The Boss's Orders: Alpha Male Billionaire Office Romance Read Free Page B

followed by half the accounting department.
    I expect people to come out to my desk to gossip again, but nobody does. Probably too afraid to leave their desks, just in case they get back to find they don’t have one anymore. My stomach is in absolute knots, waiting for my turn to get called.
    A couple of hours later, I hear a commotion approaching the reception area.
    “Kelly!”
    She’s flanked by two security guards, carrying a banker’s box with all her personal belongings in it. I see the fake orchid she bought at Ikea poking out the top. I can tell by the slump of her shoulders that she’s crying.
    I jump out of my seat. “What’s going on? What happened?”
    Even though I know very well what happened. William Godrich happened.
    One of the guards arm bars me to keep me from getting to her. Kelly just looks at me sadly as she gets into the elevator. The guards follow her into the elevator to accompany her downstairs, presumably to make sure she actually leaves the building.
    Any attraction I had to William Godrich is quickly being replaced by fear. That man holds my job in his hands, and I have a funny feeling I didn’t make the greatest impression yesterday.
    I see more and more people walked out over the course of the day. Three more secretaries, half a dozen financial advisors, and then half the HR staff. That must have been an awkward conversation for the HR manager.
    And still I wait. Every time the phone rings, I flinch. Every time I hear someone coming down the hall, I want to look away, afraid to see who will be the next to go.
    I tidy up the inside of my drawers and start deleting personal emails just in case. My heart is racing. I wish there was something I could do to protect myself, but I’m completely at the mercy of corporate right now.
    And I don’t like being at someone else’s mercy.
    Finally, when it’s almost five o’clock, I start to let myself relax. I survived the day. I may not survive tomorrow, but I survived today, and that’s something. Maybe there won’t be any more layoffs right now, and I can relax and concentrate on actually doing my job.
    Then my phone rings.
    Somehow in my gut, I just know. I don’t want to pick it up, but I know that not answering will only delay the inevitable.
    “Hello?”
    My voice is shaking.
    “Hi Claire, it’s Gretchen in HR.” Her voice sounds exhausted, and I think she’s probably had an even worse day than I have. “Could you come down to see Erika? Right now, if you could.”
    My heart falls all the way through my chest and down to the floor. Erika is the HR manager. Which means … this is it.
    The call I’ve been dreading all day.
    My legs are quaking as I make the long walk down the glass hallway to Erika’s office. I can barely look Gretchen in the eye when I arrive at HR, but thankfully she waves me in to see Erika right away.
    I sit down in the chair across from Erika’s desk. There’s a box of tissues right next to my chair so I can only imagine what it’s been like in here all day. I think of Kelly sobbing as those security guards walked her out. My stomach is in the tightest knot.
    Erika looks exhausted but she gives me a half-hearted smile. She’s a middle-aged woman with dark hair and a streak of grey running through the front. I think she’s probably gained a few more of those grey hairs today. But I’m too nervous to feel too much empathy right now. I just sit there, frozen, waiting for her to say the words.
    “Claire, you’re being promoted.”
    Say what? My brain takes a second to register her words. Promoted? She can’t be serious.
    I must look as stunned as I feel because Erika smiles ruefully.
    “It’s okay. It’s true. I’m not firing you, if that’s what you came in here expecting.”
    I swallow. My throat feels like a spiky cactus.
    Erika looks down at the paperwork in front of her. “Our new employer, Mr. Godrich, has requested your services as his new personal secretary.”
    I can’t stop the gasp that