Page 44 of Next Door Billionaire's Surprise Baby

My ears are full from having to hear Mike complain for the past ten minutes straight. I was in a hurry to get some emails typed and sent to some clients, and in my haste, I accidentally forwarded the instructions to the group email address for all the assistants in my company rather than just to him.

I did a pretty good job drafting an email, but there were a couple of obvious mistakes that Mike caught.

“The simplest things tell the most about our company. How competent or how organized we are, and yet, you almost sent an email with mistakes like these to our clients.”

What a nag.

He takes his job seriously…too seriously, as a matter of fact. But that’s why he’s my most trusted assistant, and I consider him my friend, also. I turn around to see him leaning against my desk with his hands tucked into his pockets and a look of disapproval on his face.

I’m sick of his venting, so I change the topic, “Is Chloe in yet?”

When I checked her office thirty minutes ago, she hadn’t arrived. Fiona’s apartment isn’t close to the office, so It’s going to take her some time to arrive, but she should be in the office by now.

Mike raises his eyebrows at the swift subject change but shrugs nonetheless, “I haven’t seen her this morning yet. Maybe she’s downstairs with the software developers.”

I snap my fingers in his direction, “You’re right. I’ll go check.”

I start moving to the door as Mike calls out to me, “You could just call her.”

I could. But I prefer finding her in person.

“I’ll be right back.”

Leaving the office, I walk down to her office and knock. There’s no reply, so I open the door and walk into the empty office. I start to sigh in disappointment but notice her carrier bag on the desk.

Mike’s guess was correct. She’s downstairs.

When I turn around to leave the office, my phone starts ringing before I can get to the door. Pulling it out of my pocket, I see that it's Tim calling.

I answer immediately, “Hey.”

He says right back, “Hey,” in a bothered tone.

My mind is high on alert instantly from the feeling I get whenever I hear my brother’s voice with a mixture of nervousness and frustration.

“Hey, are you okay? You don’t sound good.”

“That’s because I’m not. I got fired a few minutes ago.”

Wait, what?

That’s some news no big brother wants to hear.

“What? Why?” I ask, trying to wrap my head around this news. Tim is an accountant and a stellar one, I must say. I remember the year he got out of college. Not only did he graduate with a 4.0 GPA, but he also got job offers from several well-known accounting firms in Dallas and here in Austin.

For some reason—probably because he wanted to stay close to Chloe—he turned down those opportunities and remained in his hometown as the mayor’s head accountant. As far as I know, he has always been diligent. So, what went wrong?

“I…I haven’t been myself recently. I’m so fucked up,” he confesses, his voice barely audible. “I messed up a couple of important records, and it has cost the city lots of money, “ he sniffs, “ Fuck, I’m lucky he chose not to sue me.”

Oh, Tim…

My feet carry me to the window, and I stare at the city again. I don’t see the pedestrians or the gradually clearing traffic this time. Instead, I see my brother’s face hovering at the forefront of my mind. I remember the last time I saw him. He was fresh out of college. He was happy and had huge prospects in sight, as well as the most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen as his girlfriend.

The broken man on the phone is a far cry from the hopeful man from four years ago. My heart breaks for him.

“I’m sorry,” I say, “Will you be able to get another job soon?”

“I don’t think I’ll be able to get a job here after what happened with the mayor,” he replies, “So I’m thinking about coming to Austin.”

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