The Double Identity Of The Billionaire's Secretary

Her Job Interview

Aurora’s POV

“Flight X has been delayed due to the poor weather, and we hope…” The airport announcement throbbed through the speaker, and I sighed, imagining the fury of the passengers who were supposed to be on that flight.

“That is so complicated,” I muttered, eyes roaming the restless crowd. A smile tugged at my lips as I finally stepped outside and let the Texas sun slide over my face. Warmth. Light. Life. It stroked me like a lover’s hand, and for a breath I almost forgot who I was.

Four years ago I’d slipped out of a life that should have ended in blood. I’d survived only because a kind couple dragged me from the dark and then died soon after. I’d sworn never to come back here. Yet danger has a way of becoming a hiding place.

“But why is that man running toward me?” I whispered, taking a slow step back. Nowhere to run. He was locked on me.

My pulse spiked. My muscles tensed for the kill. I shifted into stance, ready to drop him before a crowd of witnesses if I had to. Then a woman’s scream cut through the noise.

“A thief! Somebody help! He’s a thief!”

Not me. Relief purred through me, wicked and sweet. I slid my leg out just as the man bolted past. He tripped hard, smacking the floor.

“Ahh!” he barked as airport security swarmed and dragged him off.

“That was easy,” I murmured, heat still humming in my veins.

“Mommy! What’s going on?” a tiny voice piped behind me. I turned and my heart melted. Prince, my son grinned up at me, all sunshine and innocence. Beside him, my best friend Selena held his hand. My grin matched theirs for a split second before instinct shoved me forward.

“Come on,” I urged, hurrying them into a cab. Prince was the one perfect thing the universe had ever given me. Every time I thought about how he’d come into my life, gratitude burned hot in my chest.

“Let’s get out of here,” I rasped, scanning the crowd. Texas air carried memories like guns, and smoke. The organization I’d escaped was everywhere; I could almost taste their reach.

“Mommy, will I like it here?” Prince asked.

“Yes,” I said, forcing a lightness I didn’t feel. “We’ll figure out the fun as we go.”

“Don’t worry, Prince,” Selena teased, “Auntie’s got you and no guns allowed.” She whispered the last part, but the word still scraped me raw.

Guns. The reason I left. The reason I came back.

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

The house we’d rented before arriving was supposed to be a refuge. Instead, a bewildered couple answered the door.

“What do you mean the agent isn’t real? I paid for this house myself and..” I snapped, but their blank stares told me the truth. We’d been scammed.

With no way to claw back the money, Selena hustled us to one of her cousins who managed to find a temporary rental. At least we weren’t sleeping on the streets.

I barely noticed dawn until Selena’s voice sliced through my sleep.

“Aurora! Are you really not going to that interview again?”

My eyes shot open. “Time?” I croaked.

“It’s eight.”

“What?!” I bolted upright.

Late. I dashed to the shower, cursing the stress that had dragged me under last night. Two minutes flat and I was out, skin still damp, sliding into a black skirt and a soft pink shirt that hugged me in all the right places. I yanked my hair into a ponytail that bared my neck, a detail I caught in the mirror and almost blushed at.

“Please watch Prince,” I told Selena, my voice sharper than I meant. “Don’t let him wander.”

She nodded, eyes knowing exactly why I was on edge.

I missed the bus and had to bleed my wallet for a cab. Veta Logistics stood ahead, all glass and shadow. The receptionist gave me a pass only after I insisted I was there for the interview.

“Whoa,” I whispered as I entered the packed waiting area. “Every grad in the country wants this gig?”

My stomach dipped. My résumé was a skeleton, a two-year degree, a PA job. The only experience that mattered lived in a world I couldn’t mention: silent kills, escape routes, the weight of a trigger. Imagine submitting assassins under skills.

“I’m sure they’d be impressed enough to wet their pants,” I muttered and accepted a tag: 129. They were still on number 30. A long wait, yet applicants streamed out of the interview room faster than a bullet, some with tears shining on their cheeks.

The man next to me whispered, “Why are they coming out so quick?”

I already knew something, or someone in that room was stripping people bare.

Hours thinned to minutes, and suddenly it was my turn. My pulse quickened. I walked in and a slow, electric chill slid down my spine. The air itself felt like it wanted to touch me.

That aura.

My eyes swept the interview panel. None of the seated faces fit it, but I could feel him.

“Is this all they’ve got?” a voice drawled from the back. Familiar. Too familiar. The man’s broad shoulders faced away, but every nerve in my body recognized him.

No. It can’t be.

“Good morning, my name is Aurora Sterling, and I am..oh shit.” The word escaped before I could catch it.

The man turned.

Him.

Those green eyes. That wicked mouth. Heat detonated in my chest and streaked low, hot enough to make me tremble. Memories of his touch, his voice flared like gunfire.

“Did you just curse, Miss?” someone else asked, but their voice was a distant echo. All I could hear was the slow thrum of my own heartbeat and the memory of his breath against my skin.

What should I do? Would he recognize me?

The air between us thickened, charged, and I felt the room shrink until it was only the two of us hunter and hunted, or maybe something far more dangerous.