The Billionaire's Assistant

Chapter 1

"I got the email," Kat said after taking a shaky breath, stumbling over her words in her urgency. "I got the email. They just sent it."

The room fell silent and 5 pairs of eyes locked onto her as 5 sets of lungs held their breath. A beat of anticipatory silence, then another. "They want me to come in for an interview," she marveled in a near whisper, the shocked expression on her face morphing into a shy, pleased grin as the room burst into activity, everyone standing and cheering as they slapped each other on the back. Kat flushed and looked down, embarrassed by all the attention, but the woman sitting nearest to her grabbed her hand and lifted it in triumph.

"You did it!" she yelped, and the room dissolved into more cheers and chatter. The woman squeezed Kat's hand then stood, pulling her to her feet as she did so. "You're gonna do it. We're gonna do it, we're gonna save the world."

Kat's heart quickened at the magnitude of the statement, the ever intensifying flush rising to her ears as her mind raced, preoccupied with every aspect of the task that lay ahead of her.

"She's nervous," a voice teased gleefully, another voice of the same pitch and tone joining in on the repetition. "She's nervousss."

"Shut up Conner," instructed the woman standing in the center of the circle, swiping at him lightly in reproach as he chortled.

"It wasn't me," he protested, narrowly avoiding her swat with a perfectly timed step backwards. "It wasn't me, it was Brent!" the lanky man claimed again, still laughing.

"Then shut up both of you," the woman repeated good naturally before turning to face Kat fully.

She grips her free hand and takes her in as if for the first time, the room falling silent as one woman inspected the other. Kat felt her palms beginning to dampen under the heat of the woman's inspection and she took a deep breath, gathering the courage to lift her eyes to the ones searching her face. Their gaze met and the woman's face softened then cracked, bursting into a wide grin as the corners of her mouth curled further with the effort of holding back what was sure to manifest as giddy laughter.

"Kat," she said simply, her intonation conveying much more information than the shorter woman's name. "Kat," She crooned more, her head tilting to the side and a quiver creeping into her voice.

"Andy's gonna cry!" Brent and Conner hollered simultaneously, earning them both silencing glares from the only other man in the low ceilinged room.

"Shut up," Andy murmured near imperceptibility at their already quieted laughter, her eyes still locked onto Kat's. "I'm so glad you came to us," she continued at the same volume as if still admonishing the twins, the low lilt in her voice forcing Kat to lean further forward to hear her till their foreheads were nearly touching. "You were meant to be a part of this, I've known it since the day I meant you." She lifted her hand to Kat's face, Kat's own hand rising as well as her fingers were still entertwined with the woman's. Their hands remained there for a moment, clutched together, pressed to Kat's cheek, before Andy thrust them into the air victoriously. "We're taking down Tillibenton!" she proclaimed loudly, and Kat felt her heart quicken anew as the small group pressed around her, the excitement humming about them as a near audible buzz.

Tillibenton. Even thinking the name made her anxious, much less saying it. Much less getting a job working directly with the CEO himself. She suddenly felt unsure of the entire plan, felt as if the ground beneath her was no longer solid and instead undulated rhythmically. Why did she think she could do this? She could hardly conceptualize the task at hand while remaining conscious, how could she possibly go about her daily life as an assistant to one of the world's richest and most powerful men? It would be stressful enough to have a role like that, but for Kat, it was only the beginning of her concerns. She was well aware of what she had to do and despite the concept behind the plan being entirely her own, it now seemed childishly unrealistic. Tillibenton was a giant, a multi-billion dollar pharmaceutical conglomerate with more money, power, and political influence than any other entity in the United States and she, she was just an environmental science major. She barely had the credentials to apply for the executive assistant role she would now be interviewing for, and presently the idea that she'd be able to secure the job seemed far-fetched.

The room around her continued to thrum with activity, the group laughing and speaking over one another in their excitement. Their voices melded together into a pleasant drone as Kat watched them while her mind leapt about, her eyes lingering on each of the faces that continued to turn wide smiles in her direction.

Conner, the younger of the two twins, spoke to her, and she carefully watched his mouth move as if in slow motion. It was like she was underwater, unable to hear what went on around her except for snippets of muted echos. She smiled in return and nodded despite her lack of understanding, begetting an even wider smile from his boyish face. Conner was the younger of the two twins, and despite the identical nature of their looks, his birth order was somehow obvious. He had a sweet, earnest face forever unmarred by anything as foreign to him as anger or fear and his eyes were bright and large, light always finding its way into his pupils to illuminate the flecks of gold scattered randomly amidst the hazel. They were framed with thick, impossibly long lashes that curled towards the sky, giving him an almost demure look much better described as beautiful than handsome. He was long, lanky, and gaunt, his thin limbs a spindly mess of knees and elbows despite how many calories he and his brother put away on a daily basis. He had shaggy, unkempt curls framed his face and lolled lazily down his forehead in an exaggerated cowlick, and he constantly tossed his head to one side to swing the brown mop from his eyes. His hair wasn't as long as it was full, and his curls were packed in and piled precariously high, kissing the tops of his ears and falling no lower. He often ran his hands through it, the long, slender, almost elegant fingers coming into contact with a snag or tangle more often than not. Kat had yet to see him without his trademark grin, and even when he slept his expression remained inviting. He was never without his brother, and he and the identical Brent acted and looked exactly alike down their matching birthmarks on their left shoulder.

Identical, thought Kat, and yet somehow not, because for anyone that knew the twins, there was never a moment of confusion surrounding their identities. Brent was always Brent, and Conner was always Conner. It was some inarticulable aspect of their nature, Brent smiled as often as Conner but his smile pulled at the edges while Conner's tugged. His eyes gleamed while Conner's sparkled. Their faces softened in the same way when they were earnest, but it was as if Conner's expression was an element removed and Brents was one added. They were the same, and yet they were different. Different in ways that rarely mattered to them, but different enough to be completely identifiable, complete individuals, a distinct set of personalities despite their expert imitation of one another. It was as if they had to act as twins, as if it wasn't something that came easily to them, as if they had to try.

That effort wasn't evident when they interacted with each other, but when they spoke Kat felt an underlying sense of an impression being put on, a facade, a mask. They were twins, but one of them was somehow more than the other, one silently dictated the actions of the two, and it wasn't clear which. Does Brent keep Conner grounded? Does Conner help Brent soar? As long as she'd known them Kat had always considered the twins like the wind, buoying from below and above, working together to keep themself, their craft, afloat. They had no one but each other, she knew that. They needed each other, and they were inseparable, end of story. Since she'd met them over a year ago they hadn't changed at all, and were still immature, still uproariously reckless, and still sported boyish faces entirely untouched by age.

Conner was looking at her in confusion and saying something else that she still couldn't quite make out in her paralyzing stupor, and she looked to her right for reassurance. Andy had dropped her right hand but the left was still squeezed tightly by Emma, the member of the group that Kat had known the longest. The shorter, passionate women had promptly become her best friend and they'd quickly settled into a level of familiarity that she didn't think was possible, spurred on by their common interests. One major interest in particular, the interest, in fact, that had landed them both there.