Page 15 of Recruited By the Billionaire

It was only then, when he looked out into the open office space, did he see the woman he had been fascinated with last night. She was wearing another beret hat this time, and another one of those form-fitting skirt suits that hugged her body like it was stitched on. And a very nice body it was, he thought, as she hurried over to a flustered, crestfallen younger employee, knelt down beside her and began to help her put those folders she had dropped back together. “Let’s get summary sheets in each folder first,” he heard her say to the younger lady. “Then we’ll figure out the rest.”

“Okay,” the younger one said, obviously thankful to have somebody helping her.

Robert stared at as she assisted the young aide. He never recalled seeing her around his offices before last night, or on any of the close-circuit cameras he had set up to monitor his offices. He leaned against Laine. “Who’s that?” he asked her.

“That’s Brenda. Clumsy Brenda strikes again. She always seems to--”

“Not her. The other one. The one helping her.”

“Oh! That’s Francesca Clark,” said Laine. “Frankie.”

“She works for you?”

Funny he would put it that way, Laine thought, since she and everybody else in that entire complex worked forhim. “Yes, sir. She’s on my staff.”

“Why haven’t I seen her around before?”

“I hired her three weeks ago. You were out of town. You only got back in town yesterday.”

He watched Frankie as she continued to kneel down in that tight skirt that hugged her sizeable ass, causing his dick to go hard, which surprised him again, but he mainly noticed how helpful she was to the young aide. Everybody else were upset and complaining, especially the recruiters, but that lady was helping out. Robert liked that. He didn’t see enough of that in his cutthroat organization where everybody wanted to drag everybody else down so that they could rise up and shine. And the fact that she was much older than the average aide in that office intrigued him too. What was her story, he wondered.

He looked back at one of the assistants in his entourage. The aide, understanding what that look meant, began typing furiously into her iPad. He wanted her to order a deep background on Francesca Clark.

“Everything’s been referred to the press office, correct?” Robert asked Laine.

“Correct,” said Laine. “I informed every recruiter and every aide not to speculate or leak info or do anything but say no comment and keep it moving.”

“Good,” said Robert, nodding.

“You’re going to give a statement, sir?”

“Not now, no.”

“Should I?” asked Laine.

“No. It’s early days. Let’s get all the facts first.” Then he shook his head, a pained look in his eyes. “Poor kid.”

Laine knew Robert really liked Aaron Thomas’s talent. But she was surprised at how hard he was taking the kid’s death.

“Did you get the top ten I requested?” he asked Laine.

“Yes, sir. Jamie’s prepared to brief you on your way to the airport.” Robert was going out of town again.

But he had a different idea. “Not Jamie,” he said. “Her,” he added, motioning toward Frankie. “Let her brief me.”

“Frankie, sir?”

But Robert and his entourage were already leaving.

Why in the world would he want a newbie to brief him, Laine wondered. But what people didn’t know but Laine knew, was that Robert was odd like that. He loved putting people that worked for him on the spot, to see what they were made of. To see if they deserved the money he paid them. He paid Frankie very little. She was just an assistant to Laine. But that didn’t matter to him. It was still his money.

“Frankie, come here,” Laine called out as she began hurrying to her office.

“I’m helping Brenda,” Frankie responded.

“Now!” Laine ordered and Frankie, knowing that tone, hurried to Laine’s office. “I was trying to help Brenda.”

“Forget Brenda. You’re going to brief Mr. Marris on the top ten guys he handpicked as possible replacements for Aaron Thomas,” she said as she opened her file cabinet.

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