365 Days with My Billionaire

CHAPTER 7

ONYX

“I’d appreciate it if you stop flirting with the employees,” I cautioned with a scowl on my face. Office romances weren’t allowed and he knew this.

Bryson gave me a half-hearted smile as I opened the door to my office. For some reason, he liked Esther- I think. He complimented her whenever he could, smiled, and winked at her and he even bought her a bunch of roses last week because she was “working too hard and deserved something nice.”

I had asked him once if he liked her but he instantly denied it. I took his word for it because he was an unpredictable man. He may like Esther now, but tomorrow it may be Sienna from the Finance department.

‘’So I should do it in private then?’’ he grinned. I removed my jacket and threw it at his face and that made him laugh. I moved to my desk and sat down on my chair. Bryson sat opposite me and he leaned his hand on the desk table.

‘’You are incorrigible,” I said to him while I scanned through the resumes of the last two people I- well we- were supposed to interview.

‘’And you, my friend need to chill.’’

I rolled my eyes at that.

‘’Don’t we have someone to interview in the next,’’ he checks his Armani watch, ‘’two minutes?’’ It was three-twenty-eight and I had instructed Mrs Wilkinson to send the next person up to my office.

‘’Here.” I handed him the resumes and he looked at them intently.

‘’Wait, isn’t this the chick that was downstairs? The one you made eye contact with?"

My assumption was correct. She was part of the last people I was going to interview. She wasn’t originally supposed to make the interview list in the first place but her resume interested me because it was different. A lot of the people I interviewed had college, even master's degrees and they at least had experience in being a personal assistant, but not her.

Not Sarah Lane.

“She was definitely checking you out.”

“Not the time or place, Bryson,” I warned.

All Sarah had was a high school diploma, but what she lacked in certificates, she made up for it with her travels around the world within three years.

As I said, she was interesting.

‘’A traveler,’’ Bryson mused. ‘’That’s dope.’’

Indeed.

A knock on the door grabbed our attention and I instructed Bryson to sit on the sofa next to the fridge.

‘’Come in,’’ Bryson said in a high-pitched, valley-girl voice and I shook my head.

Sometimes I wondered how we were even friends.

The door handle moved and in walked the woman we were talking about. She closed the door lightly like it was china glass and moved closer. She was nervous, I could instantly tell from the way she bit her lips and how she knotted her hands in front of her. Bryson and I both looked at her and she furrowed her brows in confusion.

She was most likely told that she was going to be interviewed by Onyx Bradford and not Onyx Bradford and Bryson Knox.

Oh well.

‘’Sarah Lane?’’ Bryson broke the ice and got up from the sofa, extending his right hand towards her. He smiled at her and that seemed to calm her down because she smiled back and shook his hand.

“That would be me.”

Her voice was raspy, yet soft at the same time. There was a twinge of a country assent in her tone which indicated to me that she was born and raised in Texas, but not Angelwood.

“It’s nice to meet you and it’s a pleasure to be here Mr-”

I thought everyone knew who Bryson was.

“Bryson Knox, CEO of Onyx & Co.” he completed for her. A look of surprise dawned on her and she apologized immediately for not knowing who he was. Bryson, as the charmer that he was, told her it was okay and it “happens all the time.”

Lady magnet.

She was polite, I’d give her that. She also looked friendly too judging by how she was nodding and smiling at Bryson. If anything, she got brownie points for that.

‘’The Onyx Bradford,’’ Bryson announced, slightly teasing, ‘’would be interviewing you today.’’

I thought he said we.

‘’I heard he’s very intense,’’ he continued in a not-so-subtle tone. ‘’So don’t look too scared.’’

‘’I can hear you, asshole,” I said.

Sarah giggled but immediately masked it with a fake cough after my gaze fell on her. The sound that emitted from her lips was pure, untainted, and relaxing for some reason.

‘’Have a seat.”

She nodded swiftly, her demeanour rigid as she gave me the same look that the others before her did-anxiety mixed with a lethal dose of fear. As she sat across from me, her hazel eyes scanned the room, looking at everything but me. She was in awe, her not-so-subtle expression gave it away and I couldn't help the smile that graced my face. I never thought my office was that impressive. Sure, it was spacious with state-of-the-art technology, an impressive view of the city and everywhere was entirely made of glass but that was it. To her, however, it looked like a big deal.

I cleared my throat and she turned her attention toward me. A hint of red graced her cheeks but she masked it with a tight-lipped smile. ‘’Sarah Lane,’’ I said for good measure and thumbed her resume.

‘’Yes, sir.’’

‘’To be honest with you,’’ I continued, “from all the resumes I’ve read thus far, yours is the one with the least…pages.’’

She nodded wordlessly.

“You also have the least experience and you’re the candidate with the least likely chance of scaling through this interview.” I leaned in slightly and her face slumped, almost like my words had knocked out the little positivity she had.

“Nonetheless, I’m interested in what you have to say.”

I visibly saw her relax.

“Tell me about yourself, Sarah.”

“My name is Sarah Lane, I’m twenty-eight years old and I’m originally from Sally-Oak, Texas but I moved to Angelwood when I was five.”

That explained the country accent.

“I don’t think there’s much to say about me because I don’t consider myself interesting. I do however like to travel and explore new things and I also love to read in my spare time. My interests include advocating for the rights of women and having in-depth conversations about how the patriarchy is just as oppressive as a war.”

“A feminist?”

I had no problem with feminists. My sister swore on her life that she was one and she was pretty vocal about it too. Sometimes, I didn’t necessarily agree with some of her ‘takes’, but I respected them. My mother was a women’s union leader back in her college days so it ran in the family.

“I don’t like to be categorized as anything, sir. I’m just Sarah.”

“Do you have a problem with feminists?”

“Not at all, sir. I think they’re amazing and without them, a lot of women wouldn’t be brave enough to talk about topics that we were told to be ashamed about.”

For someone who was initially nervous, she was keeping a clear head. She didn’t stutter.

Yet.

“What are your biggest strengths?”

“I am very organized, I can type fast and accurately and I can pay attention to detail.”

“How do you know that?” I looked her dead in the eye. “You’ve never been a personal assistant before so why are you so confident?”

That seemed to throw her off balance and she started to waver.

“I-I um think."

“You, know, Miss, Lane,” I informed her with a pointed look. “No one thinks in my establishment. You either know or you know it so well that you’re a pro. If not, then you’re fired. That's how things work around here.”

She visibly paled and I smiled inwardly. I loved making people squirm and shake in their boots.

“Do you need me to reiterate the question, or did you hear it perfectly?”

She visibly gulped and said. “It was crystal clear, sir. I indeed have no experience as a personal assistant however I am a fast learner and if given the opportunity, I would make sure I fit the standard of knowing how to do my job correctly. Also, I worked at a coffee house before and that gave me enough experience in knowing how to take notes accurately.”

I nodded wordlessly.

“Why did you leave your last job?”

Her resume said that she worked at Surburbia and had been working there for about six years. We might have run into each other if I had ever gone to get my coffee myself.

“I was laid off,”

“Why?”

I knew why, but I wanted to hear her say it.

“I worked at Surburbia, the coffee house not too far from here, but due to management changes, it was sold and as we speak is now being turned into a bookstore. Of course, they laid off all their employees before that.”

“I see.”

“Why do you want to work here?”

“I want to work here because I am impressed by your company’s ethos. I also wish to contribute to the future successes of the company.”

Such a cliché answer. If I heard anymore I want to contribute to the future successes of the company one more time, I’d blow a f*****g gasket.

You want to work here because you need money. Plain and simple.

“Alright, Miss Lane. As you know, Onyx & Co manages Renegade and recently we’ve been making a lot of changes to the app. We’ve also added some new features to make our app more user-friendly. I want to assume that you use Renegade so what are the innovations that we’ve made to the app, along with the additions?”

Ninety percent of the candidates I asked failed this question.

I wondered if she'd be different.

“Innovations and additions?” she asked nervously.

“I didn’t stutter, Miss Lane. You heard me perfectly.” I adjusted my seating position and leaned forward again, waiting for her response.

“W-well.”