The Billionaire's Secret Baby

The Man Behind The Suit

Xavier's POV

I will say that last night was a bit surprising. I didn't think that it was possible, that someone would make me feel like this. I don't know how to explain this but the moment I saw her, I knew that I had to have her. Five years ago I woke up one morning and found myself alone in bed, the only thing I was left with was memories and blue balls.

Five years later I still get hard when I think about her. I know what this is, I mean she did not seem that interested in me and I have never had that. I am Xavier King and everyone throws themselves at my feet. No one has ever been able to resist my charms and she won't be the first one. This is why I simply couldn't let her go back to New Orleans.

I had no choice but to offer her a job, an offer she couldn't refuse. She is obviously good at what she does and even though she doesn't have the necessary experience, I am confident that she will get the job done. Apart from that, if she is in New York, it will give me a chance to get to know her better. I can find a way to break through the high wall she has built around herself.

I could be wrong, maybe she is not the woman I think she is. After that night, I went back to that town hoping to find her. Not only was I not able to find her but I also couldn't find her handler. The woman who made it possible for us to meet in the first place. Henry was no help either, even if he was the one who recommended to me.

I am hoping that Miss Mane accepts the job offer. I am starting to think that a job offer might not be enough. Which is why I called my realtor to come and see me this afternoon. The renovations at my place will be done in a couple of days, in the meantime, I want to find Miss Mane an apartment she will like, one that will make her want to live in the city.

Last night, she said that she will give me my answer by end of business today and even though it seems soon, it feels like forever. I am not used to being denied, Is always get what I want one way or the other. Right now I am in my office and I can't even concentrate on what I was doing. Seeing and thinking about Hope is all I can do. No woman has ever made me feel like this and I hate it.

The door opened and Henry came bursting through the door like the building was on fire. She might be a shareholder but that doesn't give him the right to barge in here and if he was anyone else, I would make him pay severely for this.

" What the hell man?" He said as he pulled a chair and sat down.

" What's the matter?" I asked him casually. He looked worried.

" What is it that I hear about you hiring a junior editor to run the publication company? " He said to me.

"Oh that... The publishing house is mine and mine alone, I can do whatever I please with it!" I said in a cool but firm tone.

"I dont think so, not when the cartel's money is going to be washed there, did you think about what this could do to us? We need to hire someone we can trust, someone who will be able to handle the business outside the business!" He said to me.

"Which is why she is perfect for the job," I said to him.

"How? Because I don't see it!" He said to me.

"Look, Miss Mane is inexperienced and unskilled, she won't know the difference between the investors money and the money we "donate" to charity, someone like her won't be able ask questions and besides that, we have other shell companies we can use!" I said.

"I don't know man, I can't afford to mess this up, I have a wife and kids, I have to think about them." He said.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked him.

"It means that I don't think you should play with this, she might be inexperienced but we don't know anything about her, if she slips up, not even you can save us, the cartel will come for us and everyone we know, down to the dog!" He said.

Henry was right. Being part of a Mafia drug cartel is not an easy job to do. We are dealing with the citie's most dangerous criminals, people who won't hesitate to get rid of us if they think we slip up. Even then, I know that neither of them could have the power to come after me, not when I have their lives in my hands, just like them, I can make things very hard for them if they tried anything.

You see, I was not given this power that I have, I had to take it. When I took over the family business I had already established a relationship with one of the most notorious mafia families in New York. I wanted to make a name for myself and I worked very hard to do that.

I learned the traits of the game, I taught myself the rules of the game and by the time I took over the family business, I had half of New York bowing down to me. Half was not enough, I couldn't risk having my position questioned so I took over the rest of the city. Some joined and some fell. No one gave me this position, I earned it.

"No one would dare to come after us, I can promise you that much!" I said to him.

Being me is not easy, I have had to work hard and do horrible things to get here. I am respected in the business world but when it comes to the underground world, I am the most feared man, no one would dare challenge me. I will destroy anything that stands in my path and everyone in my path knows that.

"Have you heard from Grant? He hasn't called me back, I am not even sure if he made it okay to Columbia," He said.

"Grant has done this a hundred times, he will be fine, you just make sure that there is someone waiting for him at the docks, make sure that all the merchandise is there," I said to him. I had to ask my friend to step in and take care of business for me. I can't travel right now and someone needed to be there to get my merchandise.

"Fine, what about Phill? He is still upstairs, we can't keep him here longer than we have, he has to go," Grant said to me.

"He still hasn't told me who he is working with, he is not going anywhere until I know what I need to know," I said to him.

Phil was my operations manager, he was supposed to make sure that everything runs smoothly. I have been working with him for three years now and up until recently, he was doing his job like he was supposed to. Then a few months back, things started to go wrong. My trucks went missing, my merchandise along with it.

Of all the people that could betray me, he was the last person I expected this from. If it was not for his wife's spending habits, I wouldn't have known. You see Phill is working with someone to steal from me. I have lost three trucks, all with millions worth of merchandise. He acted all innocent and even went as far as trying to blame someone else, furthermore, he offered to help me look for the culprits.

I will say this, he blindsided me, a mistake on my part. I should have kept a closer eye at him, the same way he should have kept a closer look at his wife. There is nothing I hate more than betrayal so for him, his fate is sealed, he is a dead man, right after he tells me who he is working with.

" It has been well over a day since we kept him there, if he hasn't said anything by now, he won't talk! It is only a matter of time till his wife goes to the cops, it's time to get rid of him!" He said to me.

"Call Brody... He will make him talk!" I said to him.

Brody is my muscle and he is on retainer. You see Brody is an ex CIA agent and he has creative ways of making people talk.

"Alright then, let me know how it goes with the new editor, we need to bring her on board as soon as possible, I still can't believe that you fired everyone!" He said.

"It had to be done, I can't risk anyone finding out the true purpose in buying that publishing house, Hope is just a mere junior editor, here she will be Editor In Chief, only a fool would pass up on that opportunity," I said.

Henry is not like me, everything he does is calculated. He is afraid of taking risks and I understand that. He has a family to look out for, a wife and two twin daughters. I never thought that his marriage would last and now here they are.

Grant and I are different though, we don't mind taking risks, we always go for what we want but it also makes us bud heads from time to time. Like when we were in university, we were both after the same girl. I ended up with the girl and it didn't sit well with him, especially since he thought that he was in love with her as if he knew what the word meant, even now years later the man still doesn't know what the word means.

Not only that but he is cold and calculated, he is mean and that is the only way to survive in the underground world. I would have them fear me if it is what it takes to keep my power. My father had no idea what he was doing, I on the other hand watched from the sidelines while I absorbed as much as I could. Grant was right there with me. This is why I trust him to handle things I can't, Henry is here to make sure that I don't cross the line, well not too much.

"I suppose you should make the deal even more sweeter," He said.

"Well I don't have much information about her, I did a little research and she is practically a ghost, no digital footprint and nothing about her or her family," I said.

"Do you still think that she is the best person for this? I know that she is naive, that she can be handled but we don't know anything about her, she is dangerous, if she finds out, what would stop her from selling us out?

I also think that she is shady, I know what you are thinking but listen to me for a second, we are living in the twenty first century, a vast world of technological advancements, who the hell doesn't have a digital footprint? " He said.

"So what you are trying to tell me is that I shouldn't hire her because she likes to keep her life private? " I asked him.

I am not dismissing what he said, we are a generation that litterally lives on their phones, that is why my tech company has been so successful but I know that if it was not because of my PR manager, I wouldn't even have a f*******: page. I am a private person, of course I have my reasons for that but I get it, some people like their privacy.

"I get it but we don't have anything to use against her, she is a risk man," He said.

"Leave that to me, if she gets out of line, I will bring her back!" I said to him.

"How would you do that?" He asked me.

"Everyone has secrets there is a reason why she is keeping her life private," I said.

The fact is that everyone has a past, the first time I saw her, I thought she looked like someone else. You can't blame me for that, I mean her hair is different and she doesn't have as much make up as Stacey had but the resemblance is cunning, they might be mistaken for sister's. My heart doesn't want to believe that she is not Stacey.

Maybe it is because I haven't been able to stop thinking about her. I woke up in the morning and she was gone. It was luke she was never even there. If I was too drunk, I probably would have thought that it was all a dream. I happen to know for sure that she was a virgin, I felt it when I entered her, I saw how she squinted her eyes and how much her body tensed up.

I asked myself why would someone like her do something like that, especially for a measly thirty grands. I couldn't understand why someone like her would save herself only to sell it to someone. I am not proud of some of the things I did in my past but being with Stacey that night is not of them. Hell I almost hired a PA to find her because I couldn't get her out of my head.

"I hear you and fall our sakes, I hope that you are right, that you know what you are doing!" He said to me.

" Was that all?" I asked him.

"Yes, for now!" He said and stood up, he walked out and I stood up. I went to the window and thought about what we spoke about. Then I had an idea. The fact is that I need Miss Mane and if she goes back to New Orleans, she might not want to come back. I knew what I had to do. I went to my desk and took my phone, I called the hotel.

"King's Palace Hotel management, how can I help you?" The management secretary said.

"Angela, it's me, I need to do something for me," I said to her.

I didn't have to say who I was because Abgela knows me. We had a thing a while back. Well it is more of a one stand that lasted longer than it should have. I had to break it off because she was starting to catch feelings. Luckily for me, she realised that she loves her husband and now we are friends.

"What can I do for you?" She asks me.

"We have a Miss Mane checked-in at one of our suites, I need you send her a gift, something thoughtful," I said to her.

"Do you by any chance know what she likes?" She asked me.

"I don't know but I offered her a job, give her a reason to take it, you efforts will highly be appreciated," I said.

"And I will hold you to it, consider it done!" She said.

"Thanks Angela, you are the best" I said. I think that I might be able to make Hope an offer she won't be able to refuse.