LOGINShare
Chapter Thirteen: Business As Usual
Last Updated:
2025-06-22 08:08:09The next morning, the world didn’t end.
The sun rose. BuyMore’s automatic doors slid open. The speakers crackled to life with the usual playlist of synth-heavy pop covers. And Brenda found herself clocking in like she always did, swiping her badge through the slightly-sticky scanner beside the breakroom door.“Morning,” she muttered to no one in particular.From the corner near the lockers, Marcus gave her a sheepish half-smile. “Hey.”His hair was damp from a rushed shower, his name tag was on upside down, and there was a smear of toothpaste on the collar of his shirt. In short: same old Marcus.Brenda didn’t mention the previous night. Didn’t bring up the bar. Didn’t say a word about Callie.Instead, she gave him a sideways look and muttered, “You look like you fought your hangover and lost.”“I fought it bravely,” he said, fumbling to fix his tag. “It still has my left kidney, but I got to keep my dignity.”B
Latest chapter
The Secret Billionaire in Aisle 9 Chapter Seventy-Two: The Fight for BuyMore
Elijah locked the breakroom door behind him, the soft click of the latch echoing in the otherwise silent space. It was well past midnight. The rest of the store had long gone dark, except for a dim glow from his laptop screen and the flickering fluorescent bulb above the microwave that buzzed like it resented being left on.He had exactly sixty-eight hours left.Sixty-eight hours to save the Pasadena BuyMore.He rolled his sleeves up and stared at the open spreadsheet in front of him—columns of revenue reports, staff hours, and department performance. To a stranger, it might have looked like a pile of data, but to him, every cell represented a person. A story. A heartbeat in a store that the board had already deemed expendable.Not on my watch.He cracked his knuckles, leaned back, and thought.The next morning, Elijah was the first one in. He didn’t go to the register or take a restocking cart. Instead, he sat in the store’s bac
The Secret Billionaire in Aisle 9 Chapter Seventy-One: The Cost of Secrets
The call came just past six in the morning, jolting Elijah Dane Whitaker out of half-sleep with its shrill tone and urgent vibration on the bedside table. He didn’t recognize the number, but he knew the rhythm. Corporate. Emergency. Non-negotiable. He answered before the second ring ended. “This is Whitaker.” “Mr. Whitaker, the board is convening an emergency meeting in New York. In person. We need you here within the day.” He sat up, rubbing sleep from his eyes. “What happened?” “It’s about the fourth-quarter projections. And the BuyMore 4.0 consolidation strategy. Legal wants your input before the announcements are made.” His jaw clenched. “Which locations?” “The cuts aren’t final, but... several low-to-mid performing stores are under review. One of them is the Pasadena branch.” Silence. The Pasadena branch. His store.
The Secret Billionaire in Aisle 9 Chapter Seventy: Words Unsaid
The following day at BuyMore felt deceptively ordinary.It had the usual rhythm—ringing registers, buzzing intercoms, the occasional confused customer in search of alkaline batteries or a power drill. But for Callie, every beep and footstep came wrapped in tension.Because she wasn’t just managing a shift anymore.She was managing a mystery.And the next piece of that puzzle, she was sure of it now, was named Marcus Bennett.She watched him from the end of aisle five as he helped an elderly couple compare Bluetooth headphones. He laughed easily, nodded thoughtfully, and offered suggestions like someone who had definitely done this job before.Too easily.Callie hadn’t overlooked how Marcus had danced around their last conversation. How he’d gone suspiciously neutral the moment Eli’s name came up. There had been a flicker of something in his eyes. Guilt? Hesitation? It wasn’t just her imagination anymore.He knew something
The Secret Billionaire in Aisle 9 Chapter Sixty-Nine: Splinters in the Dark
The Tuesday morning rush at BuyMore had come and gone like a brief windstorm, and now the store hummed in a slow lull. But inside Callie Rivera’s head, it felt like thunder was still rolling.She stood by the customer service desk, arms folded tightly across her chest, eyes locked on the employee attendance log. Not because she was studying the chart—she’d already memorized it—but because staring at something concrete kept her from spinning off into yet another mental rabbit hole.Eli had clocked in on time, like always. Worked the floor, made customers laugh, restocked shelves like a pro. Nothing seemed amiss on paper.And that was what bothered her the most.Everything about Eli was just a little too perfect lately.The performance review had gone well. No red flags. No inconsistencies. He had passed with a smile and a cheeky wink, as if he’d done it a hundred times before.And that, Callie realized, might’ve been her first clu
The Secret Billionaire in Aisle 9 Chapter Sixty-Eight: The Crossroads
Sunday morning arrived over BuyMore like it always did—muted and slow, the kind of morning where even the automatic doors yawned open instead of swishing. The store had only been open for twenty minutes, but the fluorescent lights already buzzed louder than the customers.Eli stood at register three, scanning items without much thought, barely noticing the barcode beeps. He was here—but his mind was not.It was with Callie.Specifically, with her half-lowered gaze the night before when she told him:“I just don’t like feeling like I’m missing something.”He could still hear her voice. Not angry. Not accusing. Just... disappointed.And somehow, that was worse.He finished scanning a customer’s discounted rice cooker, bagged it mechanically, and thanked them with a forced smile.As they walked away, he leaned against the counter and exhaled slowly.He couldn’t keep doing this.Marcus caught up with hi
The Secret Billionaire in Aisle 9 Chapter Sixty-Seven: Before the Storm
The BuyMore store felt unusually calm for a Friday.Not quiet—there were still the usual cart squeaks, distant register beeps, and Brenda’s voice over the intercom reminding customers of the “Buy Two, Get One Free” promo in seasonal décor—but calm.It wasn’t the kind of calm Callie trusted.She stood at the corner of the stockroom hallway, clipboard in hand, eyes narrowing as she watched Eli from a distance.He was joking with Felix and Naomi by the clearance shelf, sleeves rolled up, hair slightly tousled in that maddeningly attractive way that made it hard to stay mad at him—even when she very much wanted to.His laugh rang out, easy and warm.Normal. Too normal.Callie’s gut twisted.For weeks now, something hadn’t added up. Her instincts, once dulled by late hours and managerial overload, were sharpening again. The data inconsistency from the employee system. The falsified apartment address. The way Brenda a
You may also like
One Night With Mr Billionaire
Sun girl659.7K viewsMy Dad's Bestfriend
Liz Barnet660.7K viewsBURNING PASSION: MY FORBIDDEN LOVER
Excel Arthur483.3K viewsThe Untouchable Ex-Wife
Mizuki Sei2.6M viewsBelonging To My Stepbrother After Divorce.
Parker Bradds90 viewsMistake With The Wrong Billionaire
Vivian.Chy96 viewsFrom Maid to Heiress
Anais SwiftPen134 viewsThe Mafia’s Housewife Revenge
Bubblegum21 views
