The Accidental Mrs Williams

Chapter4: Hello husband

CHAPTER 4: Hello, Husband

I did not sleep. Not one minute. My phone came back to life at three in the morning and I searched his name with my heart in my throat.

Benjamin Victor Williams. CEO. The Williams Group. Billionaire. Fashion empire. London based. His face stared back at me from my screen, those same green eyes, that same sharp jaw, and I felt like the floor was opening beneath me.

I was married to my boss.

My phone buzzed with thirty-seven missed messages from Shaznay and Dorinda but I could not answer any of them. I sat on my bed and stared at the wall until my alarm went off at seven.

Then I got up, showered, dressed in my best black trousers and a cream blouse, and walked out of my bedroom like a woman heading to her own execution.

Shaznay was in the kitchen, pouring cereal. She looked up and gasped. "Clara! Where the hell have you been? We were about to file a missing persons report!"

"Long story."

"Long st... girl, you disappeared for two days. With a stranger. And your phone was off." She set the box down and stared at me. "What happened?"

"I will tell you everything tonight. I promise. But right now I have to get to work or I will be late on my first day."

"Clara..."

"Tonight, Shaz. I promise." I grabbed my bag and walked out before she could ask anything else.

The train ride was twenty minutes of pure dread. Every stop brought me closer to the moment I would have to walk into that building and face the truth. Maybe he would not be there. Raymond said the CEO was often travelling. Maybe Benjamin was still in Dubai. Maybe I could work there for weeks without ever seeing him.

I walked through the glass doors of The Williams Group at eight fifty-five. Patricia, the receptionist, smiled at me warmly. "Clara, welcome. Come with me, I will show you around."

She led me through the open plan office, showing me where everything was. The design floor with its giant screens and fabric samples pinned to boards. The meeting rooms named after famous fashion capitals. The kitchen stocked with every kind of coffee pod known to man.

"This is your desk," she said, pointing to a sleek white desk outside a large corner office with frosted glass walls. "And that is Mr Williams' office. He usually arrives around eight, but he was travelling this weekend so he might be a little late today."

My stomach dropped. "Mr Williams. The CEO."

"Yes." Patricia smiled. "He can be intense, but he is fair. Just be prompt, be organized, and do not go into his office without knocking."

I stared at the frosted glass. Behind it, I could make out the shape of a desk, a chair, bookshelves. "Is he... is he in today?"

"He should be here any minute. He just texted me that he is in the building." Patricia squeezed my shoulder. "You will be fine. Let me grab you a coffee."

She walked away and I stood at my new desk, frozen. My bag hung from my shoulder like a dead weight. I could leave. I could turn around right now, walk out, and never come back. Find another job. Start over. Three hundred and forty-three rejections instead of three hundred and forty-two.

But I could not. I needed this job. My grandmother needed her medication. Samuel needed his school supplies. The rent was due in nine days.

I sat down. I turned on the computer. I took a breath.

The lift dinged.

I heard his voice before I saw him. Deep, measured, speaking to someone on his phone. Then he rounded the corner and there he was, in a charcoal suit that fit like it was sewn onto his body, his dark hair pushed back, his green eyes fixed on the floor as he spoke.

He looked up.

Our eyes locked.

He stopped walking. His lips parted slightly. Then he said into the phone, "I will call you back," and hung up without waiting for a reply.

We stared at each other for three full seconds that felt like three years.

"You," I breathed.

"Clara?" His voice was barely above a whisper.

Patricia appeared behind me with a coffee. "Oh, Mr Williams, perfect timing. This is your new executive assistant, Clara. Clara, this is Benjamin Williams."

I could not move. I could not breathe.

Benjamin recovered first. He straightened his shoulders and his face became unreadable. "Patricia, could you give us a moment?"

"Of course." She set the coffee on my desk and disappeared.

Benjamin walked past me into his office and held the door open. "Come in."

I stood on legs that felt like water and walked into his office. He closed the door behind me and I heard the soft click like a gunshot.

"Sit down," he said.

"I do not want to sit down."

He walked around his desk and stood behind it, gripping the edge. "You are my new assistant."

"And you are my husband." The word came out like poison. "How is this possible?"

"My uncle Raymond handles recruitment when I am away. He must have hired you while I was..." He trailed off.

"While you were busy marrying strangers in Dubai?"

His jaw clenched. "Clara."

"Do not Clara me." I took a step toward his desk. "This is a nightmare. This is genuinely, truly, a nightmare. I have been awake all night trying to figure out how my life got this messed up and now you are standing there in your fancy suit telling me to sit down?"

"I did not know," he said firmly. "I did not know you were the new hire. I did not plan this."

"Well neither did I!"

Silence stretched between us, thick and heavy. He rubbed his hand across his forehead and sighed.

"Okay," he said. "Okay. Here is what we are going to do. Nobody here knows what happened between us. Not Patricia, not my uncle, nobody. We keep it that way."

"And how exactly do we do that? You are my boss. I sit right outside your office."

"We act like professionals. We do our jobs. The annulment will come through and then this whole thing goes away like it never happened."

I shook my head slowly. "You make it sound so simple."

"It is simple." He looked at me and for a moment, just a flash, I saw something in his eyes that was not confidence or control. It was fear. "It has to be."

I sat down in the chair across from his desk and let out a long breath. My hands were shaking and I pressed them flat against my thighs to make them stop.

"Fine," I said. "But I need this job, Benjamin. I need it more than you could possibly understand. So if this arrangement is going to put my position at risk..."

"It will not." He sat down and adjusted his cuffs. "You were hired on merit. My uncle does not give pity offers. You earned this."

I looked at him, searching his face for any sign of a lie. He held my gaze steady.

"This never happened," I said.

"Agreed."

"We do not know each other."

"We do not."

I stood and turned toward the door. My hand was on the handle when his voice stopped me.

"Clara." I looked back. He was watching me with those green eyes and something about the way the morning light hit his face made my chest ache in a way I did not want to think about. "For what it is worth... you deserved a better first day than this."

I did not answer. I walked out, sat at my desk, and stared at the blank computer screen.

Married to my boss. My boss was my husband. My husband was a billionaire. And I could not tell a single soul.

My phone buzzed. Shaznay: "You better have one hell of a story tonight."

I put my phone face down and closed my eyes.

She had no idea.