over her head.”

“I’ll remind you when you eat your words later.” Sloane retorts sticking her own tongue out at me.

“You wish.” I laugh.

***************

It is a week after my encounter with Coffee bastard. No, scratch that.

It’s been a week since I met Xavier Steele and like Sloane predicted, things have been quiet at work.

Even my hidden fear of random firing and craziness that occurs in the first month of company acquisition seems uncalled for.

Sophie must have been right about Xavier Steele.

A man who conquers to monopolize.

My hand flies over the email I’m composing, my mind elsewhere.

“Hazel!. My office now please!” Dave yells, standing in the door space of his office.

Everywhere goes quiet immediately.

There’s only one reason Dave comes out to call someone in personally and not do it with the intercom in his office.

I am in trouble.

My hand hovers over the email I’m replying to and my wrist shakes involuntarily.

Even Sophie keeps her tongue tied faking a newly found deep attention to work and separation from gossip.

I feel blood drain from my cheeks, saliva drying up in my mouth,“coming.” I manage to reply quietly.

Dave nods, “Back to work everybody.” he says and walks back into his office closing the door firmly behind him.

Immediately, Sophie turns to me, “Should I help you pack your things? I bet you will be fired in less than five minutes.”

I give her a fake sweet smile, “Thank you for your unsolicited concern Sophie but I will manage. You should look out for yourself seeing as you are one foot out of the door.”

“You seem to have both feet out the door.” Sophie chuckles.

I stand, my eye meeting with Raven Mallory’s.

She smirks and mouths, ‘bye’ to me.

Fear, I’m sure is palpable on my face. Raven may be a bitch, but she knows what she’s saying.

She has years of experience working with Dave.

She knows him better than I do.

I swallow hard and knock on the door.

Tap. Tap.

“Hello Dave.” I say, closing the door firmly behind me.

Dave stares at me, his fingers clasped in a villain fashion from behind his chair.

I feel like I’m in front of Darth Vader.

“ I have no idea why I was called in.” I say, half-hoping he does not hear the shake in my voice.

“Hazel” Dave scoffs.

This is not good.

Dave never scoffs.

Well, maybe not never never, but I’ve never heard him scoff.

What did I do?

What’s going on?

I wring my fingers behind me frustrated, “Yes?” my stable voice betraying the way I feel.

“I’d understand if you were called because of the S.E.A.M project, but there’s no information and I’m not in the position to ask apparently.” He scoffs again.

A frown takes over my face, “What’s going on?”

“I was hoping you would shine some light on that Miss Dawson.”

“How would I know what’s going on if you don’t tell me?” I ask.

My hands wouldn’t stop shaking, no matter how many times I wrung them, so I press them to my sides firmly.

“You are required to move to the top floor tomorrow to begin work, Hazel.” Dave says.

My eyes widen, my hands going slack by my side, “The executive floor level?”

“Higher, Hazel.” Dave eyes me.

“I don’t understand.”

“The new CEO requested you to resume work at his floor tomorrow.”

“Wh--- what --- the -- fu--”

Dave looks at me in a weird fashion, “Whatever you did to earn that, it worked. Congratulations.”

I pause for a minute, my brain reeling from the new information.

“I’m going to be working directly with Xavier Steele?!”