“What did you need to tell me, Vanessa?” my boss asks.
I just stand there, feeling the blood leave my face. It’s just him and me. I look at that six-foot, five-inch muscular billionaire. There is no telling what Mr. Trent Rex - the T. Rex himself - will do to me when I confess everything.
“Vanessa?” Mr. Rex asks me again.
“My name is not Vanessa,” I utter.
Mr. Rex stops looking through his papers. He just stands there and stares at me for a moment. I can see this very intelligent and instinctual man thinking through the ramifications of what I just told him.
“Who are you?” Mr. Rex asks with a calmness that frightens me more than I would expect.
“My name is Julie Bandis. I am an undercover reporter for Texas Monthly magazine,” I squeak. I want to ramble on my full confession. But I can’t even muster the ability to think straight. My eyes wander down. I can’t even look Mr. Rex in the face.
“Julie,” Mr. Rex proclaims simply, addressing me by my real name for the first time. I lift up my head and face the T. Rex. He is completely calm and collected. I just stand there waiting for the temperamental billionaire to blow his top. I feel like a person wanting for a bomb to go off after the countdown timer has hit zero. My body can’t take another second of this. “Well, I have to say that I admire the fact that you would have the courage to confess to me face-to-face,” the powerful CEO declares while he approaches me.
“I had no choice. Your Director of Security told me I had to submit to an advanced background screening. I knew I would be found out,” I confess.
My boss’s unflinching glance makes it hard for me to breathe. When Mr. Rex’s speakerphone beeps, I let out a slight shriek.
“Mr. Rex. Mr. Skoca is requesting to meet with you,” a female voice on the speakerphone announces.
“Send him in,” Mr. Rex responds.
The door opens and I see the Director of Security. A man who I nicknamed the “silver fox” due to his sleek back white hair. As the Director of Security enters the room, he is visibly shocked to see me in Mr. Rex’s office.
“I assume you are here to tell me about Miss Julie Bandis,” Mr. Rex says to his Director of Security.
“Her name is not Vanessa London. Her name is Julie Bandis. She is a recent graduate from the University of Texas with a degree in journalism. We are continuing our background check on her,” the head of security says.
“Julie, in her wisdom, decided to come up here and confess to me,” Mr. Rex tells his security boss.
“Her access card is deactivated and her computers are locked. I’ll have her debriefed and escorted off the premises,” Mr. Skoca announces as I get sick to my stomach.
Mr. Rex puts his hand up which makes his head security guy fall to immediate silence. “I will deal with her personally,” the T. Rex tells his security boss. Mr. Skoca looks at me, shakes his head slightly - a kind of a, “I wouldn’t want to be in your shoes” sort of non-verbal gesture. “I’m sure you have other matters to deal with, Mr. Skoca. You should get on top of those,” Mr. Rex tells his security boss.
“Yes sir,” Mr. Skoca says as he closes the doors of the CEO’s office.
Mr. Rex looks me up and down. It seems as though he wants to absorb as much about me before he would ask me a question. The silence just makes me increasingly nervous. “When did you graduate from college?”
“I graduated from UT about eight months ago,” I squeak.
This elicits a bit of a chuckle from the powerful CEO. Something that catches me completely off guard. “I have to compliment you. You are not even a year removed from J-school and you were able to sneak your way into my office.”
I begin to feel a little proud of that myself. As I start to crack a smile, the hulking CEO walks right up to me. The smirk is gone. “You think you are a clever
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