The Wrong Wife (Morally Grey Billionaires #5)(7)

I managed to get help from our local council—something I don't think we'd have been able to get in the States—and was able to admit her to a home where she’s been the last three years. Her condition has been deteriorating, and at the same time, the council underwent budget cuts and can’t cover her costs anymore. So, I need money. Fast. And here I am, unable to hold down a single job. I wasn’t even able to continue my acting career—because I found it wasn’t for me, after all. All that sacrifice of being away from her was in vain.

"I’m sorry, Penny." Mira reaches forward and grips my hand. "I wish there was something I could do to help you."

"You’re allowing me to stay here and pay a fraction of the money I should be paying in rent. I think you’re doing a lot already."

"I have a job. I can support us." She raises a shoulder. "Besides, if I’d refused to accept any money from you, would you have moved in here?"

I begin to object when she stops me with a raised brow.

"That’s what I thought." She lifts her mug of hot chocolate and slurps it up. "You make a mean hot cocoa. Also, I'm the beneficiary of your cooking experiments, so I’d say I got the better end of the deal."

"That’s you being generous. I’d hardly qualify my little cooking forays as sufficient to afford this apartment in London." I glance around the tiny flat. What it lacks in space, it makes up for in light. It's on the top floor of a two-story block, with skylights that allow the sunshine to stream in. And it's in the heart of Soho, which is as prime as you can get, in terms of real estate locations.

"You don’t give yourself enough credit."

I laugh. "If you mean the cooking, I really do like it. But I prefer it as a hobby. I like to cook at my own pace, rather than being packed into the pressure-cooker environment of a kitchen run by a professional chef."

"That bad, huh?" Her tone is sympathetic.

"It took the joy out of cooking. I realized, very quickly, it's not for me."

"It’s good you realized it early, huh? This way, you can move on, instead of investing your life in a career you don’t like."

I take in her features. "Are you referring to yourself when you say that?"

"Who, me? Nah!" She places her palms together in front of her. "I mean, the big boss of my company is a jerkass, but I don’t have much to do with him, so it’s all right. I like what I do, so that’s a positive."

"I wish I could find a career I love. I’m twenty-three and trying to work out what I want to do with my life."

"You have plenty of time to work that out," Mira assures me.

"But my mother doesn’t." I swallow down the ball of emotions that blocks my throat. "I need to find a way to keep her in the home. She’s comfortable there. Everyone knows her and is kind to her. If only I could find a job that I could hold onto, I—"

As if summoned, my phone buzzes with an incoming text message. I glance at it. "It’s from Abby," I murmur.

"Oh, what does she say?"

I read the message again, then hold up the phone for Mira.

Abby: I have the perfect job for you.





4





Penny





"No, absolutely not." I cross my arms across my chest. "I’m not going to work for that…that…" moron. "Man." I shuffle my feet. "He’s your brother and I know he’s been through a lot, but he wasn’t very warm when I saw him last."

"He’s just gotten back from a traumatic experience." Abby bites the inside of her cheek. "I know he didn’t speak much when you met him, but really, he’s not a bad person, once you get to know him."

Which I don’t intend to do.

I slouch into her office armchair. It’s been a week since Knight returned. I haven’t seen him or Abby since. When she texted me to say she had a job for me, I was intrigued, but this was the soonest we’d been able to meet. I’d spent the time looking for a new job but had come up with nothing. In all honesty, this possible opportunity she's offering me is my last resort. I’m running out of options. But now that she’s told me who I’m going to work for, I’m sure it’s not right for me.

"I’m not here to pass judgment on him, but our personalities are so different. He barely speaks—"except in grunts and growls, which, admittedly, has a certain appeal. If you go in for the alphahole type of man… Which I do not. I don't. "He barely acknowledged me when we met. And even then, he spent all of that time glowering at me. I, on the other hand, like to be friendly to people. I want to be positive. I prefer to believe in the goodness of others. While he seems to expect the worst from those around him."

"Which is why you’re perfect for him."

"Which is why we’re all wrong for each other," I scoff.

She rises from her seat behind the desk and crosses the floor to sit down next to me. "Look, Penny, Knight wasn’t always like this. He was an idealist. He believed in the greater good."

"This, from the man who now wants to join your father’s organized crime business?"

"He wants to join my father’s legal business," she corrects me.