Billionaire Undaunted:The Billionaire's Obsession ~ Zane(12)

He activated the metal door to the garage hallway by using the  fingerprint scanner again, and then pushed the doorway open, a hidden  door that wasn't really detectable from inside the house unless one was  really looking.

He strode down the hallway, but stopped short when he heard Ellie's  voice. He could see her at the kitchen table with her laptop, her eyes  glued to the screen as she spoke.

It took him a moment to realize what she was doing. She'd been having a video chat.

The counseling sessions!

He'd known Ellie was going to use her new laptop for sessions with a  psychologist in England, but he hadn't known they were starting today.  Of course, he and Ellie hadn't really had a chance to have a civil  conversation this morning before he'd retreated to his lab.

He leaned against the wall and froze, not wanting to interrupt her, and shamelessly listening in on her conversation.

Unfortunately for him, they seemed to be wrapping things up.

Ellie sighed as she appeared to reply to the therapist. "Thank you,  Natalie. It helped a lot to talk about how I feel. I know it's very late  there for you, but I'm glad you agreed to help me."

Zane watched as Ellie said good-bye and confirmed another appointment in  a few days. She closed the laptop with a pensive look on her face.

She needs to talk; she needs support.

He clenched his fists as he cursed himself for not knowing how to really  talk to her. He wanted to be there, wanted to be her sounding board. He  just wasn't sure exactly how to be what she needed right now.

He knew a very big part of Ellie wanted to just forget what had happened  to her, just like he wished he could do. But it wasn't healthy for her  to keep denying that she'd been traumatized by her seven-month ordeal.  She'd never really heal if she stuffed it away inside her and never  pulled it out and dealt with her emotions.

He moved into the kitchen and sat down across from her. "Do you want to  talk about it? How did it go?" He hoped like hell she'd gotten over her  anger from earlier that morning. He didn't want her to shut him out,  even though he didn't have a fucking clue what to say.

She shook her head, but started to talk anyway. "Natalie thinks I have post-traumatic stress."

Zane raised an eyebrow. "What do you think?" He didn't know much about  mental health, but he was personally willing to bet that most people who  had endured what Ellie had been through were bound to suffer symptoms  of post-traumatic stress.

"I suppose I probably do. I can't hear a noise that reminds me of my  time as James's prisoner without getting nervous and scared. Sometimes I  get flashbacks. That's why I'd rather not acknowledge it at all. But it  haunts me. My life is a mess because of what happened. I feel like I've  lost my independence, my entire life because of what happened. And I'm  still afraid of what's going to happen to me."

"Not a fucking thing is going to happen to you, Ellie. You're home with  people who care about you in this town. You're not dependent just  because you need some help from friends right now. You've been through  too much to deal with this alone," he told her reasonably. "Take the  help I'm offering you. Your life will slowly return to normal. You just  need time."

Zane could literally feel her desperation and sorrow, and it nailed him  in the chest like a knife. He wanted to make everything all better for  Ellie, but he felt so damn powerless. He couldn't take away her memories  or the damage that fucking James had inflicted on her emotionally.         

     



 

She trained her sapphire eyes on him as she answered, "That's just it.  I've never not been able to take care of myself. Things aren't as bad as  I thought they would be. Somebody has been taking care of my bills, and  I have an enormous amount of money in the bank. It has to be Chloe, and  I'm going to need to talk to her about it."

"It wasn't Chloe," he confessed. "It was me. I paid your bills, and I  put money into your checking to cover any bills that might be on  auto-pay."

She looked at him in surprise. "Why?"

Zane clenched his fists on the table. "Because I was never going to  admit that you weren't coming back, and I wanted your life to be as  close to normal as possible when we found you. Since you weren't here to  deal with things, I did it for you. That's what friends do, right?"

He wasn't about to tell her that he'd needed to take care of her  personal life, that he'd needed to do those things to convince himself  that she would be back. In a way, it had been therapeutic for him, a way  of convincing himself that Ellie wasn't dead. Chloe had been dealing  with enough troubles of her own, and he hadn't wanted his sister to take  care of Ellie's personal responsibilities. He'd wanted to do it  himself.

She was silent for a few moments before she answered solemnly. "Thank  you. But I'm going to have to pay you back when I get a job."

"You don't need a damn job right now. You just need to focus on getting well," he told her gruffly.

"I need to find a job, Zane. I can't handle this. I can't not want to  feel normal again. For me, that means making a living." She put her face  into her hands in a gesture of defeat.

Zane's heart fell to his feet. He hated seeing her this way. He wasn't  used to it. Ellie was a capable, anally organized, cheerful type of  woman. Seeing her all but destroyed was killing him.

"Then work for me, Ellie," he offered before he could even think about  his words. "I need you. Look around this house and you'll understand  why. I need a personal assistant I can trust, and that's hard to find. I  need an organizer for things inside and outside of work."

She moved her hands to look at him curiously. "Don't you have an assistant?"

"No. The last one I had almost sold company secrets to one of my  competitors. Luckily, we caught him in time. I haven't trusted anyone  enough since then, and it happened a few years ago. We have secretaries  at varying levels of security at the lab, but most of them don't have  access to personal documents or research results."

She frowned. "Somebody who worked for you tried to betray you?"

It hadn't been the first time, and definitely wouldn't be the last, but  Ellie didn't understand what people were willing to do for millions or  billions of dollars. "I know you think I'm paranoid because everything  is on tight security here, but when I'm home, I have a lot of  information with me-research results and projects that some of our  competitors would want for all the wrong reasons. It has to be secured."

"There has to be a ton of people who are more qualified to work for you.  I don't have a college education," she argued. "I don't know anything  about biotechnology."

He shrugged. "It doesn't matter. I just have to have someone I trust,  someone to help me stay organized outside of the lab. I have faith in  you, Ellie. If anyone can get me organized, it's you."

She looked at him for a few minutes before asking, "What would I do?"

He grinned at her, suddenly knowing exactly how he was going to get her  to drive her new vehicle. "Whatever I say. The first thing you'd do is  accept the car I gave you." He saw her open her mouth to protest, so he  held up a hand. "You'll need a car. What if you have to run errands or  do something for business?"

She glared at him, but dropped the subject. "What would my duties be?"

"Anything I want. When you're feeling better, you'll see how badly I  need some organization in this house. My home in Denver is about the  same, although it's cleaner thanks to my housekeeper. But she never  wants to touch my personal stuff. My brain is usually so busy thinking  about current projects that I don't get much else done." The more he  thought about it, the more he liked the idea of Ellie taking on the job  as his personal assistant. It might put him in a hell of his own making  by having her around him a lot, but it was better than worrying about  how she was doing all the damn time.         

     



 

"Would I have to move to Denver?" she asked cautiously.

"No. When I'm there, you can stay with me. My house there is just about  the same size as this one. We'll be going back and forth." Zane wanted  to start spending more time in Rocky Springs. His mom wasn't getting any  younger, and Rocky Springs was still home for him.

"Are you doing this because you really need me, or because you feel sorry for me?" Ellie asked bluntly.

"Believe me, I need you," Zane answered honestly, a double meaning in  his words, his cock hard just from sitting across from her at a fucking  kitchen table. He admitted he was desperate for her, but not in a way  that he could confess to Ellie.

"Will you allow me to pay you back from my paycheck for the car and other things you've bought?"

He shook his head. "No. Those are the perks of working for a rich man. Personal assistants get personal gifts sometimes."

"Not like this," she muttered, sounding unhappy. "What's the salary? Benefits?"