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22 | PLANS
JOY
I was having second thoughts now. The last time I’d seen Vincent was a week ago.
And since then, he hadn’t called. Hadn’t texted.
Maybe he and Olivia had finally got back together. Now that Olivia was free from her husband as well. The news had been all over the papers—the supermodel divorces and breaks free of the ten-year marriage.
I shook my head. My brain was about to explode with the thoughts of Vincent Brown—the man that I was planning on ignoring for the rest of my life from now on. Mondays were the most hectic day of the week since there were hour-long meetings discussing the previous week's progress and data.
I cracked my neck as the elevator door opened to the massive reception plus waiting room with a large mahogany desk at one side and a door at one and a grand bookshelf bursting with books and magazines on the other. A long, round couch encircled the desk.
The dress that I was wearing was a
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The Billionaire's Second Endeavour 23 | NEW BUSINESS PARTNERS
JOY The grand hall of the office was where the party was being held. Pretty much every face was familiar except the interns and the new employees. A lot of faces greeted me, many of whom I didn't even remember started out conversations as if they had known me for ages. Every one of them had the same thing to say about how beautiful I had turned out and how much I resembled Dad. Both Mason and I had Dad's eyes and nose and our grandmother's lips. My hair was after Mom, blonde while Mason was a brunet just like Dad. Dad shifted close to me and whispered, "Oh! He's here. The CEO of the company that we had signed the contract with." I saw Dad’s eyes fixed on the door, and I turned to look. "Dad, what is the name of the company that offered you the project?" I asked. "Rivian Enterprises." With that, he walked toward the man who had just entered through the large doors of the hall. The man I didn't want to see agai
The Billionaire's Second Endeavour 24 | NIGHTMARES
JOY "Oh, hell no!" Julia said as she stared Vince down. He was standing with Dad, talking with the directors. Julia had come by after the speech had ended and everyone returned to gossiping. I could bet she pitied me, seeing me all dressed up with no one to keep me company. To have someone near me at this moment was very relieving. Vince had been glancing at me from time to time, making me shiver under his intense gaze. "Damn!" Julia exclaimed, turning back to me. "It's so romantic. And he looks even better than he did five years back." "I know. But what's so romantic about all this?" I asked, hesitantly shifting in my seat while my eyes roamed over him. Vince didn’t smile while talking to those people. It was the most serious I had seen him so far. The absence of his beautiful smile was very disturbing. At least, I understood why people looked so afraid of him. "You guys spent some time in Paris and then departed. T
The Billionaire's Second Endeavour 25 | AFTER PARTY
JOY I wasn’t sure how I’d agreed to stay the night at Dad’s because I hated this place. Mason’s room. Mom’s decor. And Josh’s house. Staying here made me look out of my bedroom window now and then like a fucking paranoid person, just to make sure Josh wasn’t anywhere near the neighbourhood. I chose not to wake Dad up since he had returned late last night and left for my apartment. But what I didn't expect was to see Vince sleeping outside my door. Has he been here the whole night? I crouched to take a better look at his face. He was in the same suit that he wore at the party, which meant that he was waiting for me all night. My heart fluttered at the thought. He looked disturbed, his eyes closed and his brows pressed together while his body rested against the hard surface. I was actually happy to see him here. I shouldn't have felt this way, especially after the way he’d ignored me for an entire week.
The Billionaire's Second Endeavour 26 | THE MASKED AUTHOR
JOY I was thirty minutes late and when I entered the office, the cold and quiet environment was enough for me to know that something was wrong. Mr Richardson was sitting by the chair before my desk while Bailey was by the side of my chair, a worried look on her face. "Good morning?" I said, my voice ringing with confusion. "You’re the head of the fiction department. The only thing I expect for you to be is devoted, and coming late is not a good sign, Ms Gale," Mr Richardson snapped, without even giving me a chance to breathe. I glanced at Bailey, who was frowning and shaking her head at the same time. "I don't need excuses." Mr Richardson was a nice man, minus his moodiness, when he didn’t get what he wanted. And at this moment, it was I who couldn't complete a simple task. To be fair, it wasn't exactly an effortless task. The masked author was driving me crazy. "The masked author called. Did you know?" My bo
The Billionaire's Second Endeavour 27 | FURTHER INTO THE MATTER
VINCE I couldn't think straight. Everything that Beau had fed me with was too much for my head to process. The traffic on top of it was getting on my nerves. The conversation I’d had with Beau had me all heated still. “So, I did the digging you asked and I must warn you, things aren’t as pretty as Joyce,” were Beau’s first words as he stormed into my polished office. “So what? Was it a hit-and-run case, like we knew?” “Not at all,” Beau answered, his tone anxious. “Her brother's death was a more complicated version of a hit-and-run case, Vi." "What do you mean?" I remembered how doleful Joy looked when she talked about her deceived brother, and it pained me to see her like that. "It was a murder." Beau’s words sent me into a state of shock, and my jaw dropped instantly. "The hit-and-run thing was made up. It was a murder." Beau continued rubbing his chin
The Billionaire's Second Endeavour 28 | UNCOMFORTABLE
JOY "Who's Paige?" The moment the question left my lips, a frown appeared on Vince’s face, which was quite clear to be ignored. Not heeding my question, he stepped out of the car. Why did he react this way suddenly? Whoever Paige was seemed really special to him from the way his eyes twinkled. Is she his ex?But he had told me that Olivia was the only person he’d dated. He opened the passenger door, bringing me back to my senses, and I stepped out. He just made things awkward and a little embarrassing for me. I followed him inside the restaurant with no further delay, my mind still suffering the qualms of his behaviour. Has this man ever been to any other restaurant that had less than five stars? The marble floor and the clean tiled walls were too shiny for my eyes. I could see my face reflect on them. We followed the waitress to our table. "Seafood?" Vince asked, clearing his throat. "
The Billionaire's Second Endeavour 29 | CONFRONTATIONS
VINCE It took some time for me to process. Was she doing this out of grief? Or perhaps at the whim of the moment? I couldn’t do this like this. I didn’t kiss her back and cupped her cheeks as I pulled back. “Joy,” I said with a soft voice, rubbing my thumbs on her skin. “I can’t do this right now.” She seemed taken aback, as if my words had snapped her back to reality. She tried to move back, but I gripped the back of her neck and held her in place, the tip of our noses lightly brushing. “I want you, but not when you’re this vulnerable.” Something in her eyes shifted, and she closed them quickly, burying her face in the palm of my hand that rested on her cheek. "Don't leave," she whispered. The desperation and the craving in her voice sent a shiver down my spine, but her broken voice made something deep in my chest ache. I mumbled, "Only if you want me to." “I want you to,” she said with a nod
The Billionaire's Second Endeavour 30 | NIGHT OF PLEASURES pt. 1
JOY Putting me down on my feet near the bed, he stepped back and crossed his arms over his chest as if waiting for me to take the lead. But I was a nervous wreck, even though every nerve in my body fluttered. I hadn’t had sex since Josh. I’d thought that I'd slept with him back in Paris. A part of me was relieved at that thought as well, like the feeling that I had successfully crossed the path without looking back. But I couldn’t help but tense, different thoughts swirling in my mind. Can I do this without my entire body screaming for help? Or my soul? Vince seemed to have understood me as he said, “Listen, Joy, we don’t have to do this if you—” “I want to do this,” I said immediately, cutting him off. I really wanted to do this. “Take off your clothes.” He regarded me carefully before unbuttoning his shirt, his chest, his ripped abs, oh so slowly coming to my view. He pulled his shirt off, his eyes boring into min
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- The Billionaire's Second Endeavour Author's Note
- The Billionaire's Second Endeavour Author's Note
- The Billionaire's Second Endeavour EPILOGUE
- The Billionaire's Second Endeavour 65 | THE FOURTH STAGE
- The Billionaire's Second Endeavour 64 | THREE STAGES OF ANGER
- The Billionaire's Second Endeavour 63 | A LOT MORE PROBLEMS
- The Billionaire's Second Endeavour 62 | HIDDEN TRUTHS
- The Billionaire's Second Endeavour 61 | EVERYTHING’S BETTER
- The Billionaire's Second Endeavour 60 | END OF THE NIGHTMARES
