Page 11 of Secretly Mated To My Monster Alien Boss
Kiara instantly stood up straighter and the muscles in her face went slack. Her heart began beating harder as an icy chilltraveled down her back. Only her mom’s voice could do that. Send her into a panic while trying to appear perfectly calm on the outside, even from thousands of miles away.
“Hello, Mom,” Kiara said, mimicking her mother’s even tone. “Is something wrong?”
“Why would anything be wrong? So quick to jump to the grimest scenario.”
Kiara clenched her jaw. Two seconds in and her mother had already found something to criticize. “You don’t usually call me when I’m at work.”
Or ever. They had exactly one phone call every other week and they took turns calling the other. Very proper, very organized.
“You don’t usually organize an event one of my acquaintances will be attending,” her mother said.
Oh, shit. Shit, shit, shit.
“Which one?”
Of courseher mother’s friends would be coming to her biggest event. Obviously. Kiara stifled a groan. She shouldn’t be so surprised. Her mom had worked as a translator for some of the most well-known CEOs and embassies. She’d befriended the wealthiest and poshest and was beyond disappointed her only child had no desire to do the same.
Kiara went over the guest list quickly. She’d memorized the two hundred thirty five names and none of them sounded even remotely familiar to any of her mother’s friends.
“Do you remember Carol, my old friend from college?” her mother went on, a hint of preppy malice coating her tone.
Kiara’s shoulders slumped. God-fucking-damn-it. Of all the snooty acquaintances her mom had, why did it have to be Carol?
Carol was not her mom’s friend, in any sense of the word other than to keep up appearances. The two of them had beencompeting for jobs and social status since they were roommates in college, constantly trying to impress the other.
Now Kiara understood why her mom had called. To make sure she didn’t screw up tomorrow’s event so Carol–someone Kiara had met maybe twice in her life–would be impressed and her mom could have bragging rights.
But there was a glimmer of hope, still.
“Carol’s not on the guest list,” Kiara said.
“No, but her new husband is. Matt Douglas, the CEO of the shipping company?”
The one Alien Inc. wanted to strike a deal with to deliver their tech faster across the Atlantic and who Yakirian, the Deruzian CEO, had specifically told Kiara to make sure to invite? “Yeah, he’s coming.”
“Yes, Kiara, notyeah. I didn’t raise you in a barn.”
No, after her parents’ shitty, bitter divorce, Nanny Gloria had raised her, while her mom had traipsed around the globe and her father had married five more women–and had about three times as many mistresses. Last Kiara had heard, we was tanning on some fancy island somewhere.
“As you can imagine, Carol was oh-so-eager to attend as Matt’s plus-one when she’d heard you were organizing the event. She doesn’t usually bother with networking parties now that she has her husband’s large estate to manage, but she couldn’t pass up the opportunity to see you at work, now could she?”
If jealousy had a tone, it would be her mom’s right now. Bianca Earhart might’ve had a glorious career after college, but Carol had beat her in the love and fortune department.
So not only did Kiara have to deal with Deruzian contraband smuggled into her very important party and the raging hormones screaming at her to ignore everything and go make out with Deryg some more, now she had to make sure said party stood up to Carol’s–and her mom’s–scrutiny.
“I’m also eagerly awaiting to hear what she thinks about your little event. She is going to call me and tell me all about it, as you can imagine,” her mom went on. “And I don’t want to have to find excuses for you not being good at your job.”
Kiara’s calm shattered. “Didn’t you say what I do isn’t a real job?”
“You know what I mean, Kiara, don’t be so dramatic. If this is what you have decided to do with your life, instead of using your college education–which I paid for, if you remember–and your degree for something useful, then you might as well do it properly. If you’re really running the entire event, of course.”
“Iam.” This party was her baby and Alien Inc. trusted her enough to let her take charge. At least in theory. Deryg still chose what they could and couldn’t do. Yakirian had went over every single one of her ideas and axed about half of them. Zaryn had gone over all the expenses, down to the last cocktail toothpick.
But that was normal, right? And, sure, Deryg had to grimace at some of the people they’d hired for them to actually do what Kiara had instructed them to in the first place.
But she would have been able to make them listen to her…eventually. Right?
Kiara shook her head. No. She wouldn’t doubt herself. This is what her mom always did. Chip away at the dregs of Kiara’s self-confidence she hadn’t been able to crack yet.
