Chapter 1

"Ah, you must be Mr. Maxwell. I am Linda Blair," The woman who greeted me said. I recognized her voice from our phone conversation. She was nothing like I imagined. I expected a woman of the age of 40 with grey hair and thick glasses that made her look like a librarian from old school movies. Instead, I was looking at a 30 something gorgeous woman with a head full of long blonde hair.

"Follow me to the terrace, Mr. Laverne is waiting for you," she said and motioned me to follow her. I've never set my foot in a lavish mansion like this before. It was like a whole new world that opened up before me. I felt like I didn't belong here. I tried to act confident but I was sweating bullets under my suit. I shouldn't have put on a jacket today.

Mr. Laverne was sitting on his chair looking out. He had the type of face that was serious yet approachable. I felt a little better as he didn't look scary at all.

"Mr. Maxwell is here for his interview," Linda said.

Mr. Laverne looked at me and smiled. All of my fear and doubts about him washed away. He had a warm and inviting smile and a gentle aura that surrounded him. I hope I get this job so I get to be close to him and learn all about his secrets to success.

"Please, have a seat, Liam. May I call you Liam?" he asked politely.

"Yes sir, absolutely. It's an honor to meet you, Mr. Laverne," I said quickly.

"Please call me William, son. No need for formalities," he waved his hands in dismissal.

"Yes sir, I mean William," I said.

"So Liam, you seem quite young. Younger than almost all of my candidates. Isn't that right, Linda?" he looked at her.

"Yes he sure is," Linda nodded in agreement.

"I can assure you, my age has nothing to do with my qualifications, sir. I have my resume with me if you want to take a look," I said and handed him the piece of paper.

"I see..." Mr. Lavern said and looked at my resume.

Oh god, I hope he is not put off by the fact that I had many jobs. Some employers think that's an issue of commitment.

"You seem to have worked a lot. And at such a young age too!" he exclaimed.

"Yes sir..I mean William. I've been working since I turned 15 years old. I have to support my family by myself so I needed to earn as much money as possible," I said quietly.

"Life experience, just what we are looking for," he smiled.

Oh good. This interview was going well, I can feel it.

"Would you like a tour of this place? I am afraid it's hard for me to sit in one place for too long," Mr. Laverne said and stood up.

"Y..yes, absolutely," I stood up abruptly. At this point, I am willing to run a marathon if he asks me to.

He led me to a hallway and entered a ginormous room. My guess is, it was a living room. Reminds me of the house in The Great Gatsby.

"Your house is beautiful Mr. Lave..err...William," I stammered.

"Thank you. I worked very hard to accumulate this much wealth. I assume a young man like you will be able to get here at some point.

I wish, old man! I thought.

My eyes wandered around the room. I saw a few picture frames on the mantle so I decided to check them out. Mr. Laverne didn't say anything and let me conduct my own observation.

A picture caught my eyes. It was a picture of a young woman about my age or maybe younger. She was breathtakingly beautiful. She had long hair that was as black as midnight. Her eyes were green, like two sparkling emeralds. Her full lips curled into a smile in the picture and my heart skipped a beat just by looking at the photograph. She couldn't be real. A girl like that only exists in fairy tales. I stood there staring at the picture like an idiot, completely awestruck.

"Beautiful, isn't she?" Mr. Laverne said behind me and I almost screamed. I forgot he was in the room with me for a moment.

"Yes, she is gorgeous. Who is she?" I had to ask.

"My granddaughter, Rose Laverne. My only granddaughter in fact," he smiled. "What is your impression when you look at her photograph? Give me an honest answer," he added.

Shoot. He really did not want my honest answer because my thoughts about her weren't entirely pure at the moment.

"Ah...she seems like a lovely young woman. And friendly?" I said. It wasn't possible to judge someone just by looking at their face.

"You would think with a face like that, wouldn't you?" Mr. Laverne said distractedly. I wasn't sure where he was going with this conversation. I thought this was an interview to select me to take care of him! So why are we having a discussion about his granddaughter?

"Well I am afraid young lad, you are completely wrong about her," Mr. Laverne said.

"S..sorry?" I was confused.

"She is a horrible child. Completely wicked and an absolute brat," Mr. Laverne said grimly. He wasn't smiling anymore.

Oh boy, we got ourselves a rich and spoiled princess I guess. But why is he telling me all this? Maybe she will be visiting him a lot and I'll have to confront her? Yeah, I am sure that's it.

"I like you, Liam. I wasn't sure at first, but something about you just sits right with me. However, you seem like a nice and timid young man. Would you ever be able to act rude and tough? Also extremely stern if need be?"

I snapped into my business mode. I am Liam Maxwell and I can be anything I want to be. Especially if it's to be successful at my job.

"William, I may look young and friendly right now but I can be ruthless if a job demands it," I said and gave him a hard look. It wasn't easy since I had a baby face but his question made me think that's what this job demands.

"And judging from your looks, you seem to be physically strong?" Mr. Lavern asked.

"Yes sir," I said quietly. I was no Chris Hemsworth in terms of muscle weight but the years of hard manual labor did give me physical strength and the appearance of a muscular physique. In other words, I wasn't jacked, but I didn't look like a scrawny kid either.

"Very well. How about we get your information and we do a quick background check. Then we will let you know if you are hired by tomorrow," Mr. Lavern said.

"That sounds great," I nodded in agreement.

"Before we do all that, I want to apologize to you," he said and smiled.

"Huh? I don't understand," I looked at him quizzically.

"We falsely advertised the job. Your position isn't to take care of me," he said.

"Then what is the position for?" I asked.

"It is for my unruly granddaughter. You are to be her personal assistant and bodyguard. I hope you are ready for that," Mr. Lavern smirked.

I get to be close to this absolute goddess? Sign me the fuck up!