The Billionaire Boss' Dilemma

Chapter Two: Never was. Never will be

Present day,

Athens city,Greece

Honk, honk

The traffic in Athens city should be one of the world's seven wonders, thought Althea as she prepared for a job interview.

An old magazine caught her attention; a man in his mid-30s, defined nose,blond hair,sculpted lips with dark penetrating eyes that seemed to be watching her. Acheron Petrakos. Prince of the 21st century elites. Golden locks, she cursed under her breath.

“Get off the road,” screamed a driver, sticking his head outside the window of a black SUV. Althea scowled at him as she made her way across the busy road. It was the time of the year when tourists flooded the cities in Greece, in search of ancient Greece history.

“Thank you!” she screamed at the bus driver and watched as he drove off from the bus station. “A nice breakfast at this diner would be nice,” she said as she turned to head for the door.

A figure was moving in fast towards the door and loud noises from inside the diner, increased her cautiousness as she entered the diner. “I got a yellow belt in Tai, so I'm pretty smoked and trust me you don't want to mess with me,” said Althea in defense. The man stretched to reach for the door handle but was suprised at how fast Althea had twisted and kicked and knocked him down. “Hey, stop that,” screamed an old lady from the counter. As she ran towards them both, Althea stretched out her hands to assure the woman that she was safe now.

“That was strange. I thought I was helping though,”said Althea to herself as she walked into the office building. Apparently, the guy was a regular customer and was only rushing to meet up with office work.

“Number five, are you going in or not?”asked the interview supervisor, interrupting her thoughts. “Yes I am, madam. My apologies,” said Althea as she scurried away.

There was a large rectangular table that sat at the center of the room. The office executives sitting on one end of the table, with her on the other end. “Don't let them intimidate you,” her mother Amber had said over the phone.

The interview seemed to be going smoothly, until someone came to announce the arrival of the CEO of the company. Everyone seemed tensed immediately. Everyone but she. “Why all this drama?” She whispered under her breathe

“Good morning, Director,” said the public relations officer. He stretched out his sweaty hands for a hand shake but was completely ignored by the CEO.

The CEO scanned the room for a little while, until his eyes rested upon her. A glint of mischief appeared in those dark and mysterious eyes. He walked over and watched her for a while. “Office of a secretary , huh? No way,”said the boss without any bit of emotion. “What ?” She asked in surprise, turning to look around, she saw everyone trying their best to avoid eye contact like they had expected it.

“Why?” He asked again. “Is he losing his hearing?” she said to herself as she tried to see his face clearly, hoping to give her best intimidating steer. “Coffee guy?” She screamed in surprise. A smirk that appeared at the edge of his lips said it all. “I love to get my own breakfast, now leave,” said the CEO as he turned to leave. “Don't want to see you around by the time I get back, else I'd have my secretary file a trespassing report,” he added.

“Acheron Petrakos.” His name sounded more like a curse to her. She stared at the evacuation letter on her door. Her rent was due for payment. “s**t,” she said as she ripped the papers off her door. She walked into her old but cozy apartment and smiled. It was the only place that felt like home. The magazine sat on her bed, his face was printed on it. His eyes looked back at her in mockery. She reached for it and tore it in half. No one was going to intimidate her, at her home.

'Same place and time, tomorrow?' A text message from an unsaved number. Who are you? She texted in response, but immediately the phone began ringing. The caller ID popped up. Acheron Petrakos.

“What do you want and how in Zeus name did you get my number?” She asked. She wasn't in his office anymore, so she didn't have to respect him. A warm laughter came as a response. “I'm not playing with you golden locks. What do you want?” She asked again in frustration. She cut the call and tossed the phone on the bed.

Ring, ring

“What do you want” she screamed at her phone. “Honey are you okay?” Her mother asked on the other line. “s**t,”she said under her breath. “I didn't know it was you mum. I've been receiving scam calls from scammers, that was why I responded that way,” she lied. A silence stretched for a while before her mother asked how her interview had gone. “Their loss,” her mother said, before ending the call.

Amber, her mother, had married Michael Evans. As a kid she had always found it hard to understand why her mother was always so distant from her, but yet so strict. She watched her closely like a hawk, but was always distant.

She always knew her mother to have a short temper.

One time at her college graduation year,she finally got a date to take with her to the after party. It wasn't hard to remember how every sign of life drained from her mother's face when she showed her mother a hotel pamphlet.

The school had made arrangements to use the hotels’ event hall. Her mother's grip on the pamphlet was solid,she had tried tearing the pamphlet from her hands for fear that her mother was having a heart attack, but nothing happened.

Suddenly her mother's scream of leave me! pierced the silence that possessed the space between them. It was her stepdad that came to the rescue, screaming her mother's name until she got herself. Amber! He had screamed my mum's name, on that day. I disliked him, until I saw the warmth in his eyes were true, whenever he looked at my mum.