Deal with a Billionaire

Chapter 1

Annabelle was distracted as she walked off the metro to her shift at the steakhouse, which is why she almost missed the small movement in her purse on her side. Instincts were instincts however and she quickly grasped the wrist that had lifted her phone out of her purse in passing. 

"Not today, little guy" She said with a frown turning to the young boy who looked to be around 13, grabbing her phone out of his grasp. 

"You always did have the best instincts Belle" She heard the familiar voice from further ahead, and she turned with a smile. 

"Xav, nice to see you. Can we meet sometime without arranging one of these tests for me? I feel that I keep humiliating your prodigies"

He came in and engulfed her in a hug as she kissed his cheek in greeting, and hugged him back. 

"Just keeping you in tune, for when you decide to come back, no one born with your skills should let them go to waste," He said stepping back as he took her in. 

"Xav" she responded with a sigh,

"We have talked this over so many times now. That's not the life I want. I've got a year left for my degree and then I can make something of myself. You know how much this means to me." 

"I know, but I just don't understand why you can't let me help you. I pledged that I was gonna be your big brother years ago-"

"You are my big brother, but I can't be a part of that life and make a different future for myself at the same time. Now it was really nice to see you but I have to run in for my shift, talk soon?" She cut him off speaking quickly as she eyed the door of the steakhouse. 

"OK, love. I will call you later. Remember any trouble-"

"You'll be the first call I make." She finished for him, leaning up to give him another kiss on the cheek as she rushed into the steakhouse to clock in. 

Anabelle barely managed to start her shift right on time at 6 pm at the Steakhouse, she took a deep breath as she headed out to take orders from the customers at her tables. This Restaurant was much fancier than anywhere she had worked at before and she had just lucked into getting the position as they were desperate to hire someone the day she applied. It paid well and she had to compose herself and continue to remind herself to keep her temper in check and a smile on her face as she was determined to keep this job until she finished school. Her classes began the next day and she excited to finally be starting on her senior year in her Communications Bachelors program.

"Quite slow tonight" Lizza, the only friend Anabelle had made at this job, muttered to Anabelle as she headed to the kitchen.

Anabelle headed to the only table in her section that had a group waiting to take their orders. She took their order on autopilot as her mind scrambled to organize her plans for the first class of the semester. It seemed to be a table of business executives who happened to be having a working Dinner so she made her appearances at their table brief.

The rest of the night went slow and she was relieved to be heading home with a reasonable amount in tips all from the business execs she had served at the start of the night. Once again she reminded herself to keep her temper in check as the bar boy made subtle remarks about what she must have done to get such nice tips. She rolled her eyes and headed out to make her walk to her tiny studio apartment to prepare for classes the next day.

Christopher

"Arrange the meeting over dinner, I don't care what restaurant, I just want this taken care of today!" He called to his assistant Robert as he headed out to his desk. They were in the middle of an acquisition deal which had already taken much longer than he was happy with and his goal was to finalize everything that day so that he could move on to other tasks. He knew if he didn't push to take care of this, he would get bored with this plan and drop it costing his company millions. Not that the amount mattered to him with what he was worth, but the failure would irritate at him at some point.

Christopher had grown up with what some would call a gold spoon in his mouth, but his business sense and competitive nature had allowed him to expand on the empire his parents left him beyond anyone's imagination. His only flaw was his impatience. He hated to wait, and if something required his patience, he would bore of it and drop it.

"I arranged a meeting at 6, everything is set and the driver will take you as soon you head down" Robert informed his as he poked his head into his office again.

Christopher nodded in acknowledgment and grabbed his phone to look through any emails in the meantime.

The meeting ran smoothly and before the waitress even arrived, Christopher had ironed out and schmoozed everyone at the table into the agreement he wanted. He was just about ready to come up with an excuse to duck out before food was ordered until he saw her. A long braid hung down her shoulder over her apron, her face shone with a smile as she nodded to another waitress walking by and her lips matched the red of her hair as she flashed a smile over her shoulder. She had a unique and intriguing air to her as she walked to their table.

He looked on curiously as she completed the entire order without once meeting the eyes of anyone at the table. Her inattentiveness only piqued his interest as he wasn't used to any woman ignoring him. He emptied his glass of water, sat back to finish the dinner while observing her in curiosity from the corner of his eyes.

When he paid the check, she thanked him, met his eyes with a smile and turned away giving him the feeling that she still had not seen him there, which had never happened to Christopher ever as in his experience everyone had either acknowledged or admired his success, others had drooled over his looks or his wealth.

He dropped his card into the bill along with a generous tip to see if she would notice at some point and headed out with the group to his awaiting car