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Chapter Fifty: The Lie Between Them
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2025-07-12 08:00:27The morning sun had barely crested over the city skyline when Eli pulled into the BuyMore parking lot.
He sat there in his car, hands still on the steering wheel, watching the front doors through the windshield like they were a finish line he wasn’t sure he could cross.Another day.Another shift pretending to be someone he wasn’t.His reflection in the rearview mirror didn’t show a billionaire CEO. It didn’t show the Ivy League graduate, the boardroom tactician, or the newly appointed owner of the BuyMore retail chain.It showed Eli.The regular guy.The one who worked register three, cracked jokes in the breakroom, and lingered a little too long when Callie smiled at him.And that was the problem.Because that version of him—the one Callie liked, maybe even trusted—wasn’t real.Not entirely.And the longer he kept up the lie, the harder it was to know whether what they were building
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The Secret Billionaire in Aisle 9 Chapter Fifty-One: Not the Right Time
It was now or never.That thought had been echoing inside Eli’s head all morning as he paced near the stockroom door, wiping invisible lint from his shirt and pretending to check inventory reports he wasn’t reading.Callie was on the floor, walking through the weekly planogram adjustments with Brenda and Marcus. She was in full supervisor mode—efficient, sharp-eyed, focused—but every now and then, she glanced in his direction.He didn’t know if she was looking for him.Or at him.But either way, it gave him courage.Today was the day.He couldn’t wait any longer.He’d been playing this role too long—letting her grow closer to a version of him that wasn’t the full truth. And maybe she’d be angry, maybe she’d shut him out, maybe everything they’d built would shatter the moment he spoke.But he owed her honesty.Even if it meant losing her.He waited until after the team check-in, once th
The Secret Billionaire in Aisle 9 Chapter Fifty: The Lie Between Them
The morning sun had barely crested over the city skyline when Eli pulled into the BuyMore parking lot.He sat there in his car, hands still on the steering wheel, watching the front doors through the windshield like they were a finish line he wasn’t sure he could cross.Another day.Another shift pretending to be someone he wasn’t.His reflection in the rearview mirror didn’t show a billionaire CEO. It didn’t show the Ivy League graduate, the boardroom tactician, or the newly appointed owner of the BuyMore retail chain.It showed Eli.The regular guy.The one who worked register three, cracked jokes in the breakroom, and lingered a little too long when Callie smiled at him.And that was the problem.Because that version of him—the one Callie liked, maybe even trusted—wasn’t real.Not entirely.And the longer he kept up the lie, the harder it was to know whether what they were building
The Secret Billionaire in Aisle 9 Chapter Forty-Nine: Just Like Before
The rhythm of the store had changed again.Not the hours, or the foot traffic, or even the holiday endcaps—though someone, probably Naomi, had already snuck a miniature Halloween skeleton into the summer sales bin.No, this change was subtler. Softer.A shift in mood, like music playing quietly in the background.It began with shared glances at register three. Conversations in the breakroom that were no longer clipped or tense. A second cup of tea appearing on Callie’s desk just before close.And the biggest indicator of all?Callie was smiling again.Not just the efficient, polite smile she wore for customers.The real kind. The kind that reached her eyes.Brenda noticed first. Of course she did.Brenda always noticed.She was updating price tags in the phone accessories aisle when Marcus sidled up behind her with two things: a new stack of shelf labels and a barely-contained smirk.
The Secret Billionaire in Aisle 9 Chapter Forty-Eight: Boundaries and Banter
Mondays at BuyMore always started a little sluggish.Customers wandered in like they’d forgotten what they needed. The registers hiccupped through updates. Someone spilled a bag of protein bars in aisle five by 9:02 a.m., and the intercom system cut out mid-announcement three separate times.But the real shift, the quiet one, hummed just beneath the surface.Because Eli and Callie were back to talking.Not about anything earth-shattering. Nothing deep.Just… talking.Bantering, even.It had started at the time clock, when Eli arrived two minutes late and offered her a sheepish grin.“Sorry. I blame my socks.”Callie didn’t look up from her clipboard. “I’m not writing you up for sock-related delays today. Don’t make it a habit.”“That was a very Supervisor thing to say,” Eli replied with a mock salute.“That’s because I’m your Supervisor.”“I find that mildly intimidating.”
The Secret Billionaire in Aisle 9 Chapter Forty-Seven: The Quiet Shift
Saturday morning at BuyMore started like most others: too much fluorescent light, too little caffeine, and a never-ending line of customers who somehow all had coupons that expired last year.But something inside Callie felt different.She stood near the seasonal aisle, restocking discounted fairy lights from the spring clearance bin, but her mind wasn’t in it. It kept drifting back to last night—galaxy bowling lanes, Eli’s laugh, the way his arm brushed hers when they leaned over the scoreboard at the same time.That had surprised her.Not just the moment.But the fact that it still mattered.She’d walked into the group hangout determined to stay distant, to maintain control over her own emotions. She’d told herself it was just a night with coworkers. No one expected anything more.And yet—Eli had been there.And he hadn’t pressed her. Hadn’t cornered her with apologies or explanations. He’d just been
The Secret Billionaire in Aisle 9 Chapter Forty-Six: Group Dynamics
The plan started with a joke about bowling.Brenda was re-tagging clearance chargers in Aisle Seven when Marcus wandered by, sipping his usual syrupy blue slush, and muttered, “I bet I could out-bowl you with my eyes closed.”She raised a brow. “You think you’re that good?”“I think I’m that humble,” he said with a grin.Twenty minutes later, the joke evolved into a half-serious conversation. By the time Brenda reached the breakroom, she’d already opened a group chat called “BuyMore Night Out.”The idea was simple: no work talk, no name tags, no barcode scanners. Just fries, laughs, and neon shoes that made everyone look ridiculous.To everyone’s surprise—especially Marcus’s—it caught on fast.Naomi was in. Said she hadn’t been to a bowling alley in years.Even quiet Jacob from Inventory responded with a thumbs-up emoji.Eli responded with: Sounds fun. Count me in.Callie responded a full hour
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