Chapter 2 2.

"Okay! So in the department, we're a total of twenty-five and the fourteenth floor is all ours. The offices are to the left side and meeting rooms and staff kitchen on the right and the restrooms are kinda middle left." She informed me as we walked down the wide hallway. We stopped in front of a glass wall and from what I could see beyond it, four large desks were joined together but separated by dividers.

"Are you nervous, confident or shaky?" She asked and I laughed.

"All except confident."

"You'll do well, good luck." She smiled, "oh and I'm the head of our little department. I'll see you later."

I bobbed my head, we shook hands then she left.

The walls of the office were a monotone grey and tables holding files, printers and probably other important documents lined some parts of the wall while board holders and shelves lined the opposite wall. I tilted my head and saw only two people occupied the desks. Now or never, P.

"You entering anytime soon?"

I turned around, half startled to find a beautiful olive-skinned woman behind me. Her dark hair framed her face in light waves and her light brown eyes scrutinised me deeply.

"Yes, soon." I cleared my throat wondering why it was so dry. She propped one of her hands on her waist.

"You new?" She asked and I answered in the affirmative.

"I'm Isabella, you can call me Bella or Isa but never Belle, si?"

"Uh, si." I grinned immediately liking her. "I'm Ophelia by the way." I introduced.

"Hmm, pretty name."

Turning again, I was faced with yet another beautiful woman, cocoa in complexion and also scrutinising me with her dark eyes. It felt like high-school all over again. She leaned against the door frame and behind her was a tall fair-haired man.

"Very pretty indeed," the man said.

"Is that you trying to flirt?" The dark-skinned woman laughed.

"I'll tell your girlfriend John." Isabella who was now beside me, tsked.

"I'm John which Belle over here already said," he stopped as Isabella hit his shoulder. "Ow," he rubbed the spot, "anyway, I wasn't flirting-"

"If he was, his girlfriend would have sensed it from her workplace downtown and flown in on her shiny broom ready to murder him." The dark-skinned woman said and I couldn't help but laugh.

"Becky is not that scary." John glared at her.

"Keep telling yourself that," she laughed then turned back to me, "and I'm Joanne, Jo for short or Anne, whichever is good." She shrugged. It had barely been five minutes but it seemed my first day would go well.

"So tell us about you," Joanne said as they ushered me into the office, Isabella pointed to the only empty desk available for me to occupy. "Basic things, like school, where you graduated from and all that."

"NYU, nearly five years ago," I sat down on the rather comfortable office chair. It had been a while since I sat on an office chair this comfortable. It had been a while since I sat on any office chair.

"Lifetime New Yorker?" John asked and I shook my head.

"I'm from Seattle, went back after college and came back here at the start of the year," I said giving them only the details I didn't mind sharing.

"Nice, I'm from Texas, graduated from the University of Houston, six, seven, years ago and damn does it feel long ago and yet like it was just yesterday." Joanne laughed.

"I have to go get some chocolate cookies from the kitchen, I'll tell you the story of my life as soon as I'm back pretty Ophelia." Isabella stood up from her seat and left the office.

John, Joanne and I were well along in our conversation when Isabella returned. I noticed her mood was more sombre than before she left.

"Why do you look like Brad Pitt just got remarried?" Joanne asked her as she sat down.

"He may as well have," she sighed, "I just heard something."

"What?" John folded his arms.

"I think the company is going to be sold or has been sold." She said and both John and Joanne gasped. I, on the other hand, wasn't sure how to feel except wonder if my job was going to be taken away from me so soon. Could they at least let me work for a month?

"What?" John asked and Isabella continued.

"I didn't hear much at all but from what I did hear from Mary, who was on the phone, by the way, it seems Dieter and Leona took out loans and now they can't pay them back so the company is being sold before the bank gets it."

"Did you hear to who?" Joanne asked and she nodded.

"We've mentioned his name before, last month I think, that handsome young billionaire, owner of a rising tech company. That one who entered Forbes list. What was his name again, Chilton, Hilton? Illston?"

My ears perked up and a few memories from years ago, long submerged became almost vivid in my mind again.

"Illston!" Joanne exclaimed, "he's the one I said started young and was lucky to get so rich young too, made his first billion at like 26 or 28? I can't remember his first name though. So he's bought the company? That's crazy girl."

"I had no idea Dieter and Leona were knee-deep in shit to this extent. I knew sales had fallen but not this badly." John's face became contemplative and the others nodded.

I remained silent.

But my mind was in a buzz.

It couldn't be the Illston I was thinking about, no way in hell or heaven. There was no way karma would have skipped that bastard and let fate hand him such a good deal. As they murmured, I decided to test fate.

I cleared my throat again then asked Joanne almost painfully, "Is his first name, William?"

"Yea! that's it." She smiled and clapped but I didn't smile back. My chest tightened and everything around me seemed to collapse. It couldn't possibly be.

That bastard was now my boss?