Holidays with the Billionaire

Chapter 31

Adlee

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A week has gone by since the so-called scandalous photos emerged on everyone’s email. People are still keeping me at arm’s length, but I’m not sure if it’s because of that or because I’m Kelton’s secretary. I remember keeping Kay, his previous secretary, at a distance too. The boss is always an intimidating figure, but so is his secretary. We always assume the boss tells her everything, and she tells him everything as well. I hadn’t been in this new position long enough to differentiate between the two before the shit hit the fan.

An email from Kelton pops up and I immediately open it.

His message is simple: Please proofread and get this back to me ASAP.

I click on the attachment and read the memo.

To: Shareholders of Fox Investments

From: Kelton Fox, CEO

RE: Resignation

To my esteemed colleagues: I’ve been contemplating this decision for over a week, and find it’s best that I resign as CEO of Fox Investments, Inc. I will continue to sit on the board, and as soon as I find a suitable replacement, I will step down. Adlee Phillips will continue to be employed with the company for as long as she wishes and will make a great asset as the secretary to the future CEO of Fox Investments.

It’s been a pleasure serving you for six years.

Best wishes,

Kelton

I gasp and immediately stand up to go storm into my boyfriend-slash-boss’s office.

“Hey!” Gabe says, wandering up to my desk with his coffee in his hand. His smile falls when he sees my face. “What’s wrong?”

“I... I... I, uh, have to talk to Kelton about something,” I reply vaguely.

“Well, don’t let me stop you.” He waves his hand toward the door with a knowing grin.

Without knocking, I storm into Kelton’s office and half close the door behind me.

He looks up. “Don’t,” he says, then clamps his mouth shut while staring at me with those eyes.

“Don’t what ? Tell you not to resign? Have you lost your mind, Kelt?” I cry, my hands flailing. My emotions are heightened, and I’m sure Gabe can hear me but I don’t care.

“It’s the only solution, sweetheart. It’ll be okay. I love you and this company too much to see it go down in flames over a ridiculous scandal. You can keep your job and I can keep my company. I just won’t be here every day. You’ll get a new boss, whom I will personally choose, and then you’ll come home to me every night and we can talk about your day.” He closes the distance between us and runs his thumb over my cheek, staring at me in the eyes. “And then I can make love to you, worship you like the queen that you are, wherever I want. It’ll be okay, baby. I promise.”

I swallow hard, but know I have to stay strong. I refuse... I refuse to let him do this for me. I can easily find another job. Or hell, be his stay-at-home beck-and-call girl until I do. He is not giving up this business he’s built from the ground up because of me.

I pull away from his touch, as much as it pains me, and step back, my arms crossed. “No, Kelton, you will not.” I stomp my heel-clad foot. “You know what? I quit. How about that?” With my head held high, I turn and walk out the door.

“What? No! Wait!” he calls.

I fling open the door and find Gabe half-seated on the edge of my desk with shock on his face as he pockets his phone.

“How did it go?” he asks.

I narrow my eyes at him. “I’m sure you heard it all. I’m outta here.” I snatch my purse from the bottom drawer of my desk, then the photo of me with my parents and Alise and Bella, and storm out with Gabe hot on my heels.

I hear Kelton calling for me, but I ignore him. He will not quit. Not on my fucking watch.

I yank my phone from my purse and see it’s lunchtime, which explains why Gabe is still following me out to my car.

“What?” I whirl around and snap as I get to my vehicle and open the door.

“You don’t seem like you should be alone.” He goes around and gets into my passenger seat.

I slide into the driver’s seat and start the engine without looking at him.

“Lola’s Deli, and step on it,” Gabe says, and I can hear the smile in his voice as I still refuse to look at him. Silently, I drive to the deli, my mind swirling with a million things.

Once there, I blow out a breath. “I just quit my fucking job!” I cry as my best friend and I sit at a two-person table at the posh deli I’m sure I won’t be visiting again anytime soon, as the sandwiches are close to twenty bucks and I’m about to be a broke bitch.

“Calm down, girlfriend.” He glances down at my phone where text notifications have been blowing up. He snatches it and tucks it into my purse hanging on the chair. “You need to decompress.”

“I know.” I blow out a breath. “I know. But fuck. What am I gonna do?”

Gabe picks up a pickle spear and shoves it past his lips suggestively, then pulls it back out and set it on his plate. “Men are easy. A blowie should do it.”

I can’t not laugh. How does he do it? “Okay, but after the blowie, I still have to pay bills!”

He chuckles and takes a bite of the pickle before picking up his buffalo chicken sandwich and adding more hot sauce to it. “You live your best life in that mansion this guy lives in. Tell the maids and cooks what to do. Lounge by the pool. Just keep givin’ him that sweet, sweet poontang and you’ll be a’ight.”

I throw my head back and groan. “I don’t think it works like that.”

“Oh, honey... it so works like that. You clearly don’t watch The Real Housewives .”

I roll my eyes. “Haven’t half of them been to prison?”

He laughs. “No, only one. Maybe two? I don’t know. All I do know is a man wants a whore in the bedroom and a cook in the kitchen. The rest will work itself out.” He pops a salt and vinegar chip in his mouth with a smile.

“Um, I’m sure he has his own chefs. And I’ve been pretty slutty in the bedroom. Not that I’m gonna go into detail with you,” I add.

Gabe tosses a chip at me. “You’re no fun.”

I decide to change the subject. “How’s the TikTok-ing going?”

He rolls his eyes to the side and says, “Duh, amazing, of course.”

I glance around and then look into his chocolate brown eyes. “Lots of views on the office drama series?”

He laughs. “Girl, you have no idea. It’s blown up for sure. I’m trying to capitalize on the popularity while I can. I just need more content.”

I shrug and pick up my turkey and provolone sandwich. “Then make some up.”

“I have... it’s that the real stuff gets more views.”

Smirking, I say, “It’s amazing how intelligent people are. It’s like they can tell the real from the fake. Imagine that!”

“Hey!” he defends. “My fake stuff gets good views too!”

“I believe you. No worries.” I also glance around the crowded deli. “But what about the one with the photos? Did you get a lot of views? Comments?”

He grins and picks up his phone. After a few swipes, he turns the phone to me, showing 1.4 million views.

I gasp. “Are you serious?”

“I need an ending. You two together. Or you two breaking up over the office scandal.”

I chew my lip and look away. “I’m not sure if I can give you any of that. I... I just quit my freaking job!”

Gabe laughs and pockets his phone before picking up his sweet tea and taking a pull from the straw. “You aren’t quitting. You think Mr. Foxy is gonna allow that? Not a chance. Now, finish up your turkey sandwich. We gotta devise a plan.”

I groan and do as he says.

After I drop Gabe off at work after listening to his plan, I head home to my apartment and sulk in private. It’s times like this I wish I had a pet to cuddle. But I never got one because I’m gone all day and I felt bad that it would be alone nine to ten hours a day.

After changing into comfortable clothes and pouring myself a glass of wine, I pluck up the courage to look at my phone. I have four missed calls and nine texts from Kelton.

Kelton: Call me, baby

Kelton: You can’t quit, Adlee

Kelton: Please don’t ignore me!

Kelton: I’m going crazy here...

Kelton: I’m submitting my resignation to the board first thing in on Monday...

Kelton: Don’t think I won’t!

Kelton: Then you’ll have to come back

Kelton: Move in with me, sweetheart.

Kelton: I love you.

I can’t tell if he’s trying to guilt me into calling or texting him or if he just really wants me to change his mind. But I saw the letter. He seems to be serious about resigning. I really can’t let him do that.

My thumbs hover over the keyboard. What do I say? I take another hefty gulp of wine. With a sigh, I start typing.

Me: Don’t you dare resign. We’ll work this out.

I can see immediately that he’s typing, so I take another swill of wine and wait.

Kelton: You deserve a career you love. I’ll go and you can stay. We can still be together.

Me: A secretary job isn’t a career.

Kelton: Tell that to Kay, who’s sitting on a beach in Florida right now, while we freeze our asses off here. I take care of my own.

That makes me smile.

Me: Point taken, but if you think I plan to be someone’s administrative bitch the rest of my life, you are sadly mistaken.

Kelton: I know. That’s why I plan to promote you to junior market analyst. Or I plan to tell the board to promote you once I resign as CEO.

I gasp at his revelation. No way. How long has he been thinking about this?

Admittedly, I’ve been paying more attention to the stock market. Numbers have always been my thing and once Kelton explained to me how the stock market worked, I had taken a keen interest. I even thought about taking a thousand dollars of my emergency savings and investing it somewhere, but I haven’t had the time to investigate where.

Me: Are you serious

Kelton: As a heart attack.

Me: I don’t know much about being a board member, but it seems being a CEO has much more power as far as hiring and firing than just being on the board. Just saying.

Kelton: You’re correct, but I did create this company. I have a lot of fucking pull, Adlee.

Me: I’m going to sleep on it. Goodnight, Kelton. I love you.

Kelton: Love you more.

I set the phone down and toss my hand over my eyes. No way in hell am I going to let him resign over me. Over little old me! What is he thinking? This isn’t happening.

Reluctantly, I pick my phone up again and click on Gabe’s TikTok account. I watch all the “office drama” videos and sigh. He does a damn good job at laying out the scenario without actually giving names. I’ll admit it’s quite entertaining—and not just because it’s about me and my mess of a love life.