The billionaire's reluctant mistress

Chapter 6: “Let them go crazy for you tonight.”

Rachel spent her weekend at Carwyn – the little mountain town located in the north where she grew up – with her uncle and aunt, her only family. They seemed finer than ever and it made Rachel really happy. Two years ago, her uncle was diagnosed with cancer. He had been fighting it but the chemotherapy courses drained them, physically as well as mentally. It had also drained their account balance since their insurance company refused to pay for all the expensive treatments. Rachel helped them out as much as she could. Every time they accepted Rachel’s money , Rebecca swept tears from her cheeks, “You can’t keep doing this. We can’t keep doing this. You need to have your own savings and live your own life.”

“Auntie, don’t feel like you are my burden. I’m your niece. I’m looking after you guys.” She comforted her aunt.

Rachel’s parents died in a tragic accident when she was about six. She couldn’t remember much, but she remembered the police cars showing up in front of her house and taking her to an orphanage. She remembered sitting on a bed in a doom room, feeling so cold. And then her aunt and uncle came. She pulled Rachel into her arms, comforting her as only an aunt could do.

They were there for her. And she promised herself that she would be there for them. When she visited them last weekend, her uncle was doing well. They optimistically told her good news about his health from their doctors. For the first time in a while, they had a really good time. Rebecca was making her signature chicken stew while Rachel was sharing everything about her new decent job, except the part about her new boss, of course.

After two days off, Rachel entered the office on Monday in a good mood, but she almost thought she had entered the wrong room. The concrete wall between HR Department’s lounge and their CEO’s lounge was replaced by a glass wall, making the place much more open and visible.

"What's happened?" Rachel asked Sabrina.

Sabrina shrugged her shoulders: "I have no idea!”

Dalziel Albanese stepped by, threw back a sentence: "The light in my room was not so good. I changed it a little."

Sabrina immediately nodded: “Yeah, you are right. The new design looks much better.”

Rachel said nothing, turned on her computer and started working.

The light in his room was not so good! Bullshit!

His room faced the east with an enormous window running from floor to ceiling. Every morning, sunlight dyed the room the colour of honey, dust motes shining in the air like gold. If it was not bright enough for him, there must be something wrong with his mind.

Rachel didn’t know how  to feel when she found out that, thanks to the new glass wall, all she needed to do was turn her head to the left, and she could see him. His face, which looked exactly like her ex’s, bothered her. Rachel couldn’t help but stare at him, wondering about his past, wondering if he was related to Flynn.

There were so many questions about him that made Rachel unable to hold back her curiosity.

His gaze, which had been stuck on his computer screen suddenly turned upon Rachel, catching her eyes. Panicking, she looked away. Her face burned like fire.

Rachel angrily thought, such a stupid glass wall!

By the afternoon, Mrs. Amaral told her that their Coral Bay project had been licensed. Hence why Sabrina had been smiling all day. Rachel had heard about Sabrina’s bonus from the accounting department; the bottom number was triple her own monthly salary. Beautiful women made money so easily. Fair enough, since Sabrina had spent the whole last week accompanying the LMC manager to visit their properties. Sometimes Rachel wished she could do the same, flirting with men of authority to get what she wanted and letting herself depend on others. But she was too candid. Lisa had always told her that it was not a good thing, that she should use what God gave her to earn a better life. Of course Rachel wanted to have a better life and more money to support her family, and she had no problems with “gold-digger” type of girls. It was not a real word anyway. She just thought that they were very realistic and smart. At the end of the day, women, who loved themselves and money more than anything, usually ended up wealthy, happy and being treated nicely by their men, because they valued themselves well. And those who needed nothing but love, like Rachel, usually ended up with a broken heart. But she was never comfortable with being around old, rich men. They creeped her out. She couldn’t change what she was.

Straightening her back, Rachel stood up, bringing the payroll this month to her boss. She knew that he could see her coming from a mile away, but she still knocked on the door: “Mr. Albanese, I need you to approve the payroll this month.”

“Come in.”

He took a quick look at the document and signed his name. Rachel thanked him as she took the payroll from his hand.

“So, you have been here for a few months.” He suddenly said.

“Yes. Almost 4 months.”

“What do you think of your job?”

She had to work overtime a lot, but the payment was worth it. She didn’t know what he wanted her to say so she hesitantly replied, “It’s been fine for me.”

Pausing for a few seconds, he continued: “Our company is about to establish a new department, a diplomatic relations team. Sabrina will be the team leader, and she won’t be able to stay at the office all the time. I need a new private receptionist. Would you mind taking over? You will still do what you are doing now, but you will also need to arrange my schedule and answer phone calls. Sabrina will give you details. There will be an extra bonus for the extra tasks.”

Rachel faltered and was unsure about the idea of seeing Dalziel Albanese all the time. But then she realized how ridiculous she was. For the last few months, he had always been a professional boss. Except for the other night, but she was drunk and did silly things which led to a misunderstanding. Rachel blushed as memories from that night suddenly showed up in her mind. It was fine. They stopped when they needed to stop. Nothing happened. They both were adults, and sometimes things happened which they couldn’t control. Also, he seemed to have forgotten it already. She shouldn’t be so sensitive.

Having experience as a secretary, Rachel quickly got used to her new position. Somehow she felt weird having access to his private emails and phone calls. That afternoon, when she answered such a phone call, a sweet, gentle voice with an American accent came from the other side.

“It’s Amanda. Can I talk to Dalziel?”

“I’m sorry, but Mr. Albanese has just gone out. Is there anything I can help you with?”

She stayed quiet for a few seconds then said: “You are not Sabrina?”

“No. I’m not. I’m Mr. Albanese’s new receptionist.”

“Oh. Is that so? What is your name?”

“I’m Rachel.”

“Hi Rachel. I’m Amanda, his fiancée. I couldn’t reach out to him through his personal phone. Can you tell him to call me when he’s back? I want to talk to him about the wedding.”

“Oh, ok. I’ll let him know.”

Their wedding. Rachel quietly sat there after hanging up the phone. She opened her drawer. The beautiful light blue dress had been there for weeks. She hadn’t found a chance to give it back to him. She didn’t know how to do it without mentioning that night.

Soon the company’s 3rd anniversary was coming. All the employees had been talking about it. It was an amazing year for them since the quarterly bottom numbers always satisfied their shareholders. Dalziel Albanese, the biggest owner, held more than 40% of the shares in the company. They had planned a huge celebration at the Sheraton. Their guests would include board representatives, big people in real estate around the city, their main partners, and all of the employees. From the early morning onwards, Katy had come over to do a “makeover” with Rachel.

Lisa laughed so much her stomach hurts, “ Makeover? Are you girls teenagers?”

Rachel agreed, “Right? I already told Katy that she has watched way too much bullshit reality TV.”

“Keep saying that, you will thank me later.”

What they wanted was to have a fun day together actually. Katy worked freelance as a makeup artist, and she earned a fair bit of money doing so. Whenever something at work annoyed her, she always stated that she would quit the job and do make-up full time. “Perhaps I could be a tattoo artist too. I like drawing.”

Rachel liked how crazy she was. They had become closer since Rachel worked at L&R real estate.

They spent the whole day watching rom-com movies, eating pizza and talking s**t about their life and work.

“We're all gonna burn in hell.” Rachel laughed as they were talking about how ugly Mrs. Amaral’s new hair cut was.

Around 3pm, Katy finally managed to start their makeover. “We need to be there at 6!”

Katy put on make-up for herself then for Rachel. She popped Rachel’s gorgeous emerald eyes with smoky eyeshadow and added a little blush to her cheeks and the top of her nose, so her skin looked crystal-clear. Nude lipstick and lip gloss would catch people’s eyes and make her lips look full and very kissable. They decided to have her hair curled slightly and let it fall freely from her shoulders to her waist like black silk ribbons.

Katy looked at her friend’s shattering appearance, from the perfect figure to the perfect hair, telling her, “You are beautiful. I’m such a wonderful make-up artist. I felt like I have just given birth to you.”

Rachel giggled and looked at the reflection in the mirror. “Yes, you’re right, ‘Mom’.”

“One more thing and you will be ready for the ball, my lady.” Katy replied flippantly. She went to her enormous makeup case, “I wanted to keep this for myself but, on you, it will be to-die-for! I borrowed it from one of my model friends.”

Out of 4 or 5 dresses in the case, Kate pulled out a silver one. It was cream silk and backless, draping from a halter down over her breasts in a deep V to her waist. The soft material fitted snugly around her small waist, hugging her slender hips to fall straight to just below her knee.

“You could wear a bra with this dress... Nah, f**k it, you don’t need it, Rachel. Let them go crazy for you tonight.”