The Call Boy I Met in Paris – Episode 11
Patrick found Justin smiling at nothing in the middle of a morning packed with executive meetings. Contracts waited for signatures, department heads waited outside, and three calls had already been rescheduled. None of it seemed capable of drawing Justin’s attention from the ring on his hand.
“Boss, what’s happening?” Patrick asked. He had worked for Justin long enough to recognize every variation of his professional expression, and this unguarded happiness belonged to none of them.
“You’ve been like this all morning,” he continued. Justin finally looked up, though the smile remained.
“I got married yesterday,” Justin said. He delivered the announcement with such calm satisfaction that Patrick wondered whether he had misheard.
“To the girl of my dreams.” The second sentence removed all doubt and created several more questions. Patrick knew there had been no engagement, no family announcement, and certainly no planned wedding.
Recognition dawned. “Wait—the Paris girl?” For seven years, Justin had kept the memory of one young woman alive: the stranger who helped him after his wallet and phone were stolen.
“Yep.” Justin leaned back, enjoying Patrick’s astonishment. Fate had accomplished in a single night what years of searching had failed to do.
Patrick searched his memory of recent requests. “Let me guess. Sophie Swift?” Justin’s instruction to investigate her, combined with the Maple Plaza partnership, suddenly made sense.
“Yep.” Pride warmed the simple answer. Justin had expected to tell Patrick eventually, but not while explaining a marriage contract that paid him ten thousand dollars a month.
“She’s with Swift Architecture,” Patrick said. “We’re actually working with them on the Maple Plaza project.” The coincidence seemed improbable until he remembered how often Justin’s business interests shaped the city around them.
Justin made a thoughtful sound. Sophie’s determination at the site had impressed him before he knew the firm belonged to her mother. Now their personal and professional lives were tied together in ways she could not yet imagine.
“She doesn’t really know who I am yet,” Justin admitted. Patrick’s expression went blank.
“Huh?” Of all the complications he had anticipated, the bride failing to know the groom’s identity had not been among them.
Justin lifted his hand before Patrick could interrupt. “And she’s giving me ten thousand dollars a month.” He sounded delighted rather than offended.
“Isn’t she cute?” he added. The affection in his voice made Patrick wonder whether wealth and reason had abandoned his employer simultaneously.
“Huh?” Patrick repeated. It was the only response that still felt adequate. “What exactly does she think you do?”
Justin glanced toward the window, remembering every payment Sophie had pushed into his hand. “She thinks I work very hard,” he said, which was technically true and explained almost nothing.
Patrick studied him. “You know this is going to become a disaster when she finds out.” Justin’s smile faded slightly because he knew the warning was justified.
Before he could answer, his private phone lit up with Sophie’s name. The change in him was immediate; the billionaire CEO disappeared behind the eager husband she believed she had hired.
Justin reached for the phone while Patrick watched in disbelief. One message from Sophie had become more important than an entire corporation—and her first instruction as his wife was already waiting.
