Hired for the Billionaire [✔️]

Chapter 35

"Now...tell me the secret you and my father are keeping from my brother."

Anna steadied her breath and shook her head. "You know it all, Charlotte. I swe-"

Charlotte gave an annoyed groan. "Bloody hell, Anna! Were you about to swear? Bloody hell!...Fine, then... Swear on your son's life that you and my father don't have some secret you're keeping from Will. Swear on it!"

Anna opened her mouth, but closed it back just as suddenly. "I-i can't... I can't..."

Charlotte tapped her fingers against a table and said, "I knew it. Now, what's the secret?"

Anna slid down a wall and leaned her head against it, her dress flowing around her. "It's a long story."

Charlotte checked her pusheen alarm clock on her desk. "You've got about ten minutes before William comes. Fifteen if Dad assures him you're fine. Make it count."

Anna took a deep breath. "Three months ago, I officially graduated from an acting program at my local college. The professors and tutors said I was a natural, but a month after...no one wanted me. I even put up signs all over asking for an acting job. Eventually, I was forced to gravel at the low pickings. At the art center near where I live, they were holding an emergency audition for Juliet Capulet.

"I auditioned, and I got the job. A day after, though, someone showed up at my door. A handsome man with blond hair and blue eyes who didn't look a day over forty...Your father, Daniel Winters."

"What did he want?" Charlotte asked, wrapped in Anna's story.

"He asked me if I wanted a job. He...told me to get his son to fall in love with me as soon as possible. Daniel...he told me that if I succeeded I'd get $5 million every year I was married to William...But you don't understand, Charlotte! He threatened my family, he threatened Joey!"

A tear leaked out of Anna's eye.

Charlotte made a weird noise and stood up from where she sat on her bed. "And, you, of course, took the job."

Anna glanced at Charlotte out of the corner of her eye, tears now fully spilling out of her eyes. "I wouldn't be here if I didn't."

Charlotte groaned again and slapped her forehead. "I hate myself,"She whispered, before continuing louder, "Do you love my brother?"

"I do. I do. Of course I do, Charlotte!" She sniffed.

"I can't even by mad at you, " Charlotte mumbled, hands still on her face, "He theatened you..."

When she pulled her hands away, there was resolve in her eyes. "I'm going to help you. "She said.

"What?"

"I'm going to help you. I'll be your ally. I'm going to make sure that no one, including William, will find out about your secret, both of them. I'll make sure of it."