All Chapters of The Secret Billionaire in Aisle 9 : Chapter 41 - Chapter 50

121 Chapters

Chapter Forty-One: The Apartment That Wasn't

It started with a text. Eli at 8:12 am. Hey, not feeling great today. Calling in sick. Sorry, boss lady. Try not to let Marcus burn down Electronics. That was it. No emojis. No dramatic excuse. Just a flat, short message. Callie read it three times. Then stared at her phone like it might spontaneously offer further clarification. Eli never called in sick. Not once in the entire year he’d worked at BuyMore. He’d come in during storms, after dental work, even the day after that massive inventory truck mishap when most of the team had migraines from the smell of air fresheners. But today, without warning, he was... just gone. She tried not to read too much into it. Maybe he really was sick. It was flu season. People caught things. Still, the moment she walked into BuyMore, the fluorescent lights felt harsher. The morning buzz of the regis

Last Updated : 2025-07-07

Chapter Forty-Two: White Lie

The Zurich airport buzzed with polished efficiency, all clean glass and quiet hums of multilingual announcements. Elijah Dane Whitaker stood by Gate B17, blazer slung over his arm, passport tucked neatly inside his breast pocket, and his phone silent in his hand.Two days. That was all it had been.And yet the guilt pressed down on his chest like an overstuffed carry-on refusing to fit under the seat.The corporate board meeting had gone smoothly. The Zurich branch—their flagship European BuyMore location—had exceeded quarterly projections, and the local executives were thrilled with his proposed digital modernization rollout. Elijah had delivered what was expected of him: sharp numbers, confident leadership, future-ready solutions.But for once, it all felt hollow.Because while he was in a glass conference room overlooking Lake Zurich, making promises to investors, he was also sending a short, vague text to a woman back in the States—so

Last Updated : 2025-07-08

Chapter Forty-Three: Different Eyes

Eli stood in the back lot of BuyMore at 8:55 a.m., staring at the automatic sliding doors like they were the gates of judgment.The sun was already creeping up above the roof of the store, casting long shadows across the loading dock. A crisp morning breeze tugged at the hem of his uniform polo, freshly ironed, even though no one would notice. His sneakers were clean. His name tag was slightly crooked, just the way Marcus always wore his—casual, easygoing, forgettable.He was supposed to blend in.He had done it for months.But today, stepping back into this space, everything felt... off.And it wasn’t because of jet lag or corporate meetings echoing in his head.It was her.Callie Ruiz.She was in the building.And he had no idea what version of her he’d be facing when he walked through those doors.The familiar rush of cold air hit as he entered the store.Marcus was already by the f

Last Updated : 2025-07-08

Chapter Forty-Four: The Distance Between

The morning air inside BuyMore was sharp with the scent of fresh floor polish and too much citrus-scented cleaner.Eli stepped inside the store right at 8:59 a.m.—one minute before official opening. The lights overhead blinked to life in staggered rows, casting familiar fluorescent hues over aisles that hadn’t changed, people who hadn’t changed, and one woman who had.Callie stood across the store, clipboard tucked under her arm, eyes scanning the day’s printed schedules. Her hair was up in a high, no-nonsense ponytail, and her lips moved silently as she checked names off her list.She didn’t look up when he entered.She didn’t smile.And Eli felt that same dull throb return to his chest—an ache that had grown more persistent since last night’s quiet confrontation in the office.He had barely slept.For most of the night, he lay awake, staring at the ceiling of his small temporary rental and running through every word th

Last Updated : 2025-07-09

Chapter Forty-Five: Nothing But A Curiousity

It was a Tuesday night, one of those oddly warm spring evenings that made the streetlights glow a little softer and the sidewalks feel alive. Marcus and Brenda sat side by side on a long bench at the back of a local food truck lot downtown, sharing a giant order of garlic parmesan fries and sipping cold sodas from paper cups.They weren’t officially dating, not that they’d said aloud.But they’d been out like this five times in the past three weeks.Always at night. Always low-key.Always with too much laughter and not quite enough space between them.Brenda nudged Marcus’s leg with her sneaker. “You know, you always say you’re the one with high standards, but I’ve never seen you complain about this greasy spoon stuff.”Marcus gestured dramatically with a fry. “Fries are the great equalizer. Doesn’t matter who you are or what you earn—good fries? That’s divine intervention.”Brenda smirked. “You should write Hallmark car

Last Updated : 2025-07-09

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

Last Updated : 2025-07-10

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

Last Updated : 2025-07-10

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.”

Last Updated : 2025-07-11

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.

Last Updated : 2025-07-11

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

Last Updated : 2025-07-12

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