THE BILLIONAIRE'S INNOCENT GIRLFRIEND

Halle's POV

"Sometimes I wish I never took that wrong turn, it's funny how one turn can alter the course of your entire life"

***

Life has never been easy for me, I learned to take up responsibility ever since I was a kid. It has mostly been me and my mom, my father isn't dead, quite the contrary he is alive and locked up for twenty years.

My dad is a good man, he was just at the wrong place at the wrong time. Growing up, I have heard stories of people wrongfully incarcerated and I sometimes felt they were nothing more than tales, how do you go to jail for a crime you are innocent of, then when the judge at the court who looked Canadian read the verdict from the jury.

"On the count of illegal possession of firearms, assault, and battery, and involuntary manslaughter, the jury thereby find Mr. Cameron Jackson guilty and sentenced him to 20years in prison with no parole"

Those were the words that changed my life forever. I was just fourteen when my dad was unlawfully convicted and I saw my mother break down and lose touch with who she was. My father was the love of her life-he still is and as they say; love changes people.

It changed my mother, we weren't rich but we were contended and we made an honest living. My mum worked as a cleaner at one of the richest billionaires in town, house. We were so happy when she got the job through a friend because it would help me concentrate more in school and I would only take a weekend part-time job. I had just gotten admitted into the university and I needed a lot of money to pay for my tuition fees and course materials. We used all the money my mom got from her job to pay for my tuition and the money I got from my part-time job to feed-we barely had any money to spare.

"Halle, are you sure you should miss class today," my mother said coughing, she had been having the flu for days and had missed work two days in a row.

"Mum if I don't go you will be fired and where else do we get the money to pay for my fee to go to school," I replied, biting my lips slightly. I was tense because I didn't know the first thing about being a cleaner. But Mrs. Clara, my mum's colleague and fellow housekeeper at the cruise mansion had called us yesterday and warned us if my mum didn't come in today, she would be fired, informing us that the head housekeeper was already asking about her whereabouts. I tried to explain to her how my mum's health has tremendously declined over the last three days and wouldn't make it to the bus station if she even tried.

"Then fill in for her," Mrs. Clara had suggested.

Now here I was dressed up to go for a cleaning job I had no idea whatsoever about.

"Remember, you need to__"

"Mum I am not a kid, I know how to clean a house" I interrupted her saying, "Just focus on getting better so that you can resume work and I do not have to miss class again"

"Okay darling I would, would Seth be dropping you there?" She asked.

"No mum, I haven't seen him this week, he has been busy with football practice" I replied, with a smile, obviously proud at the thought of my future athlete, talented boyfriend.

Seth is my college boyfriend, he is a total hottie, 6ft 4 inches tall, joc, blonde curly hair with blue eyes and let's not forget, he is the captain of the football team. When a high league college quarterback set his sights on a college freshman like me, I felt lucky-privileged.

I picked up my backpack, my mum nodded her head. "What about the lawyer?"

I thought I would escape before she asked me.

"I am yet to talk to him, Seth is yet to set the meeting"

I lied.

I lied, I had seen him but the price he had called out was outrageously high, I didn't want to tell my mum because I knew her; she would move heaven and earth to get the money if it meant getting my father out of jail. She nodded again with a familiar sadness hovering over her face. I hate lying to my mum, but she was all I got, and I can't bear to see her suffer-especially when that suffering had to do with love. Even if that love was my father, I would do anything to protect her.

I felt bad leaving my mum alone, especially at that state but what good was I to her if she got fired. I got into the subways and later took a cab to the cruise mansion. It was in a secluded area of town, and they asked for my Id card before I could enter the estate.

I stood in front of the mansion.

"What the__" I almost cussed out. This has to be the most beautiful and biggest mansion I have ever seen in my life. I used my mother's Identification card again to get in and I was escorted to the kitchen where I met Mrs. Clara who told me the area I would be cleaning and gave me my job description.

I felt a little bit overdressed for just cleaning, I wore a navy blue spaghetti strap top with black velvet trousers and blue loafers. I dragged the vacuum cleaner and mops upstairs and I was already tired. In such a big house, one can easily get tired moving around or even lost. I had been cleaning for thirty minutes and with every minute I appreciated my mum's strength.

"This house is fucking big" I cussed out loud this time. I wasn't even sure where I was supposed to clean. I picked up the housekeeping guide to study again when I heard a voice from behind me.

"What the hell are you doing here" the voice called out in fury, I turned back to meet his furious gaze.

"I ask again, what the hell are you doing here"

I trembled, as fear gripped me, I had been discovered and my mum would be fired.

Halle's POV

"I____I am trying to__" I tried to say but the words seemed not to leave my mouth.

This young man's posture was so intimidating and had so much effect on me, that it made me stutter. He stood there towering over me, he looked 6ft 5in tall, his eyes which were Hazel green gazing intensely at me, his face curve protruding in anger. His muscle veins were all visible, it looked like it was going to punch me, but then his eyes looked gentle underneath the anger-he was a fine figure to gaze upon, his hair was wavy black, and his triceps showed beneath his folded sky blue long sleeve. His lips, oh those lips, were moist and succulent.

"Why am I thinking about his lips," I thought to myself.

Who was he?

A personal bodyguard, he looked fit for that position. A trained assassin because those muscles of his could kill one.

"I ask again, miss, what are you doing here?" His voice sounded hoarse than the last time, it was more like he grew more impatient with my silence.

"I am cleaning," I finally said.

"Cleaning?" He asked, glancing at the vacuum cleaner in my hands and the mop on the other side of the hallway.

"Yes, I am a cleaner__and I am cleaning" I managed to say, I wasn't about to let my mum get fired, if they reported me to the head housekeeper, they would definitely know I had shifted shifts with my mother without permission and that would get her fired. So I just have to manage to convince this man I worked here, what if he was the head housekeeper?

"You are cleaning here, who gave you the right or authorization to clean here?" He asked again, gazing at me with utmost earnestness.

I am perplexed by his line of questioning, did I need special authorization to clean a freakin house.

"I was asked to clean here" I tried to say before I was rudely interrupted by a loud sound.

"By whom? Who authorized you to clean a restricted area, Mr. Collins, Mrs. Ruth, I said who?"

Did he just say, restricted area?

No one told me of any restricted areas. My legs began to tremble as they grew weak.

Had I committed a felony?

Would he call the police and arrest me for trespassing?

Would I end up in jail like my dad? I was eighteen and that means I would be serving real-time?

My eyes began to get watery.

"I am sorry sir, I am new here, I didn't know this was a restricted area"

I was about to cry not because I was actually sorry for trespassing, but because I didn't want to go to jail, it would kill my mother. So if that means I had to cry my way out of this situation, I was willing to do so.

"What is your name?" He asked as he carefully scrutinized me. Maybe he was wondering if he should call the cop or not.

"Halle"

"Halle what?"

"Halle Jackson," I replied.

"Halle Jackson, you mean to say no one warned you about cleaning here. "

I simply nodded at this point. I only had strength for sympathy, the sympathy of how my life was left at the mercy of this devilishly handsome fellow.

"Do you even know who I am?" He asked with authority.

Am I supposed to know who he was?

Who is he?

My mom and I rarely talked about her work, not more about her colleagues or people she met at work.

"No, I don't know who you are" I simply replied in honesty. I couldn't start guessing who he was.

"How long have you been working here?"

He asked again.

This man and his line of questioning, he looked too young to be an investigator, he looked 23 years or at most 25 years. Maybe he was the head of security staff that was why he was keen on knowing who I was.

"Barely two weeks Sir, "

I lied. I had to lie.

"And you said you don't know me, and quite frankly I have never seen you here"

He knew I was lying, I was screwed, my mum would get fired, I would go to jail, my mum would die of heartbreak and I would die of loneliness by the time I came out.

This is how one wrong decision could influence your life and turn it into hell, I was sweating profusely from everywhere in my body.

Maybe I should have stayed at home with my mother or called and explained her condition better or pleaded with them with medical proof.

What was I thinking that I could pull this sort of stunt off, with a place such as this with uptight security and high-class staff such as this handsome man here?

I don't know why I still considered him handsome when all he has done is put me in a state of turmoil.

"No Sir, I do not know who you are, as I said I just started two weeks ago and I haven't been properly introduced and given orientation of where I should be and who I should know. I am sorry I trespass. I wasn't aware and it wouldn't repeat itself again."

I gave all my lying skills to that one statement, I could see the anger in his face, gently softening and a certain glow in his eyes seemed to appear in amusement.

I gazed upon the fine figure which he was, then I was about to beg again when I saw an elderly woman, probably in her early fifty, approach us. She wore fancy apparel, and you could spot that she was rich and refined from miles away, her body was adorned with jewelry and as she approached us, I could see the tall man before me sigh and the anger returned to his face.

"Son, why did you leave me alone upstairs," she said in a British accent

Did she just call him son, this Cleopatra model was the mother to this Zeus-like figure that stood before me? I knew my day just got further complicated.

William's POV

"Fuck my mum is coming," I thought as I spotted her from a distance.

Don't get me wrong, I love my mother but sometimes-scratch that I mean most times she can be an overbearing, impulsive, persuasive, control freak.

I had just gotten into an argument upstairs with her and was hoping for a quiet time in the private executive area when this lady disturb that one privilege I had.

She keeps looking at me like I was going to kill her, she seems frightened and freaking out of her bones.

It was forbidden for servants, especially low-class servants, to come to this area. It was one area I reserved for myself where I could have some peace and quiet, away from the noise, from the busy schedule, the meetings and interviews, and of course away from my mother.

The young lady who seemed to be way younger glared at me. Her eyes sparkled in fear and curiosity, I must admit she is a fine figure to gaze upon. She wasn't model slender like most ladies I have come across, she was curvaceous, her eyes were blue and they gleamed like the sky on a dark day. Her lips were a bit plump, her neckline slender, and her blonde hair laid gloriously on her back. She looked reserved and a little bit shy-yet there was this fierce look she gave. Her breasts weren't small like girls her age, they were round and appealing to the eyes. Her butts were round and inviting.

I shook the thoughts from my head. I don't even know her name and I was already thinking about all the things I could do with her, to her.

"Son, we are not done talking," my mother said as she approached us.

"Mum, I am really exhausted and I told you that you were not allowed up here," I said calmly trying not to sound disrespectful because if there was one thing I know my mum dreaded was disrespect. She would drag me by my hair and give me the warning of my life and that would be in her good days.

Sometimes she treated me like I was still a baby, it was understandable I was her only child, and ever since my dad lost the battle with cancer, it has just been me and her.

She had shown me the way through business and I owe a reasonable amount of my success to her. I saw her struggle during the last days of my father because she couldn't do anything about the situation. For someone who derived purpose in controlling it was hard for her, she watched him take his last breath. I also watched blamed herself, for not forcing him to make better lifestyle choices and his health priority-then I watched her get back to her feet twice as tall and became obsessive and compulsive about my life.

"I am your mother and I have the right to go wherever I so please to go in your house"

She mumbled.

"I never said you weren't," I muttered calmly

"Well, if this is because of me trying to make you see, Bella is the right choice for you. I won't stop"

We had been arguing over me getting married as soon as possible, not just getting married but getting married to the girl of her choosing; Bella Rossi.

Bella is the daughter of her business partner and also my childhood friend. I like Bella but I have never pictured her as a girl for me. But my mother wanted her and she had been pestering me about making it official.

I don't understand why she was getting so worked up about me getting married, I am just twenty-four years old. Yes, I was a multi-billion dollar CEO but what's the rush I still had time.

"And who are you?" My mom asked, finally noticing the presence of the trespassing cleaner.

"I am___I am__" she stuttered

"She is my Girlfriend." I quickly said.

My mum and the young girl's eyes widened in disbelief. I don't know where that crazy idea popped out from but it was too late to turn back now. I grabbed the young lady by her waist and yanked her towards me.

"Your girlfriend?" My mum asked, still in utmost shock.

"Yes, we have been dating for more than a year now, I have been keeping it private but I guess it's no longer a secret, and I would love your approval," I said and placed a soothing kiss on her cheeks and whispered to her.

"Please just go with it"

"Is that so, and you found it appealing to keep such secret from I-your mother"

"No mama, I just wasn't sure yet"

"And you are now?" She asked, still not sure what to make out of all this.

"Yes," I said, nodding my head.

"What is her name?"

Fuck, I have forgotten her name. She just told me.

"Her name is__her name__" I began to stutter

" My name is Halle Jackson ma'am," she said in her angel-like voice.

"But I call her angel"

My mum simply nodded

"If you may excuse us mum, we would take our leave now" I requested and she simply nodded her head.