Billionaire Decoded Read online

  BILLIONAIRE DECODED

  By Nella Tyler

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places and incidents are products of the writer's imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locales or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  Copyright © 2015 Nella Tyler

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  Chapter 1

  Heather checked her appearance in the mirror. She leaned in a little closer, checking for any hint of a flaw. At only twenty-eight years of age, she wasn't too concerned, but it never hurt to check. Her long-layered black hair was freshly shampooed and as she swept it a little more haphazardly around her cheeks, she caught a faint whiff of lavender. She had plucked her eyebrows to perfection and added just a hint of shadow at the outside edges of her almond-shaped eyes. Not too much, but enough to emphasize their hazel color.

  She studied her nose for a moment. Once again, she thought that it was too narrow, although her best friend Melanie told her it was perfect. She added a touch of clear gloss to her lower lip, a bit fuller than the top, and then smiled at the mirror. Her teeth were nice and white, her jawline narrow, her chin just on the slightest side of pointy, although once again, she took Melanie's word for it that she was gorgeous.

  It wasn't like Heather was vain, but she did like to look her best. Landing a job as the new billing manager at Shaw & Burks would require not only her financial skills, but also her computer programming expertise, as well as her ability to deal with a variety of different people. She wanted to look her best.

  After all, Shaw & Burks was one of the most watched up-and-coming computer programming companies in the United States and showed great promise when it came to international competition. As far as she was concerned, this was a dream job. Still, she also knew that every dream job came with a few hitches. Hopefully, the hitches she experienced at Shaw & Burks wouldn't be difficult to deal with nor overshadow the many perks that came with the job.

  She still couldn't quite believe it. Her friends, especially Melanie, had encouraged her to go ahead and apply when they had heard through the grapevine that one of the co-owners of the company, Brecken Shaw, was looking for a new person to run their billing department. It was also desired that the person he hire have some computer programming skills. Melanie had told her she was perfect for the job, and she tended to agree.

  After all, she had spent the last six years dedicating her life to learning as much as she could about both finance and computer programming. She had graduated near the top of the class with a major in accounting and a minor in computer programming. She had held a total of three jobs in those six years, each one increasing her experience, her knowledge base, and her sense of self-confidence in her capabilities.

  When she had walked into the office at Shaw & Burks, she had been startled by Brecken Shaw’s youth. She expected some fuddy-duddy, fifty-year-old-plus billionaire and instead had found herself gazing into the dreamy eyes of a thirty-four-year-old. The first thought that came into her mind when she laid eyes on Brecken Shaw was “holy fuck”. He had been wearing a suit, sans tie, when she had gone in for a brief – very brief – interview the other day. The man had medium-length, sandy-blond hair, broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and an incredibly handsome face with gorgeous green eyes, perfect nose, lips to die for, and a jawline that she had an incredible and inexplicable urge to caress. He had a very slight cleft in his chin that reminded her of Cary Grant.

  In an odd way, he also reminded her of Julian Assange, but she couldn't quite figure out why. Assange was fair with nearly white hair, while Brecken Shaw was tanned…not tanning bed tan, but real, lay out in the sun kind of tan. He obviously spent some time outdoors. When she had first entered his office and sat down, she had noticed his strong hands and fingers. What did those hands like to do besides make money? Was he into rock climbing? Sailing? Spelunking?

  Assange had been in the news lately, especially with the WikiLeaks drama, so maybe that's why she associated one with the other. Both computer programmers. Both billionaires. Both up-and-coming individuals who would make their mark on the world. Assange already had made his mark on the world, and not in a good way. Perhaps Shaw would manage to give computer programming a better reputation. He seemed to be well on his way to doing that. Working for one of the biggest computer programming firms in the United States was another reason she realized she had instantly made the comparison.

  But that’s where the comparisons had stopped. Assange gave her the creeps and just looking at his photos made her skin crawl. The complete opposite was true of Brecken Shaw. No. He had a charisma that she felt right away. She rarely got all hot and bothered by a handsome face, but her potential boss, well, she wondered about that. She had done her best to exude self-confidence during her brief meeting with him a couple of days ago, and apparently her efforts had paid off.

  She was still smiling as she readied for her first day of work, her nerves nearly jangling with excitement. She couldn't believe how lucky she was. She had landed a job at Shaw & Burks, one of the most prestigious computer programming firms along the eastern seaboard! Her boss was a rich dreamboat. Her pay was double what she had ever been offered before. She would have her own office. What was there not to get excited about?

  Rich probably wasn't quite the word to describe Brecken Shaw. Not only was he filthy rich, but the young billionaire co-owned the Shaw & Burks firm with his former fiancée, Alyson. At least that's as much as Heather had been able to find out from her friend, who always found the juicy stuff on just about anyone. Melanie was a born snoop, but Heather meant that in a good way. Heather was no slouch on the computer, either, but she hadn’t immediately thought to do some digging about Shaw. At least, not before she’d been hired, other than to look up his company, browse the website, and learn a little more about what they did. Computer programming – that’s what the site said. But to be so successful, to be voted one of the top ten US up-and-coming companies? They surely had to offer additional services, didn’t they?

  She thought of Brecken, trying to think of who he reminded her of most, but then she quickly glanced down at her watch on the slender gold watchband and realized she needed to get downstairs if she planned on catching a taxi that could get her through rush hour traffic and to work on time for her first day of work. Showing up late certainly wouldn't leave a good impression on Brecken Shaw!

  She quickly left her apartment on Boston's west side and took the elevator down to the street level lobby.

  "Good morning, Miss Kurtz," the security guard manning the desk on the east side of the building called out with a lifted hand. "Good luck!"

  Heather lifted her hand toward the guard and smiled. "Thanks, Tony," she said. Tony was one of several rotating security guards in her building, but she had known him for years. They had gone to the same college. On his first day at work, he had noticed her sweatshirt and college logo – Boston University Terriers – and had commented on it. As they started to talk, she realized that they had gone to Boston U at the same time and had even shared a couple of classes and professors.

  The doorman also smiled at her as he pulled open one of the heavy glass doors from the doublewide frame.

  "Ditto that, Miss Kurtz," Jeremy smiled.

  "Thanks, Jeremy," she said, breezing past him and out onto the sidewalk. Jeremy was an elderly gentleman, always polite, always smiling when she entered or left the building, no matter what time of day it was. She often wondered about Jeremy's past. Tony had told her that Jeremy had worked as a doorman in this building for the past fifteen years following his retir
ement as a janitor at one of the local high schools. She often felt sorry for him; she knew he needed to supplement his fixed income after something had happened with his retirement pension. She never pried, but despite his financial woes, he always appeared cheerful, which always made an impression on her.

  By the time she stepped on the sidewalk, lifted her arm, and hailed a taxi, she was ready to start the day and her new job. Nervous butterflies fluttered in her stomach and her heart raced, but she was anxious to begin working for such a prestigious firm. Doing so would only enhance her career; she was sure. Plus, working for such a firm was bound to increase her experience by leaps and bounds. She had worked in accounting for years, but to be given the position of manager of the billing department at Shaw & Burks? Again, she felt a surge of excitement rush through her, along with a sense of pride in herself. She had worked hard for this. She felt she had paid her dues. Now it was time to reap the benefits.

  A half hour later, Heather sat down in the chair behind her desk. She couldn't believe she had her own office! Goodbye cubicles. Goodbye shared spaces with other accountants.

  Looking around her, she realized that Melanie had every right to be envious. Maybe before she left for the day, she’d take some pictures of her new office to show her BFF. Her office was practically the size of her apartment and a hundred times nicer. Not that she had many complaints about her apartment, but it was a bit on the small side. Still, how much space did one person need?

  At least some of her furniture was new, although most of it came from nice secondhand stores, but she had mish-mashed it all together in a way that pleased her. She had a sofa, a coffee table, a television set on an end table, and plans to liven up the living area one of these days with a new area rug and perhaps some plants. Her bedroom was just big enough for a full size bed and a chest of drawers, but what else did she need in there, anyway? She didn’t spend much time in the bedroom. And, the place did have a walk-in closet, even though it was small.

  She felt immensely pleased when she took in her new office. It was modern, sleek, and metallic. She had expected something a little more conventional, almost traditional, maybe even stuffy, but this certainly wasn't that. Her office literally brought to mind decorations from a science fiction movie, maybe Star Trek or Star Wars, but chic at the same time. Her desk was a L-shaped construction of highly polished chrome and glass, complete with an in and out box, a gorgeous and genuine leather blotter, and a thirty-inch flat screen computer monitor, wireless keyboard and mouse, and a telephone that connected her not only to the boss’ office, but to other departments within Shaw & Burks.

  She tapped a few keys on the keyboard and set up her username and password, and then logged on, staring for a moment at the screen saver on her screen. It was a scene overlooking Boston Harbor. She gazed at it for several moments, still smiling, and then decided that she'd better get to work. She tapped a few more keys and opened up a set of spreadsheets.

  Now, she was in her comfort zone. This she could do. This she understood. She was a whiz with numbers, with data, and with data analysis. She loved working with figures, formulas, and anything connected with accounting. She was also excellent at computer programming and knew C, C++, C# Java, Python, Delphi, Pascal, PHP, SQL, and Perl, as well as a few others to varying degrees of proficiency. She didn't think she'd be doing much programming, what with the accounting issues and tasks before her, but this is what she did best.

  Before she really dug into the spreadsheets, she once again allowed her thoughts to revert to Brecken. Her new boss, and wow, what a boss! He had hired her after what she could barely describe as a formal interview. She had found it difficult to keep her eyes from continually assessing his handsome features. She had forced herself to focus, to concentrate on what he was saying and not how his lips moved, his eyes twinkled, or had she imagined it, the way he was also body checking her.

  If she was to put his attributes into a spreadsheet, the columns would have names like hair, body, eyes, success meter, and of course, bank account. Not that the bank account was that important, but still. At any rate, he would score off the charts in all of them.

  Okay, enough! Time to get to work, she told herself.

  She spent the bulk of her morning on billable hours, but despite her excitement over her new job and her confidence that she would be great at it, she did begin to feel a little discouraged as the hours wore on. The more time she spent on billable hours, the more she became painfully aware of just how much money the Shaw & Burks firm took in. Despite her efforts to maintain a mental and emotional distance and opt for the utmost in professionalism, typing eight hundred thousand dollars into one of the expense cells on the spreadsheet was disconcerting. One column. There were more, with other staggering amounts of money, going in and going out. Based on the amount of money this company took him, that was chump change.

  She managed to focus for a couple of hours working on the numbers in the accounts when she decided to take a brief brain break. She sat back in her chair, thinking back to Brecken. She smiled as she leaned her head back in the chair and stared up at the ceiling. He was gorgeous and he knew it. Would it be cliché if she described him to her friends as an Adonis, a Greek god? From what she had perceived, he knew he looked good, too, and once during her interview, he had acted a bit immodestly, preening slightly in front of her, but not in an obnoxious, over-the-top, narcissistic way.

  The money he had and that the company brought in…well the money was off the charts. He had probably earned it, although she didn't know exactly how. In a nutshell, he was handsome, rich, and uber confident. Why shouldn't he believe that he was God's gift to women, maybe even men, or the entire world? When Melanie had asked exactly what the firm did, Heather had answered as Brecken Shaw had instructed her to. She said simply, "computer programming."

  She hadn't been able to dig too deeply into the company's finances. After all, she had been hired to do billing, not to act as the company’s accountant. Still, she wondered if he had military defense contracts or maybe space exploration contacts and clients.

  She knew she still had to get her legs under her, at least in regard of exactly what she was expected to do. She had been hired to deal with certain aspects of accounting for the firm, mainly billing. She had been instructed to start with the billing invoices from last month. After that? She wasn’t sure yet. Either she had access to the accounts or she didn't. Would she just be taking care of invoices and billing for certain departments or deals and payroll? Or was something more involved? She didn't want to ask too many questions, at least not at first. Besides, these spreadsheets would take at least a day or two for her to get through. Maybe after that she would talk to Brecken…Mister Shaw, to gain a more precise description of just what would be expected of her for the salary she received.

  She took a brief lunch break, but didn't leave her office. Why should she? It was outfitted with not only her desk and computer and every type of peripheral equipment she could imagine: fax machine, scanner, printer, but also a small refrigerator, a microwave, a coffee set up, a nice view, and two stuffed, upholstered chairs positioned near a window that overlooked downtown Boston.

  She pulled a small package out of her purse, which she had stowed in one of the desk drawers, and retrieved her to-go tuna and crackers. She hadn't been sure what to expect as far as her lunch hour went, and on the first day on the job, she didn't necessarily want to leave the building and look for a place to go for something to eat. She was still relatively unfamiliar with this neighborhood.

  Tomorrow she would bring something that she could heat up in the microwave. She smiled again, thinking this she could probably live in this office if she wanted to. It had everything she needed.

  She spent the remainder of the afternoon on the spreadsheets, lost in her tasks, concentrating, her fingers quickly manipulating the keyboard, the number pad, and the sheaf of papers beside her, entering figures carefully, double-checking, and making sure that she didn't make any
mistakes.

  Only when she felt the beginning of a crick in her neck did she glance up at the clock, surprised to find that it was nearly quarter to five. Quitting time. Just then, she heard the doorknob to her door turn and in the next moment, the door swung open with a bang. She jumped in her chair, startled. A well-built blonde woman entered. Though she was startled, Heather offered a smile in greeting. The woman merely stared at her and then informed her that her name was Alyson. The co-owner of the company? Heather sat straighter.

  "Who are you?" the woman asked.

  She was gorgeous, with curly blonde hair, perfectly sculpted features, and a great body, obviously enhanced with breast implants. They looked like two ripe melons that jutted out from her chest. She had a tiny waist and wide hips. A perfect hourglass figure, but then, she could probably afford it, along with a personal trainer, a nutritionist, and maybe even a plastic surgeon on call. She wore a cream-colored pantsuit that accentuated everything good about her figure, even her ass. So, this was Brecken's ex-fiancée and co-owner of Shaw & Burks?

  "My name is Heather Kurtz," she replied. "Can I help you?"

  "Where’s Brecken?" Alyson curtly asked.

  Heather stared at her moment, surprised. Why the attitude? And, was that woman giving her a body check? While she hadn’t minded much when Brecken had done it, she sure as hell minded it now. "I'm not sure," she replied with a cool tone. "I haven't seen him all day."

  "Don't give me that," Alyson said, stepping further into the room. She cast a quick glance around and then focused her irritated gaze on Heather. "Where is he?"

  Again, she shook her head. "I don't know," she repeated. "I've been in my office all day and haven't seen him."

  To her surprise, Alyson stepped up to the desk, placed her hands down on it, and literally glared at her. Her nails were long, perfectly manicured, and painted blood red. She looked up at the woman, stunned with her rudeness. What the hell?