Chapter 5 Five

"You don't have that kind of power," Millie whispered but the wind carried it to his ears.

"Try me."

"What's in it for you?" Millie asked instead, ignoring his outstretched hand and looking into his light grey eyes.

The billionaire smiled, bringing his hand back to his side. He had to think of something. He was offering to help her, which in turn helped the company. But, what did he stand to gain? He was a business man, for crying out loud. Profit should always be at the fore front.

His phone vibrated in his suit pocket and he excused himself to answer it. It was his secretary. "Yes?"

"Mr. Forest, there is a certain lady at the lobby who claims to be a minister's daughter. She wants to meet you." his secretary- Kira- explained.

"Send her away," Logan replied, about to take his phone away from his ear.

"Unfortunately, sir, when you left, the Chairlady called personally and told me to let her in. She is enroute to you, now, sir."

"Alright." Logan said, resigned. He had a new idea. He turned back to meet Millie. "It seems that we might need to speed things up."

"And?" Millie asked.

"I want you to be my girlfriend." Logan said, coolly.

Millie spluttered. "What? Hell no."

Logan was not suprised. In fact, he had expected that reaction. "For play, Miss Whitlock," he began, "My mother is on my neck about my love life and she has currently sent the minister's to meet me here."

"On the roof?" Millie asked, eyes widening.

"With you, on the ledge. Yes."

Millie shook her head and went back to the topic at hand. "So you want us to lie to the Chairwoman?"

"I prefer pretend."

Millie narrowed her eyes and muttered the word "pretend." "For how long? How long would do you want me to act as your girlfriend?"

"A few months. As long as I deem fit. I do not intend to extort you, Miss Whitlock. Be rest assured. You'll be compensated for your work. And as a bonus, I'll help you crush your loser boyfriend." He held out his hand again, counting down the seconds until the minister's daughter would barge into the rooftop.

Millie didn't know if it was her emotions or the high from standing at the edge of the eighteen-storey building for so long but, she put her hand, lightly, in his.

"Ex-boyfriend." she said, firmly.

The billionaire looked almost amused. "Yes, my apologies, the ex."

And it didn't matter how much she loathed billionaires like Logan who cared more about money and were calm, collected while doing it. It didn't matter that she hated the air of arrogant confident he had, she was going to accept the deal.

The door to the rooftop moved and on impulse, Logan pulled Millie towards himself. He kept her on top of him and beared the brunt of the fall as she lost her balance and fell.

Despite how much she tried to get up from him, Logan held onto her.

"Stop moving," Logan almost snapped, "you're making this more uncomfortable than it already is."

Millie froze.

Logan pushed her bangs to the side of her head and looked into her chestnut eyes. They reminded him of his mother's obsession with the man who had brown eyes. It was another reason to hate the cosmetics chemist.

He tilted his head back to make sure his audience of one was watching. Indeed, the young woman stood, sunglasses in hand, her perfect eyebrows lifted. She put her glasses on. "I'll be waiting in your office, Mr. Forest."

Logan exhaled as she left. This was not going to be an easy one to get rid of.

Millie hurried to her feet and wiped imaginary dirt off her clothes. She cleared her throat. "Give me a warning next time."

Logan was not in the mood to correct her tone. "My apologies."

He sat up and flexed his arm. It was starting to sore from the fall. He stood. "How dirty is my suit?" and then he turned his back to her.

Millie couldn't surpress the small smile that tugged on her lips. "Dirty enough that you would hate me." That much she knew about Logan Forest. He was a clean freak.

He clapped his hands together. "Perfect! Let's see how much she likes me dirty."

Millie said nothing.

"Will you be okay, Miss Whitlock?" He asked. He didn't care about how she felt right now. He just didn't want someone as resourceful as her to jump off the roof the moment he turned away. "If you would like, you can hide out at my office until you're ready."

He almost regretted it after he said it.

"No," she snapped, "I don't want your pity." Millie could see through his act. The man wanted nothing to do with her emotions. It seemed like an uncomfortable thing for him.

"None given, Miss Whitlock." He was going to wear her name out. She was sure.

"Besides," she added, "why put off the inevitable?"

Logan liked that. He liked it so much that he thought of buying a frame that held those words. "Then I suppose I must see my guest and break a few hearts."

Millie ignored him, put on her heels and made for the door.

"I'll see you tomorrow, Miss Whitlock," He said it like he was so sure that the sun would rise tomorrow. He was sure that he would see her.

"You will, Mr. Forest."

Then, she was gone, slamming the door behind her.

****

MILLICENT TOOK THE stairs. She walked down to the eleventh floor, steeling her nerves for when she had to go back out there and face the people.

When she appeared in the doorway, the stares were still there but some of them were looking sorry now.

She walked to her office.

"Millie!" Bethany sprang up from her chair, excitedly.

"Miss Millie..." two of her other colleagues- Tom and Rick- said as they got up. Millie knew that they had seen the pictures.

She gave them a reassuring smile. "I'm fine, really. Don't worry." She walked over to her cubicle that was next to Tom.

"What happened to your glasses?" Bethany asked.

Millie reached up to touch it as she took her seat. "It fell."

"Millie?" Margaret Lee called, watching her young employee.

"Yes, ma'am?" She turned in her chair to look at her.

"Congratulations, the CEO loved your product ideas." She smiled, like a proud mother.

The office exploded in confetti and cheer, and her co-workers began to clap. Some passerbys peered through the glass walls at them.

Millie smiled. At least, she still had people who supported her despite everything.

"He loved it so much that he wants to work side by side with team two," Rick said.

"Wait, what?" Millie looked at their faces for answers.

"Yes, but, he actually wants to work with you to see to the finish. He wants team two to be in charge of the whole process. The other teams are to answer to us." Bethany did a little victory dance.

"It means that we could even win an award this year." Tom added. He and Bethany did a high five over their cubicles.

"We have Millie to thank for this. She worked really hard, it shows just how much of wonderful employee, and person, that she is." Margaret Lee smiled warmly and so did the rest of the team.

"We're lucky that we even have you, Miss Mille." Rick said.

Millie smiled back the tears trying to form. "Let's do this!"

*****

MILLICENT got down from the bus a while away from her stop. She decided to walk, thinking about how she got into this mess in the first place. She couldn't understand why Theodore would do this to her and she also didn't understand why Logan Forest would want her to be his girlfriend.

There were so many things she didn't understand right now.

She climbed the short steps that led to her apartment. It was small, hemmed between two tall, large buildings. It was the first thing she could afford after she left home to work at Forest Skin. It was home.

She unlocked the door and walked in, shutting it behind her. The keys were tossed in a bowl on the shelf that was pressed against a wall.

Millie pushed out of her shoes and walked to her couch. She dropped into it tiredly, exhaling loudly.

Whore.

One word. It echoed in her head and reminded her of the stares and remarks from people at work.

Millie sat up, brought her feet to the ground and buried her head in the palm of her hands. Her shoulders shook as she began to sob.

She was crying but tears were refusing to fall. She hated herself for being so weak. If she was someone else, she would have ignored everyone and flipped Theodore off the moment she saw him. She would find Theodore and hit him.

She wasn't that girl and she wasn't the whore they thought she was.

Her phone chimed and she fished it out of her jacket pocket. It was a text. From Theo❤️

I'm outside. Come meet me.