Is this childhood friend romance?

Quite possible.
One would wonder why else he keeps working for her.

Unrequited childhood associate vibes for sure.

I really hope this bitch doesn't get a forced 'redemption' arc.

Now we know her parents weren't the ones to give her the Bad McEvil name she got. Mystery solved. Many more to go...

Burk is pretty good at something like redemption. I would't call what happened to Alexander a redemption exactly, but the people around him where better off when Burk left it seems.