The Billionaire's Bride

Chapter 1

*Sample Only* Only the first 14 Chapters are available here - The full story is available on Amazon Kindle.

"Thank you for letting me know" Cassie said, as she held back the tears and hung up the phone.

This was the call she had been dreading, but knew was coming. The nurse from the facility where her mother had been living, had called to inform her that her mother had passed. Cassie walked into the bathroom and locked the door, then dropped to her knees, and began to cry, unable to hold it in any longer.

Cassie wished she had been able to be with her mother, but it hadn't been possible. The only reason her mother had lived this long was because Cassie had left. Her mother's declining health had required very specific attention from a specialist who was able to treat her specific type of dementia and heart issues. She had been living in a facility for the last four years, while Cassie was working to pay for the treatment and her mother's living expenses. The cost was far more than Cassie or her mother could have afforded on their own, having little to support themselves after Cassie's father had died when she was 17.

Cassie had finished high school, working part-time and then worked full time after that, in order to support herself and her mother. But once her mother's illness began to require additional treatments, Cassie had looked for other means to supplement their income. That's when she had met Lady Martha Dubois. Lady Dubois had been in need of a personal assistant, and was using a hiring company to search for an appropriate candidate. Cassie had come across the advertisement and immediately applied. Lady Dubois, who Cassie strongly suspected had given herself the title of 'Lady', needed someone full time, available to travel frequently and capable enough to maintain all of her business needs and transactions, as well as serve as something of a maid and companion.

Lady Dubois was immediately impressed by Cassie's appearance, as she was young and pretty, but even more so she was impressed with her respectful demeanor and competent communication. Qualities that had been difficult to find in other young applicants for the position. Even though she hadn't attended college, Cassie was like a sponge and had done everything she could to learn and develop herself, seeking out information and knowledge whenever and wherever she could. She studied college textbooks that she found at the library, or bought used. Lady Dubois had interviewed several young ladies, and they all seemed to feel as though the job they were applying for would be a paid vacation, but not Cassie. She was earnestly looking for an opportunity to work hard, and earn a sufficient wage to help with the expenses to care for her mother.

During the interview process, as Lady Dubois delved into Cassie's background and family life, she discovered why Cassie was looking for a new job, and why she was so earnest about the position. Lady Dubois was a shrewd woman, who always looked for an angle. She was a widow, and some speculated that even her marriage had been one of convenience and strategy, serving her purposes to further promote herself and propel herself into bigger social circles. She loved rubbing shoulders with the wealthy, and she was frequently finding ways to ingratiate herself to anyone she could. She loved having others owe her favors, and her pursuit to consistently climb the social ladder was her primary purpose in her life. She loved it, she craved it, and the higher she got, the more she wanted.

Lady Dubois, while socially motivated and determined, was still a kind and thoughtful woman. She enjoyed helping charitable causes, helping out the underdog and she saw herself as something of a benefactress. And if her generous contributions were able to being her more attention and notoriety among her peers, even better. So it was with calculated thought that she readily hired the young Cassie to be her right hand. She was able to help someone in need while also having it as a point of frequent conversation in which she was able to brag about her generosity to the poor girl and her mother.

The agreement was simple. Lady DuBois would pay all of the bills for Cassie's mother as they arose, and Cassie would work for a generous salary, which primarily went toward the accrued charges for her mother's care. Fortunately, as per the terms of the job requirements, most of Cassie's day to day needs and living expenses were covered by Lady Dubois, but a portion of the salary every month would go to Cassie for her own personal needs, such as clothing or anything she wanted for herself that wasn't part of her job for Lady DuBois. But the majority of what she earned, was applied directly toward Cassie's mother's bills that Lady DuBois had been paying on her behalf. Now that Cassie's mother had passed, the bills would stop adding up, but the total was still significant, and Cassie would be working for Lady DuBois for four or five more years at least, before it was all paid back.

It was several minutes before Cassie was able to stop the tears from flowing. She knew that she would have to put her own feelings aside for at least a few more hours. Lady Dubois was expecting her and would likely already have noticed her tardiness. Cassie stood up, washed her face and tried to smooth the wrinkles out of her simple black dress and made her way out of the bathroom and out of the hotel room to meet Lady DuBois downstairs for dinner.

Lady DuBois was spending a few months in the Caribbean, drifting from one hotel to the next. There were rumors that several celebrities and members of upper society would be frequenting the area during the peak travel season, and any chance to bump into the society members she so admired, Lady DuBois was willing to spend vast sums to make it happen.

As it happened, the current hotel they were inwas scrambling to host an unscheduled wedding the next morning, and Lady DuBoishad extended her stay in order to try to obtain an invitation to that wedding,even though she initially didn't even know who was supposed to be gettingmarried. Apparently, the entire affair had been handled in great haste withstrict discreetness, which only made her more curios and more intent on findingout who the happy couple was. She was determined to meet them, as only thesocially elite would have been able to afford a wedding at the currentestablishment, not to mention the money involved in maintaining such secrecyand organizing something so quickly. Lady Dubois felt fortunate to havediscovered the limited information she had obtained, although that was one ofher specialties. Information was just one of the forms of currency she dealtwith extensively.