Cougar Boss (gxg)

PROLOGUE (RECAP FROM BEGINNING)

Prologue

I was late for my interview. One I'd worked so hard to get. A former employer had recommended me for a personal assistant position at a CEO's wife's mansion, where she preferred to work from, which I found a bit odd, but she was paying well and I had student loans and bills to pay.

I hurried along, hoping she'd give me a chance. I was ten minutes late. If I failed to land this job, I'd be kicked out of my studio apartment.

The moment I arrived, I was instantly intimidated by the extravagant house staring back at me. It felt as if I had no business there.

The mansion must've housed about thirty rooms and a dozen bathrooms or so. Workers were everywhere, and the compound was larger than three football fields.

The mansion was in a private estate which took approximately twenty minutes to get to from the main road, where the rest of the world - or rather poor people like myself, barely managed to exist.

This was a different universe and I was an intruder, wearing four-inch heels I'd gotten weeks earlier, which were squeezing the life out of my toes and a grey pantsuit I'd gotten using the remaining money I'd had left.

If I didn't get this job, in a week or so, I'd be living on the streets. I'd already asked too much of my best friend, Rex, and I couldn't bring myself to ask him to help me more, even though I knew he'd be more than willing to come to my rescue despite the fact that he was a struggling artist with as little to nothing as myself.

At the entrance, I was met by a serious looking middle-aged British butler. British. Talk about exaggerated wealth. Or perhaps I should've been grateful because it might've meant this ostentatiously wealthy people would pay me well. But then again that was if I passed the damned interview I was late for.

"I'm here to see Mrs. Gallagher about an interview on the personal assistant job," I said as the butler looked me up and down. He looked like a bouncer from a high-end strip club.

"You must be Ms. Olivia Williams." His tongue was heavy with that English accent.

"I am," I said.

He let me in. I was awestruck by the expanse space, elegance and luxury that immediately assaulted my eyes. I'd seen these kinds of homes in movies and extravagant home shows, but I'd never quite pictured it in reality.

The human-sized crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling was the first thing that captured my eyes, then the artsy and luxurious looking, embellished unending staircase which seemed, as if, ascended to heaven.

My studio apartment was a quarter of a quarter of the space which directly met me at the entrance of the mansion.

"Second floor, third room on the east wing," the butler said.

Third room on the east wing, even the White House paled in comparison to this mutant of a house.

After the shock, I rushed up the stairs.

"No running," the butler said after me, forcing me to slow in my step.

I straightened up my outfit and windblown brown hair at the door, and took a breath before knocking. I didn't know who or what to expect on the other side as I'd not had enough time to prepare or research the position I was supposedly interviewing for.

I'd planned on doing so, but last-minute studying for assignments and constant countless side jobs to make money for bills that seemed never-ending had taken up all my time. I hoped the recommendation, coupled up with my skills would land me the job.

I didn't have full details on how much I'd be earning or when payment would be due; I hadn't had time to research on that either. I'd been too busy and desperate for the next job.