The Billionaires (#1)

11 || Secretary Society

It was around 3 p.m. London's time when Anita Simmons arrived at Billings Corp., three hours before closing time. She was in her gym clothes and had obviously not planned on coming in today. "Good morning." Meryl greeted sarcastically, and Anita just rolled her eyes.

“Good afternoon, Meryl, and how are you?” Anita retorted with a smile on her face.

Meryl frowned and looked up from the file she had been pretending to be working on the moment Anita walked into the building. Anita was unusually sweet today, not that she was not sweet at all, but she and Meryl were always exchanging cheeky comments. "You look unusually happy today," Meryl commented, a small smile ghosting her face.

Anita just chuckled and shook her head. "Is Mr Billings here?" She asked, and Meryl scoffed.

“He left early in the morning, say…8a.m.? Some guy named David Botha came to see him, and they left the building together. He asked me to cancel all his meetings and appointments for today.” Meryl explained, not forgetting to scoff at the mention of David Botha’s name.

Anita sighed in relief at the little information about Jorge Billings’ absence; she was not yet ready to deal with him. “I guess we have David Botha to thank then, I’m sure you extended your lunch break by another hour.” Anita mused, watching as Meryl plastered a scowl on her face.

"I don't have to thank him for anything," Meryl said angrily, and Anita had to suppress her laughter. On a normal basis, Meryl would have bragged about a hot guy named David Botha who showed up in the office earlier, looking for Jorge Billings. She would have been rambling on and on about how he sounded, how he walked, or simply how he dressed- but that was not the case today.

“What did he do?” Anita asked, and within seconds, Meryl had started and finished her story in one breath. “Wow! The guy has some guts.” Anita said.

"The Jerk," Meryl muttered under her breath, causing Anita to laugh. "Anyway, there are some messages for Miss Billings." She said, flipping through the files on her desk until she found what she was looking for. "Here." She handed Anita some envelopes and cue cards.

"These are invitation cards to some charity events; I don't know why they keep insisting on sending them when they know that she won't attend," Anita said and threw the envelopes on the desk. "Next time you receive envelopes like these, please discard them; Miss Billings' important messages that come through the mail are usually confidential." She sighed and shook her head while reading the cue cards. "I'll respond to all these people." She said and put the cards in her sling bag. "Any messages for me?" She inquired as if not expecting any.

"Yes, just one. Give me a second." Meryl said and started to search around her desk. Anita frowned, wondering who could have left a message for her. "Aha!" Meryl exclaimed as she retrieved a torn envelope from a hem of files. Anita narrowed her eyes at her as she took the envelope, it looked unusually familiar, but Anita could not put her mind as to where she had seen it before. She took out the paper inside the envelope, and realization dawned on her as she remembered the resignation letter she had handed to MJ. "Miss Billings said, and I quote: ‘when Anita Simmons comes back, tell her to start looking for a replacement for Miss Douglas, or find someone else to do the job if she's tired of working for me.'" Meryl said warily but was shocked once more when Anita chuckled.

"I'll get on it," Anita said.

“Getting you a replacement?” Meryl asked, confused.

“No, dummy; getting a replacement for Miss Douglas. If MJ thinks she’s going to get rid of me that easily, then she’s mistaken because she is stuck with me, girl.” Anita said with a flip of her hair.

Meryl looked at her with her mouth hanging open. “Okay, what’s going on with you today? You seriously look like you are going to burst from all this cheerfulness.” Meryl asked with a frown before it turned into an excited look. “Is it a man?” She asked excitedly.

"Yes and no," Anita said with a blush. "I found my brother, and we are meeting for dinner tonight!" She squealed, unable to contain her happiness.

“Wow, that’s great news, Anita! What is his name and how did you find him? How does he look?” Meryl asked.

“His name is Javier Mendoza. He’s a rich business tycoon based in Mexico and South America. He has two children, a boy and a girl around the age of fifteen; from what I gathered, they are twins.” Anita said excitedly. “However, I haven’t met him yet; I was communicating with him through his secretary.” She said sadly, the light in her eyes dying.

“Oh!” Meryl said, giving her a cynical gaze.

“I don’t know, I just feel like he’s handling this like some business transaction, you know, and this is important to me. You have no idea how long I’ve waited for something like this. After my late adoptive parents told me about him, I just wanted to find him, and now that I’ve finally found him, I feel like he’s already slipping through my fingers before I’ve even gotten a chance to grasp at him.” Anita poured her heart out, and Meryl retrained the urge to pull her into a hug but settled for holding her hand from across the desk.

“Listen, I don’t know what kind of a person your brother is, but I’m sure he wants this as much as you do. Don’t lose hope, okay?” Meryl said warmly while caressing her hand.

Anita nodded and gave her a small smile. “Thanks, Meryl, I really needed this.” She said, wiping her tears away.

“You are welcome.” Meryl chirped happily.

“You are quite nice when you are not being cheeky.” Anita scoffed, a wide smile on her face.

"I know," Meryl said and flipped her blonde hair, causing Anita to chuckle. "You are quite nice when you are not being cheeky too," Meryl admitted, and they fell into silence before bursting into fits of giggles.

“Oh, my God!” Anita gasped, clutching her stomach. Her phone rang and she showed Meryl the screen and mouthed, “I have to take this.” Meryl nodded and excused her. “Hello?” Anita answered her phone. “Oh!” She said, her face fallen due to whatever news she had received. Tears started to roll down her face, and she could not control them.

"Anita, are you okay?" Meryl asked worriedly. Anita lowered her phone from her ear and carelessly threw it in her bag before a choked sob escaped her lips. Meryl panicked and walked around her desk to where Anita stood. "Hey, what is the matter?" She asked.

"He just cancelled on me," Anita said through her sobs. "His assistant called and told me that Mr Mendoza could not make it for tonight's dinner." She sobbed louder, and Meryl pulled her into a hug.

“Oh, Anita, I’m so sorry.” Meryl comforted her; she knew how important this dinner was for Anita. Just a few seconds ago she was excited about finally meeting her brother, and now she was crushed because he cancelled on her. Her brother might be busy with something urgent, but to her, it appeared as though he did not want to meet her.

“What the hell is this?” Jorge’s angry voice boomed through the entire floor as he approached the front desk where the two women were embracing each other. Meryl shushed and scowled at him. “Don’t shush me; this is not a Doctor Phil show!” Jorge shouted.

“Jorge-” Meryl tried to warn him, but Anita had already slipped out of her arms and turned to face Jorge whose eyes widened at the sight, and he regretted his actions immediately.

“Anita…shit!” He muttered and ran a hand through his already messy blonde hair.

“Yeah, s**t!” Anita said, and he flinched at her tone. “Go screw yourself, Jorge!” She snapped and pushed him aside before running out of the building, pushing her way between David and another man in the process.

“What is wrong with her?” Jorge asked Meryl who glared at him angrily.

She laughed bitterly and ran her tongue over her teeth. “That is what you were supposed to ask the moment you walked in on us,” Meryl said in a cool voice and shook her head. She sidestepped him and rushed out to follow Anita, but not before bumping into David and his other companion.

The two men watched her leave and turned to Jorge with questioning looks.