Desired By The Boss. Catherine Mann

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      Mila: OMG Gorgeous!

      April: That’s one to save for his twenty-first! :)

      April typed her instant messaging response to Ivy’s gorgeous photo of her son, Nate, covered in bubbles in the bathtub. It felt like for ever since she’d spoken to both her sisters together.

      April: How are sales going, Mila?

      Mila had recently started mass-producing some of her ceramic work to keep up with sales at her small boutique pottery business.

      Mila: Pretty good. I’ve experimented with pricing a bit. I’m still not sure how much people value handmade. So far it seems that the hand-glazing is the key, because...

      Mila went into quite a lot of detail—as Mila always did when it came to her business—and then posted some photos she’d taken in her workshop.

      April had always been proud of Mila—of both her sisters. She’d always admired how Mila had been so adamant that she’d build her business without the financial support of their mother, but until now April had never really had an issue with spending her family’s money herself.

      In fact it had taken her until her mid-twenties before she’d realised she should be doing a lot more with her good fortune than attending parties and buying everything she liked on every fashion festival catwalk.

      And so she’d started the Molyneux Foundation.

      She’d deliberately chosen not to be the face of the foundation because it wasn’t about her. In fact she’d asked her mother to be the patron. But there was no question that it was April driving the foundation. It had become her project and, along with a small team, she’d made sure the foundation had continued to grow—and for every dollar donated to the foundation Molyneux Mining matched it twice over.

      April had experimented with a few different ideas for the foundation—a website, later a blog—and by the time Instagram had gained popularity April had known exactly how to monetise it best to help the foundation. She’d had her team reaching out to any company that sold a product she could include in a photo, and she’d carefully curated the images to ensure that she mixed promotional pictures seamlessly in with those that were just her own.

      And it had worked. She didn’t think her mum had expected it to take off the way it had when April had talked her into the two-to-one deal, but it was certainly too late now!

      She was incredibly proud of all the foundation had achieved, and of her role in that. But she’d still really just considered it a little side project. She was as hands-on as needed, but it was hardly a full-time job. She’d still had plenty of time to shop and socialise—and until Evan had left her it had never occurred to her to live without the Molyneux money.

      The Molyneux money to which she had contributed in absolutely no way at all.

      And the brittleness of all that—the fact that without the Molyneux money she had literally nothing...no means to support herself...not one thing she’d bought with money she’d actually earned herself—was quite frightening.

      Ivy: How’s the new job going?

      April: Good. Mostly. Lots of boxes.

      She’d love to post a photo to show the magnitude of the hoard to her sisters, but photography was one of the many things expressly forbidden by the confidentiality agreement she’d signed. Along with any discussion of the contents of the boxes.

      April: My boss is interesting.

      She’d typed that before she’d really thought about what she was doing.

      Ivy: Oooh! Interesting-interesting? Or INTERESTING-interesting? ;-) ;-) ;-)

      April: Both.

      She’d never been good at keeping secrets from her sisters.

      Mila: Photo?

      April: No. I can’t even tell you his name. But he’s tall. Dark hair, dark eyes. Stubble. What do you call it...? Swarthy?

      Mila: I’ve always liked that word

      April: But he’s my boss.

      Ivy: From an HR point of view, that’s not really a problem unless there is any question of a power imbalance. And I doubt nepotism is an issue in your current role.

      Mila: It’s handy having a CEO in the family.

      April: I’m not going to do anything about it, anyway.

      Mila: WHY NOT?

      Ivy: WHY?

      April: It’s not the right time. I need to be single for a while. Right? Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do when your husband walks out on you?

      Mila: I don’t have a husband ;-)

      Mila did have a very handsome, very successful boyfriend who adored her, however. Everyone knew they’d get married eventually.