The Billionaire's Widow

2

Paige's POV

Did I say long day? Scratch that. The interviews seemed to be taking shorter than I expected. The two girls before me didn’t even take that long with the billionaire Mrs. Anders.

Of course, I knew who I was going to work for if I got the job—the most influential woman in the country. Wife to the late Mr. Xavier Anders. It’s still a sad thing what befell her. According to magazines, just after they got married, his heart failure got worse and they spent the rest of his life traveling the world and enjoying literally every minute with each other. Well, Mr. Anders only lasted for a month, leaving her with the company, his money, mansions, and I mean literally everything he had.

How do I know all this? Well, first of all, their lives were public and—well—Amy loves the mighty Anders family, so she knows everything about them. She was the one who told me about this personal assistant job as well.

The door opened, startling me. I stood up immediately and walked nervously toward it. Abigail didn’t seem happy, and that only made me more anxious.

Hailey’s POV

My door closed and I knew this was the last candidate.

“Sit down,” I said without looking at her. I was busy texting with my mother-in-law. She wanted to have lunch with me today. I put my phone aside after a few minutes and finally got a glimpse of the girl in front of me.

Okay, she’s gorgeous, I’ll give her that. I looked at her dress code and noticed I could only see the turtleneck.

“Can you please stand up again, Miss…” I looked at her name again on my computer. “Paige,” I said. She nervously did so. I finally saw the full outfit—paired with red five-inch heels that matched her red bag and lipstick. Stylish. She clearly understood the assignment.

“Thank you. Sit down.” I went ahead and clicked Hired on my computer.

“Thank you, ma’am.”

“Okay, so how old are you?” I went on and interviewed her for formality’s sake. Otherwise, I loved the way she was dressed, and if she was going to be around me a lot more, then I wasn’t worried. I had already seen her CV and it was impressive, so beauty plus brains plus style equaled my idea of a good assistant.

“Twenty-three,” she answered.

“Okay. So, I see you're wearing black. Is black your favorite color?” She cleared her throat.

“One of my favorite colors, yes,” she answered confidently.

“Okay, so last question. Did you put that outfit you have on all by yourself or did someone else choose it for you?” I leaned back in the chair.

“Um, I—I dressed myself, ma’am. I'm sorry if I look hideous. I promise I can do better.” I chuckled.

“You’re hired. You start tomorrow.” I pulled a contract out of the right drawer.

Paige's POV

“What?!” My eyes almost popped out. “I got the job?” I nearly screamed, but Mrs. Anders gave me a warning look. I quickly cleared my throat and shifted in my seat.

“Miss Paige, I will only say this once more, but if you're going to work for me, you should know I hate repeating myself. Now, I said you're hired, and you start tomorrow.” I swallowed hard. “Was that clear enough?”

“Yes, ma’am.” She dropped a document in front of me.

“I am a woman who doesn’t like wasting time, so that is our contract. You can read through it before signing.” She went back to her phone.

This woman is so intimidating. And deadly gorgeous. I looked at her carefully, taking in her beauty. For a moment, I felt lost in just her face. Damn! Her lips formed a smile, making me shiver. How can a simple smile just get me like that?

“I hope you're done signing, Miss Paige, seeing that you're staring.” I quickly looked away and went back to reading the rules and whatnot in the document in my hands.

Well, it wasn’t too much I couldn’t handle—don’t be late or I'm fired, I work six days a week, and I’m not allowed to have another job besides this one. As if I could manage that. I rolled my eyes and kept reading. Then I reached a rule that made me pause and raise an eyebrow.

I always have to look beautiful.

I almost laughed. No wonder she asked me to stand up when I first got here. It wasn't just about the résumé—dress code mattered to her. Well, at least that won’t be a problem. I’d made sure I looked flawless today.

Then I got to the salary part.

“twenty-five thousand dollars a month?” I almost whispered, my voice trembling with excitement.

Mrs. Anders raised an eyebrow. “That’s just your base salary. With performance bonuses and benefits, you could easily double that. And considering the responsibilities you’ll have, I expect nothing less.”

I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding. “Wow. I… I didn’t expect this at all.”

“Good. Expect the unexpected when working for me,” she said with a smirk. “Now, sign the contract. You start tomorrow.”

I nodded, taking out a pen and signing under her signature where there was a blank space.

“Good. I expect your best.”

“I promise, ma’am.”

“Give Darsie your bank details so payments are sorted early at the end of the month. I like efficiency.”

I stood. “Thank you, Mrs. Anders.”

“Be here by eight sharp. If you’re late, don’t bother coming in.” I nodded as she walked toward the door.

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