Love In Hidden Places

Chapter 1

My name is Kaitlyn Roberts. I am twenty-eight years old, but don't look anywhere near it. I have a baby face. That's something every girl has dreamed of, right? I've been told I look like I'm eighteen this year, more times than I could count. But I try to look at it as a blessing. Years down the road, I won't So need the botox or plastic surgery as soon as everyone else. And in the mean time; Thank you Jesus for makeup and the ability to cosmetically change age.

I am five-feet, nine inches tall. Yes. I look like your typical model. I even have the blue eyes and dirty blonde hair. It's all natural because I never cared enough to change any of it. And quite frankly, I like it the way it is. I guess I live closely by the phrase, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it."

I currently live alone. Well, not entirely alone. Anna, my seven year old Weimaraner is my roommate and confidante. She's been there for me through the hardest days of my life. Anyways. I live in a home I designed by myself, not too far from work. I have always loved interior design and jump at any opportunity I have to express myself through it. I might get a little carried away at times, but that's why I love it.

I have two older brothers, Royal and Dylan, both of whom are married and have children. I love being an auntie. For me, there is nothing quite like sharing conversations with children. They soak up everything you say and have the cutest thought processing. It mostly makes me want to have my own children, but I know it'll happen someday. It just has to happen.

We lost both our parents in an airplane crash seven years ago. The day we got the call was a week before Christmas. They had just started a new business venture in Norway and were beyond excited to get things going. You see, my father was always an entrepreneur, but he never became as successful as he had always hoped. This was supposed to be the breaking point in his business life. It was supposed to be a short trip and they would be back in plenty of time for family Christmas festivities. On the way back their plane crashed. They say there was a malfunctioning engine and there was nothing the pilots could do. There were no survivors.

Most people know me as the CEO of Roberts & Co. but that unfortunately gives me tons of derogatory stereotypes. Bitch. Cold hearted. Materialistic. Self centered. You get the picture.

When you're the founder and CEO of a multi-billion dollar company that wasn't handed down to you, basically anyone who doesn't actually know you, assumes you to be the worst person in the world. I've even the rumors in whispers as I walk by. But honestly, I don't care. I've spent more than enough of my life worrying about what other people think of me. I'm a self made billionaire for Pete's sake, you cant make it in business if you're worried about other people's thoughts. And I only focus on business when I'm working, not being friends with everyone. That could be why they think these things. Eh, still don't care.

So that brings us to my "issue." Ever since I was little I have had problems with boys. Not like you'd think though. I was always the girl every boy wanted to be with. I even had boys as really good friends. But I didn't want to have a boyfriend or be in a romantic relationship while being in school. I just went to get the diploma, and I definitely don't need any distractions on the way. Well, except for sports. I was the football manager, because I freaking love football but couldn't play. I was a track athlete and I was fortunate enough to go to state every year. But that's all I did. I always thought I'd have time for boys once I make something of myself. Once I reach my business goals.

I had put my blinders on and was focused on my long term goals over anything else. I never went to any parties. Didn't even have social media at the time. So, I wasn't even invited to the parties everyone gets invited to.

Okay, now I'm making myself sound like a total loner. I mean, I kind of am, but I don't like to talk about it. I actually do have friends though. (And for all of you who doubted if I had any, I did. In high school I had two best friends. And it was such a strong bond, we are still in close contact over ten years later. So there.) I visit both friends as often as I possibly can. One of my friends, Emma Mueller, lives in Colorado and trains horses with her husband, Ryan, for a living. She and her husband have been nationally recognized for their training abilities. So I visit her whenever I need to relax and take my mind off of things. There is nothing like riding a horse in a beautiful place, nothing. And my other friend, Olivia Jackson, lives in L.A. She's a big time movie director, producer, and editor. She's always been obsessed with all things movies, and she's kind of a geek and hates the spotlight. She definitely found her way and I couldn't be more proud of all her accomplishments. I always make sure to go see her every time I'm in the city on business. She even lets me on set when I'm in town. It's pretty damn awesome.

Yep, I have the best friends in the whole world.

We were all really good friends in high school. Emma was always with a new boyfriend, we couldn't get her to take any down time from boys. She was the most social of the three of us. Well, at least she was the one always going to dances and getting invited to the parties. That's probably why she's the only one of us currently married. *cough* Moving on. Olivia was always with me it seemed like. Though a lot of her free time consisted of visits to the computer labs to edit something she was working on for class.

We didn't spend any time in the high school drama. Which was really bad at our school. Like, really bad. We went to a uniform, K through twelve, charter school and each class had a maximum of twenty students. You would think that the drama would be less at a place like that, but it wasn't. I actually think it was worse. In a small school where everyone has known each other since kindergarten, you can only imagine the things that went down. I joined in eighth grade, but Emma and Olivia were there since the beginning. Bless their hearts.

All the other high schools in the area said that we were the "rich kid" school. Guys, don't believe stereotypes. Sure, there were some kids whose parents made a lot of money, but there were a lot more students whose parents didn't. Our school couldn't even afford to pay our teachers what they were actually worth, let alone a baseball field, auditorium, or even the unfinished basement.

Anyways that's enough about my life ten years ago. It was the awkward social time of my life. And that was the actually the last of my schooling. No, I did not go to college. I took some online business courses just for background and learning purposes. I was already an entrepreneur, I just needed a little help with the backend of things to get the ball rolling. So why would I spend thousands of dollars, and at least four years of my life for something I could do for a whole lot less time and money? I am one of those really practical, analytical, stingy business women. I've gotten a lot better, but at the beginning of my journey I had to scrape every single penny. It was hard at the time, but I did it.

I started working for one of my parents friends,' Mr. Silverton, real estate company right out of high school. It was a chance for me to earn really good money and dip my toe in interior design. I almost went to school for interior design. But how often do you hear of successful interior designers that became billionaires? Never. I wanted that title. And I knew I could always focus more on interior design later.

I was so blessed to be able to work for Mr. Silverton, especially for a recent high school graduate and no degree. He taught me almost everything I know about running a successful business. He had definitely tried to fill the father void in my life. And I couldn't thank him enough.

While working, I scrapped every penny I made and invested it. All I was doing was saving most of my income and investing it. I lived with my brothers with a low monthly rent, and I had my car paid off a couple of months after graduating.

Suffice to say, this compound interest thing was working really well for me.

A year later, I was able to start creating Roberts & Co. It first consisted of group funding for real estate investments. Three years after that, I had started creating household goods that were in large demand. As time passed, I kept creating new items and before I knew it, I was able to start manufacturing my own goods. But it didn't stop there. We were growing so fast that we were able to start taking on other company's manufacturing needs.

Five years after I had started, I was able to open my headquarters office in Dallas, TX. And the rest is history. Literally any business venture that made sense I was jumping into. And that's why I made it to the top.