Free Romance: Working for the Billionaire's Pleasure by Kelli Sloan

 
     
     
     
    “No.”
    Joel shakes his head, “Sorry Chloe.  The decision is made.”
    “But you didn’t even ask me.  You haven’t said a word to me about it.  This is the first I have heard of it,” I plead.
    “I’m sorry Chloe.  I know it is hard to see now but there is more to life than this business.”
    “'More to life?'  I can’t believe you would say that.  In the seven years I have worked here, I have never heard you speak like that.  This business has been our passion.”
    I can feel my insides sinking. 
    This morning the world around me seemed normal.  I arrived at my job as an assistant to Joel Simpson, the owner of powerful music industry heavyweight Air Records, and expected my day to be like every other.  Work hard, work late and go home tired.
    But Joel changed everything with one sentence.
    ‘I’ve sold the business,’ he said as soon as I walked in the doors. 
    This business is my life.
    Seven years ago, I was a perky eighteen year-old who left school with no clue where life would take me.  I had no sense of what I wanted to do and no idea where I wanted to be.  I applied for a number of jobs and eventually I scored a low-paying gig as Joel’s assistant.
    At the time, the company had only started and I was Joel’s first employee.  We had no bands signed to the record label and no assets, but we worked hard and we grew. 
    And we grew very quickly.
    Thanks to Joel’s passion and my ability to close a deal, we have made this company into one of the big players for the region.  We produced album after album that hit the charts.  We produced win after win.  We changed people’s lives through music.
    Despite all our success, and my increased workload, I have never graduated past the title of assistant.  Joel asked me numerous times if I wanted a job title change, but I rejected it.  I thought that it didn’t matter because we were successful and making money.  Job titles don’t matter when you are successful.  I have been paid very well and I love the job I do. 
    I thought we both loved the jobs we did.
    “What happens now?” I ask Joel.
    He doesn’t raise his eyes from the desk.
    “I say goodbye to everyone and leave today,” he mumbles.
    “Today?!” I am shocked.
    He nods, “The new owner wants me out.  He wants to put his mark on the business right away and he can’t do that if I’m floating around the office.  It’s part of the deal that I leave today.”
    “How could you do it?” I ask again, “I just don’t understand.  We are more influential than we have ever been, we love what we do, and we have so much power in the industry.  How could you leave that?”
    “I was never going to do this my whole life Chloe.  It was always about setting myself up for the future and with the deal that landed on the table, I have been able to that.  This was too good an opportunity to pass up.  You know we’ve been barely breaking even over the past year.  This is a chance for the company to refresh.”
    I feel ripped off.
    As I have worked here from the beginning, I feel like the company partly belonged to me.
    “What about me?” I ask.
    “You are the best employee I could have ever hoped for, Chloe.  Your ability to lock down an artist or deal on the amount of profit made on a tour is now legendary.  You have helped make this company and steer into the direction that it is today.  You are a big part of why this company has been successful.”
    “Why didn’t you ask for my opinion?”
    “Because it’s my company Chloe.  I know that may be hard to hear right now, but it is my company.  You are an amazing employee, but you don’t own any part of this company.  This had to be my decision alone.”
    Bastard.
    I have poured my life into the company.  I have barely taken a weekend break, let alone a holiday, in the last seven years.  This company has been my life.
    I have lost contact with most of my friends, I have never had a real boyfriend and