Hello! I just realized that chapters 17 and 18 that I published weren’t complete 😱—and I’m so sorry about that! It definitely wasn’t intentional, and I appreciate your patience and support more than you know. I’ve updated the two chapters now with the full content, so please feel free to dive back in and enjoy the rest of it. Thank you for sticking with me, and for being the amazing, understanding readers that you are. 💖 Much love 💞
“ Leo,”“ Hm?”“ What's the best way to become invisible?” Eloise asked, deadpanned, dragging her feet beside him as they headed back to the arena, her chest racing each time the thought of seeing Antonio resurfaces.“ Why? Is everything okay?” Leo asked genuinely.Eloise shook her head numbly as they strode behind the crowd that trickled back towards the main arena, the hum of chatter rising as the groups compared cards won from the game.Her mind was busy plotting ways to avoid Antonio's line of sight. How could she ever face him after all that? She half shut her eyes in shame when she caught a stray snippet of conversation.“ ….Mr. Brayden’s with the kids.”" Can he babysit those troublesome kids?"Eloise’s head whipped around. “ Wait, what?! Antonio? Babysitting?”A middle-aged man chuckled, “ Mrs. Nadine made him do that, poor guy looked like he'd rather be waterboarded.”Another woman laughed, “ I gave it five minutes, the little monsters would have eaten him alive.”Eloise fro
‘ If a day could get on one's nerves till they lose their sanity, then it'll be this day. It's like the only thing the King's family is good at, is getting on my nerves.’ Antonio said in his mind. First, it was the grandson, Leonard King, smiling as if auditioning for the role of the Most Annoying Human Alive. Does he not know what it means to maintain a distance? Standing too close to Eloise, and those little touches….a hand on her elbow, the swat on his arm. Antonio noticed every single one. Hell, he noticed them more than Eloise. He wants to snap those hands away from touching her, wipe those smug smiles off his stupid face. And worst of it all, she was smiling at him. SMILING. As if all that isn't enough, now the grandmother is telling him to babysit? Babysit the kids!? “ Ah, Mr. Brayden,” Mrs. Nadine had said warmly, pressing a hand to his arm. “Perfect timing. The little ones are restless, and I thought a strong young man like yourself could keep them occupied.” Her tone was
“ Huh?” Eloise gasped in shock, her eyes widened with disbelief as she pointed at him, “ Leonard!” “ Elly,” he giggled as he called her back. He pulled her closer by the arm to hug her, but his arms stopped halfway as they made to wrap around her. The death glare was terrifying. He was taken aback, confused, and wondering why the man standing a few feet behind Eloise was glaring at him like that. Who is he? Is he together with her? Leonard wondered as he chuckled awkwardly before pulling away. “ How have you been?” Eloise asked giggling, “ I've been good, and you? I can see you're still looking as radiant as ever,” he replied grinning, “ Eiii, you and your sweet words,” “ C'mon, you know I'm telling the truth.” She giggled and turned to Antonio who had just glared at Leonard like he was about to snap his head for wanting to hold her. He had his hand tucked into his pocket, and his black shirt had the three upper buttons undone. His shirt clung to his body frame wit
Antonio dusted his shirt after dropping the third round of cartons while he turned around to head back to the storage. His face twisted with disdain at his dirtied shirt. He looked up just then to see Eloise struggling to carry two cartons as she staggered back and forth. “ Who gave you two cartons?” He flared up, dashing towards her and snatching them away from her slender arm. She exhaled in relief but Antonio’s gaze was blazing. “ I asked you who gave you two cartons?” “ Huh? Ugh, I carried it myself,” “ Don't you dare lie to me,” he glared behind her and made to dash towards that dusty man handing the cartons over to other volunteers but Eloise quickly grabbed his arm. “ No, please don't, I promise, only one carton,” “ No, no more cartons,” he retorted, looking at her dusty hair and dirty shirt. Even looking at her like this pisses him off. He angrily dropped the cartons, causing Eloise’s chest to jump in fright, afraid he was about to cause a scene, but what he
“ How-how do you know about this?” Eloise asked, amused as she read through the file handed to her, “This is a classified file,” “ How I know doesn't matter; what matters is what we're going to do about it,” Antonio replied, leaning forward on the couch beside her. She closed the file and exhaled, “ Angelito doesn't deal with other corporations,” she shook her head, “ there's no way Mason would get this deal, not to mention us snatching it from him.” “ Even if we have what they want?” She furrowed her brow, “ What do they want?” “ Currently, Angelito is planning to expand, to launch branches, but they're landlocked, and not partnering with anyone makes it limited by government---red taped,” “ So they need land,” “ Not just land, they lack manpower for a rapid construction project, and that—we have.” “ And if we wrap it in a 90-day rollout plan and political clearance? Irresistible,” she beamed, “ We should get a proposal ready then,” “ It is, whenever you're ready…,” “ Let
“Arghh,” Eloise groaned and strongly rubbed her palm against her face. Her spoon hovered above the soup prepared for her, but she had no appetite. She couldn't get that look off her head. That look that says a thousand. “ I did something, but what? Why would he not tell me,” her face wrinkled with worries and fear. The more she forced herself to remember something, even if it's just a little bit, the more headaches she had. As if it didn't want her to recollect anything. “ I didn't actually break his car, right?” She jumped to her feet and hurriedly went out. She checked the cars and heaved a sigh of relief. There was no single scratch on any of them. She placed her palm on her chest. Glad she didn't do the most dangerous thing of all. ‘ Or was it the utensils that I broke?’ She hurriedly went back inside again, checking through the bar to see if it was wine or other things that she ruined, but nothing was out of place, and nothing looked broken. Eloise collapsed back on the ch