Page 1 of The Billionaire's Secret Twins

1

Angie

Ismooth down the skirt of my navy dress, forcing myself to remain calm.I’m in a sitting room at the Masters Estate, waiting to be interviewed.The room is luxurious, even if it’s on the smaller side.The sofas are covered in a velvety brown suede, and there’s a subtle gleam to the cream wallpaper.A framed print hangs on the wall, and I squint a little.Is that a print?Seeing that Dominic Masters is dripping with wealth, I suppose it could be an original.

Then again, Dominic Masters has already created quite a stir here in Austin.He swept into town a couple months ago and snapped up the old Holly Pines property in an all-cash purchase.Not only that, but Mr.Masters decided that he didn’t like the name “Holly Pines,” and renamed the sprawling property after himself!Who does that?Isn’t that the height of conceit?But there was no one to put up a fight.What could the city say?Who would even say it?Is there a commission to enforce historic names?I know historic properties can be protected, but I’m not sure if names are regulated too.I suppose it’s just another billionaire getting whatever he wants, with nothing and no one to stand in his way.

But this kind of thing has been happening a lot in Austin recently.A wave of new money swept into town during the pandemic, and our city has never been the same.There are folks from California, Texas, New York, and even Dubai and China.New condos are popping up at light-speed by the river, shiny and pencil-thin, and areas that used to be blighted and derelict are now gentrifying with a host of fancy coffee shops, artisanal bakeries, and designer home wares.

I’m not sure how I feel about the changes, to be honest.On the one hand, I certainly can’t afford anything at the new hipster cafes because even a small latte will go for eight dollars.But on the other, I’m glad that Austin is booming because the city has always been home for me, and I’d hate for it to fall into disrepair.The cycle of renewal and regeneration is critical for any urban area, and I’d rather see my hometown boom, rather than bust.

But yes, mysterious billionaires have been moving into this city at a rapid rate.I shouldn’t even be surprised because it’s been happening so often.There will be an announcement in the paper that some historic estate has been sold for a staggering sum to an out-of-towner.Then, said out-of-towner arrives with their fake tan and too-white smile, reeking of money.Even crazier, the newcomers never try to fit in.Instead, it’s the other way around because they expect the city to accommodatethem, and to roll out the red carpet upon their arrival.It’s insane, but I suppose extreme wealth creates its own kind of delusional entitlement.

But I’m in no position to complain because I’m here at the Masters Estate to interview for a housekeeping job.It’s not exactly how I saw my life playing out, but I’m qualified and more than capable.Plus, I need the money because after Ned died last year, I wasn’t left with much.There was some life insurance but it’s not going to last much longer, and I need to get back into the working world.It’s either that, or start living in a hut.

I take a deep breath and remember my friend Kristie’s words.

“You can do it, Angie,” she said with an encouraging smile.“You’ll be great during the interview.”

I shot her a wry smile over the phone screen.

“I don’t know,” I murmured.“It’s been a while since I worked, so there’s a gap in my resume.But I’m not afraid of getting my hands dirty!After all, I was a maid before I met Ned.”

“Yes, I know,” Kristie said with a gentle smile.“So you’re qualified, definitely.Plus, you’ve been through a lot, Ang, and you deserve this.You’re going to land the job because Mr.Masters will be swept away by your professionalism, can-do attitude, and bubbly personality.My prediction is that you’ll be hired on the spot!”

I had to laugh at her optimism because I know I don’t exude those traits.But I merely smiled tenderly at my friend through the phone.

“Oh, I doubt I’ll meet Dominic Masters in the flesh.It’ll be one of his lackeys doing the interview.Dominic Masters is a billionaire, and I’m sure he’s too busy running his empire to be involved with something so domestic.”

My pretty friend cocked her head to one side.

“I don’t know,” Kristie murmured.“You’d be surprised when it comes to men.Nick can be very particular about domestic situations, and it drives me nuts sometimes!”

I laugh because Nick is Kristie’s gorgeous husband.He’s also her stepbrother, and they went through a crazy time where he was practically stalking her.But all’s well that ends well, and Nick and Kristie are now married with two adorable babies.I couldn’t be happier for my buddy.

Still, I straighten my shoulders and force myself to concentrate because my financial future is on the line.You can do it, my inner voice speaks.You have to, Angie, because the money’s running out so try to project confidence.Broadcast assurance, and you’ll land the job lickety-split.

I know the voice is right, and I smooth down my skirt once more while taking a deep breath.You can do this, I tell myself.Then as if on cue, the door to the sitting room opens, and a male secretary appears.

“Miss White?Mr.Masters is ready for you,” he says in a smooth tone.“Follow me, please.”

I stand in the small drawing room, brushing imaginary lint from my skirt while trying to contain my nerves.Did he say Mr.Masters, or was that my imagination?I genuinely believe that a billionaire is too busy to interview someone as lowly as a housekeeper, but now ...it seems I’m being led to the lion’s den.

2

Dominic

Istare at the resume before me without really seeing it.After twenty-five years of hiring and firing, I know not to trust a piece of paper when it comes to assessing a person.After all, how can something as complex and unpredictable as a human being be encapsulated by words on an A4 sheet?It makes no sense whatsoever.

Then again, I suppose I have an especial insight into the inner workings of how the human brain functions because my company, Regeneron AI, is focused on artificial intelligence.We have a bunch of shit in the works, but right now we’re lasered in on text-to-image models, as well as text-to-video programs.It’s exactly what it sounds like.You punch a bunch of descriptors into a box, and then our program spits out an image matching that description.

It took a while to get here, to be honest.Our first model sucked because our text-to-image generators were limited to collages created from existing component images.Literally, someone would type in “blue car,” and then our program would assemble an image of a blue car from a database of clip art.As you can imagine, the results were often choppy and imprecise, and couldn’t be used for their intended purpose.

But over time, our models improved.Instead of using the collage method, we now use a transformer model which utilizes conditional generative adversarial networks.What this means is that instead of directly training a model to output a high-resolution image conditioned on a text embedding, we train a model to generate low-resolution images, and then use one or more auxiliary deep learning models to upscale it to fill in finer details.It’s boring shit, but the long and the short of it is that our model improved a lot.It’s accurate, it’s responsive, and it’s easy to use.Now, when you type in “blue car,” you actually get a blue car without jagged edges and a steering wheel sticking out of the trunk.Even more, users are now willing to pay for our product, and the money’s been coming in tidal waves.

But I’m not just a scientist.I’m also a businessman, and it simply made no sense for Regeneron to stay in San Francisco after we started getting big because the Bay Area is bad for business.Taxes are high, crime is out of control, and the cost of living is exorbitant.Our employees can’t afford to rent an apartment in the city, and are forced to commute two hours to work each way.Don’t even get me started on Gavin Newsom, either.That fucker wants to be president one day, and he doesn’t give a shit about the actual people who live in California.He only cares about making himself look good, even if it means throwing companies like Regeneron under the bus.

So I did what any self-respecting billionaire does.I moved my company to Austin.It wasn’t a difficult decision either because the city made us a deal.We’d re-home our operations in return for sweet tax subsidieslasting over twenty years.Not only that, but my employees will actually be able to afford to live here in Austin.They’ll be able to hit traditional milestones like purchasing a home, getting married, and starting a family.These cornerstones were out of reach when we were in SF, and despite encouragement from the left to “rethink” these life choices, I know my people were despondent about their futures.California was an impossible situation, and I made the decision to get out.

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