Grayson Pierce and Eloise Caldwell novel Chapter 56

Chapter 56

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As Eloise walked into the conference room, Grayson patted Finn on the shoulder. “Finn, you did great. I’ll bump up your year-end bonus.”

Finn’s face lit up with a wide grin. “Thank you, Mr. Pierce.”

Eloise came back empty-handed, and Beckett blinked in surprise before asking, “Didn’t you just go to the

break room?”

Eloise nodded. “Yeah, I did.”

“So, where’s the snack you were getting for me?” Beckett asked. “Was there nothing left?”

Eloise didn’t say a word.

Beckett shrugged. “It’s fine, I’m not really that hungry anyway. But honestly, for a company as big as VirtuFusion Group, it’s kind of wild that the break room ever runs out of food.

“At Hayes Group, our break room is always packed. Someone is always restocking it.”

Eloise glanced up at him.

Beckett noticed something off in her eyes. “What is it?”

Eloise asked, “Mr. Hayes, did you really skip lunch?”

Beckett froze, realizing she might know something. But since he’d already started lying, he had to keep going.

“No, I didn’t eat. Two business partners called me, and we ended up talking forever. I didn’t get a chance to grab lunch,” he said.

Eloise’s expression was dead serious. “Mr. Hayes, are you messing with me?”

Beckett was tongue-tied. He coughed awkwardly.

Eloise’s stare made Beckett squirm. This was the first time he’d ever lied like this. It was all just to get Eloise to show a little concern for him.

“Eloise… I…” Beckett started, but couldn’t finish.

“Mr. Hayes, I can’t believe you’d do something like this. Why? Are you mad at me? You obviously had lunch, but you told me you didn’t, just so I’d go fetch food for you,” Eloise said, her tone sharp.

Beckett replied, “I’m not mad at you.”

“Then why did you mess with me?” Eloise pressed.

Beckett couldn’t get a word out. He glanced up and caught Grayson looking smug. Behind Grayson, Finn shot him a knowing grin.

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Beckett remembered seeing Finn at the restaurant earlier, but he’d totally blanked on it. When Eloise asked if he’d eaten, he blurted out “No” without thinking. Looked like Finn had spilled the beans.

Beckett turned to Eloise, ready to explain, but she checked the time and reminded him, “Mr. Hayes, it’s time for the meeting.”

Beckett could only drop it.

The meeting dragged on for another three hours and didn’t wrap up until five.

They walked out of VirtuFusion Group. Eloise drove Beckett’s Maybach, dropping him off at Hayes Group.

For the past two years, she’d been handling both secretary and chauffeur duties.

Beckett felt he owed her an explanation, so he said, “Eloise, I’m sorry. I just wanted to tease you a bit.”

Eloise kept her eyes on the road. “Mr. Hayes, it’s fine. I’m not mad anymore.”

Compared to some bosses who were downright nasty and had terrible tempers, she thought Beckett was actually pretty decent.

Sure, he was a bit of a flirt and liked to joke around sometimes, but he still treated his team pretty well.

Working life was never easy. Everyone had to deal with some nonsense. As an employee, if she made a big deal out of it, it’d only make things awkward later.

Beckett’s heart sank at Eloise’s casual tone. To Eloise, he was just her boss. Even when she got upset, she just wanted to let it go and move on.

*****

Grayson was just pulling out of the underground garage when he suddenly remembered he’d left a file behind. He swung the car around and parked in one of the surface spots.

Those spots were usually for visitors. A few guys were hanging out by a white car nearby, smoking and chatting.

Grayson vaguely recognized them. They looked like people from Hayes Group who’d come for the meeting today. He guessed they’d been stuck inside all day and just needed a smoke before heading out.

Grayson had his hand on the door, about to get out, when he caught Eloise’s name drifting over.

“What’s going on between Eloise and Mr. Pierce? He treats her way different from everyone else,” one of the guys said.

“I bet Mr. Pierce has a thing for her,” another snickered.

“Eloise’s really in demand. I heard something from Cyrus’s secretary,” a third guy chimed in.

“What’d you hear?” someone asked.

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“Supposedly, Beckett is all about Eloise. He’s insisting on marrying her. But Cyrus isn’t having it. He even tried to get her transferred away from Beckett,” the third guy replied.

“Yeah, I heard Beckett and Cyrus had a huge blow-up in the office. No one knows what went down, but Eloise’s still working with Beckett, and now Beckett’s being set up on a blind date with the Jenkins family’s heiress,” another added.

“Everyone’s saying Beckett and Eloise are sleeping together. That’s why she gets to follow him to the main office. She wants to marry into money, but Cyrus is the real roadblock,” the third guy said.

Suddenly, the car door behind them was flung open, cracking the speaker squarely in the back of the head.

“Who the hell was that? Are you blind? Damn, that hurts,” the third guy yelled, clutching his head. His face twisted in pain, and he was absolutely fuming.

The rest of the guys went pale as soon as they saw Grayson get out of the car. They’d just been talking trash about Grayson and Eloise.

“Mr. Pierce,” one of them stammered, his voice shaking.

The guy who’d just gotten whacked spun around, his face turning pale. He’d been ready to pick a fight a second ago, but the moment he saw Grayson, all that fight drained out of him.

‘What the hell was I thinking, running my mouth about Mr. Pierce right outside VirtuFusion Group? Am I crazy? How do I get out of this mess?’ he panicked.

Even though he’d just been nailed by a car door, the guy was suddenly all cautious, scared stiff that Grayson would come after him.

Grayson spat out, “Get lost.” He was holding back his temper with everything he had. If he hadn’t, he probably would’ve punched the guy right then and there.

He’d wanted to defend Eloise. But with Eloise’s situation, and these guys being from Hayes Group, if he spoke up or beat them up, Eloise would be drowned in rumors back at Hayes Group.

Before anything was official between them, he didn’t want to put her in the line of fire. He didn’t care about gossip. But Eloise did.

The Hayes Group guys didn’t dare stick around. They ditched their cigarettes, scrambled into their car, and sped off.

Grayson wasn’t in the mood to go upstairs for his file. He sat in his car, lit a cigarette, and smoked in silence.

*****

Eloise dropped Beckett off at Hayes Group. Beckett told her to head home, while he went to see Cyrus.

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