Page 1 of Surprise! I'm Engaged To My Boss
Prologue
CAMILA
Los Angeles
How the hell had I ended up here?
Have you ever stopped, at some point in your life, and asked yourself the same question?
I had felt this three times in the past few hours. The first was when I arrived last night at one of the company parties.
I simply didn't understand the need to force people who, for the most part, had no affinity with each other, to participate in an event like that.
If it was already unpleasant in small companies, in large companies it became unbearable. That bunch of unknown people, boring music, bad food and department heads giving their speeches already drunk and completely disposable.
However, I knew exactly what I was doing there.
This time, it was more than just an obligation to keep my job. There would be an announcement of some promotions, and I had the illusion that my name would be on that list.
As soon as I got there, I discovered that I was completely wrong.
The second question had to do with my own professional life. I was a trained architect, with a postgraduate degree and a master's, I had been the best student in my class, and I knew how good I was at what I did. When I joined Turner Architecture to take on a position as an assistant, I thought it would be just the first step on my path to success.
Two years and seven months later... I was still in the exact same position. No matter how hard I tried, nothing made the slightest difference.
Meanwhile, my direct superior, Victor Smith, had recently been promoted to a higher position using my projects. Taking credit for my work.
This party, by the way, was also to celebrate that.
And I had bought the most beautiful dress my salary could afford, believing that I’d be the one to get that promotion. It was the most hateful expense and illusion of my life.
When I heard him, along with a group of executives, bragging about his new position, I grabbed the first glass of champagne from a waiter who was passing by.
That was the first and still shy dose of alcohol of the night.
The party was held in the lobby of a luxurious hotel with tropical decor. In addition to a dance floor, tables and a bar, the space was filled with stands like beach kiosks, selling things like coconut water, shrimp skewers and all kinds of crafts.
I wasn't planning on spending a single cent on that. I’d already spent too much on that dress, and now I just wanted to take advantage of the all-you-can-eat buffet and open bar to try to recoup some of the losses and drown my sorrows.
The buffet was of the highest quality, which made me think about the outrage of all that spending on something as useless as a company party. I only planned to stay for half an hour — just long enough for everyone to see me, then I’d go home to spend the night snuggled up with the only bad boy I trust: my cat.
Real cat, by the way. Men? No, thanks. They spell trouble — and I already have enough of that, thanks to that infernal office.
I was getting ready to leave when that asshole Victor Smith got everyone's attention, starting a speech about his promotion. And then, a very masochistic part of me decided to stay and torture myself with that, while I fantasize about the many ways in which I could kill that idiot.
It was then that I decided that champagne was no longer enough for me and that I needed something stronger. I went to the bar and truly began my night of great mistakes.
Soon after, my attention – and that of everyone there – was drawn to the event's main attraction: Michael Turner, one of Turner Architecture’s heirs, where I worked.
It was the first time I had seen him in person—although I’d been working at his company for over two years, and he had only been CEO for a few months. He had his own floor of the company, all to himself, with his own select group of personal minions, and he didn’t mingle with the other employees, like me.
He was very different from the image I had of him. Well, at least I confirmed one thing that everyone said about him: he had quite the playboy look. In half a second, there were already three beautiful women around him, fawning over him. And a drink seemedto have appeared in his hand by magic. However, despite the comments about his beauty also being quite constant, I swear I had no idea he was that handsome.
Truth be told, my boss was temptation in human form.
But that, of course, didn't change the great failure that my life was. This became even more evident when Michael Turner approached that shitty plagiarist Victor Smith and greeted him.
Those congratulations should’ve been for me. Along with the promotion. I had spent sleepless nights working on that project and all Smith did was take credit for it.
