The billionaire's reluctant mistress

Chapter 15:

Chapter 15:

Aunt Rebecca's words kept ringing in Rachel's head, that she should be looking for someone. She recalled meeting Matt the day before. If he had been any ordinary man she would have called him. But it was Matt, whom she had always felt indebted to. She met him when cracks in her relationship with Flynn began to appear. He had always shown interest in her, but not too much. She didn't know he had had feelings for her until she broke up with Flynn and her family experienced financial difficulties when they found out about Uncle Hardy's illness. During that time, her family had urgently needed a large amount of money and she didn't know what to do. Matt, in a great display of kindness, offered to help. Of course, she later returned all the money despite his insistence otherwise, but she was aware that he had wanted more from her. He didn't want to just be friends.

She really appreciated Matt, but, at that time, her life was too complicated and the wound from the break-up with Flynn was still healing. She felt that she could not open her heart to anyone. Matt didn't push her at all. He said he understood and since then they hadn't been in touch. She didn't want to disappoint Matt again though. She would only contact him if she felt ready. Obviously, Matt could already have a girlfriend or even be married. He looked very successful, surely there were many women who wanted to be with him. Perhaps, his previous feelings for her were over.

But, the following Tuesday morning, she received an internal phone call before lunch.

“Rachel!” Katy's voice came out, slightly more excited than usual.

“Hi Katy, are you looking for Dalziel?”

“No, I am looking for you. There's a client who insists on talking to you." At the end of the sentence, Katy playfully lowered her voice and whispered: "A very handsome one."

"Why do they want to talk to me? I don't work in the sales department?"

"Don't ask me, you come down here and ask him yourself. He just requested you specifically by name."

"Okay, tell him to wait a moment."

It could only be Matt. Seeing his bright smile, she somehow felt very relieved.

“I was just wondering if you could give me some more information about the project.”

“Of course I can, Matt. I can introduce you to our best sales member.”

“Too bad I don’t want a good sale, I want to listen to what you think. From a friend's perspective.”

Pausing for a moment, he looked into her eyes: “Please help me. I know you don't work in consulting but I am about to spend a huge amount of money.”

"Okay." Rachel sighed. "I'll be your consultant, okay?"

A cheeky smile lit up his face.

"I'm free this afternoon, can you come with me to the Coral Bay Complex?"

“I need to consult my superiors first. If it doesn't work today, how about the weekend?"

"Okay." Matt flashed a triumphant smile.

Back in the office, Rachel told Sabrina that the customer wanted her to show them the houses in person. She knew that Sabrina herself sometimes had to directly work with important guests even though it wasn't her main duty.

“Actually, I quite enjoy working as a consultant. If you are a successful one, the commission is very good. Once I got half my monthly salary in one go!”

Rachel knew Sabrina used to work in the sales department. Thanks to her beautiful appearance and ingenuity, she is now firmly seated in the position of assistant general manager.

“Dalziel is not at the office so don't worry, you can take the guests to see the bay, just make sure to complete our administrative work. If something happens here in the office, I'll take care of it."

Having Sabrina's support, Rachel happily called Matt again, arranging to go to Coral Bay at three o'clock in the afternoon.

That afternoon, a shiny black Mercedes appeared in front of the company's building. The windows slid down slowly, and Matt called out from inside: "Rachel, what a coincidence to see you here."

“Yes, what a coincidence.” She giggled. He had a knack for acting. His face was so serious as if five minutes ago she hadn't called him to tell him where she was.

Rachel realized he had changed his clothes. He no longer wore a shirt and cardigan, but was wearing a T-shirt, long jogging pants, and sneakers. He looked more youthful and boyish than in the morning.

It took more than thirty minutes to drive from the city center to Coral Bay. Along the way, they talked about the project,

"Our company's financial situation is quite good, there will be no delay in the delivery of the house."

"Okay, I believe you."

Rachel realized that he already knew the project quite well as he must have done some research. Then the story slowly turned to their personal lives. He said he had switched companies since they last met.

“Your career seems to be going well.” Rachel said. With her salary, she would probably never be able to buy a villa like he was about to buy.

“Yeah, I was just lucky. I had invested in a few different things. Some of them are quite profitable.” He shared. Hesitatingly, he asked, "So, how are your aunt and uncle?"

“They’re fine.” She was surprised that he remembered such details about her private life. A few years ago when she borrowed money from him, Rachel had briefly mentioned her uncle's situation.

“My uncle is still receiving treatment but everything seems to be getting better.” Rachel added hesitantly.

They chatted some more, and then he asked, “Have you been seeing anyone lately? I noticed that your last name hasn't changed."

She smiled: "You can see that I am quite busy with my work, I don't have time to see anyone."

"Didn't have the time or didn't want to have the time?"

"Probably both." She laughed then added, "What about you?"

"Someone every now and then but nothing serious."

Then there was a moment of silence in the car. The car turned left off the main road.

The weather was quite bright, a few beams of silver inlaid on the riverbank. Driving for another five minutes, they entered the gate of the Coral Bay Complex. The bay was still under construction and the area was predictably untidy, but the basic infrastructure had been finished. The villa Matt wanted to buy was located in the west part of the complex, separated from the rest by a small park. The two got out of the car and walked along the wide road. Rachel explained the layout and amenities of the place and answered his questions.

“If you decide to purchase our property, I can give you my employee discount to help you get it at a lower price.”

L&R had a policy of 5% discount for employees. Rachel did not care about it because she did not have enough money to think about buying real estate anyway.

"What do you think?"

Matt looked around the block, with the view of the river: “I don't know, I like this area, Rachel. But this villa seems a bit big. You know, I'm still single."

Rachel didn't want to push Matt, nodding: "I understand."

Suddenly, he asked, "If it were you, would you want to live in a place like this?"

The question stunned her slightly. Rachel had never even dreamed of owning a small apartment, let alone living in a place like this. For a moment, she didn't know how to respond

"I don’t know," she finally said. “I mean, maybe it would be good, I’d like a quiet place like this but it's also quite far from the city center…”

For some reason, seeing her confused look, he laughed again: "You really are a bad counselor."

"Too bad. I can't lie. Maybe I should go back to the HR department and leave the job to someone professional.” She laughed.

He was laughing too, but then she could see Matt's eyes focus on something behind her. She turned around and saw her company's CEO, Dalziel Albanese, with a few other well-dressed men walking up to her.

“Rachel? What are you doing here?” he asked.

“Dalziel, I thought you were going to Canvey on business?”

“Yes, I just got back this afternoon.” Dalziel replied briefly as if waiting for her answer.

Rachel hastily made introductions: “This is Matt Hawkings, he is… my old friend, and now he wants to invest in our project. I took him here to see the palm grove villas.” Then she turned to Matt. “This is Mr. Albanese, L&R's CEO.”

Matt reached out and took Dalziel's hand, looking surprised: “Nice to meet you. I didn't expect the CEO of a big company to be so young."

For some reason, Rachel had the feeling that Dalziel wasn't as welcoming as usual, even though he was smiling. A polite, cold smile.

“Are you interested in our project?”

"Very. I really liked your previous project, Time City. A lot of my clients are now living there so I want to learn more about this property.”

Dalziel nodded: “The infrastructure of Coral Bay is better planned than that of Time City, I'm sure Rachel has explained to you. She is one of the people who follows the project very closely.”

“Yes, Rachel has helped me a lot.”

There seemed to be an inexplicable tension between the two men. As if to avoid Dalziel's intense gaze, Matt looked over at Rachel with a small smile and then glanced around again, interested in the two large newly-planted palm trees.

Rachel didn't feel well, so she said, "We won't get in your way, Dalziel. We'll go have a look at some of the other utilities. See you at the office later.”

Without waiting for Dalziel's reaction, Rachel looked over at Matt and nodded indicating that they should leave. Matt happily followed her. As she walked, Rachel felt a hot gaze burning into her back.