His Naughty Lessons-Chapter 277: An Old Acquaintance’s Surprise

** Eli **

At the end of the day, they did ruin the bathwater completely, and Eli had to put a lot of effort into hiding his laughter at the straight face Harper tried to make when they came out to meet the staff again, complimenting that the bath was superbly "revitalizing".

Having gotten all the stress and steam out of the way, the rest of their time at the spa was finally relaxing as intended. Harper insisted on skipping a full body massage — for reasons that were only obvious and entirely too visible to Eli — so they got a foot massage together instead, all the while she darted him meaningful looks that promised retaliation on what he had done. Then she went for an extended facial, and as it turned out, there was a surprising amount of satisfaction to be found in spending an hour and a half looking at nothing except her lovely face.

The self care journey ended with an impromptu dinner at a neighborhood BBQ joint, perfect for the end of summer. When the two of them returned home at last, fully recharged in every way, Eli’s only regret was that the day couldn’t be twice as long as it was.

He could live with it though. As long as the short break kept Harper freshened up and energetic for the final touches on her designs next week, it wouldn’t be long before they could take as much time as they wanted to celebrate her success.

That was the thought on his mind when he returned to his own weekly routine on Monday, arriving at his office with a contented smile plastered firmly to his face.

"Boss, is that an excited look I see for the gala coming up this weekend?"

He had barely settled down behind the desk when Justin poked his head in through the jarred door, greeting his boss with a somewhat insincerely uplifting tone.

Eli was slowly starting to get used to such a scene over the past couple of weeks. Apparently, his assistant had been feeling quite a bit sour for missing out on the golden event. Somewhat understandably — it was an unhidden rule in the industry that big shots with wide connections, such as an heir of a large regional investment company, would have various ways to secure an additional invitation or two for their personal favorite staff. Justin had obviously been trying to court that favor since Hawaii ... Though unfortunately, unbeknownst to him, the precious bonus he was vying for had already gone to Chelsea instead.

Eli let out an internal sigh at being stuck with such an opportunistic assistant. "That’s not about the gala, Justin. But if you’re really so interested in it, I can consider getting you an invitation next year if I’m still sitting in this office by then. As long as you behave for the next twelve months."

Justin’s face lit up immediately like a kid who had just been promised his favorite candy. Then he had the sense to look a bit sheepish for making his greedy intentions so obvious. "Ahem, that’s extremely nice of you, boss." He smiled humbly and cleared his throat. "Which ... ah, would actually make it hard for me to tell you the news that I came bearing. Will you be so kind as to keep in mind for the next few minutes that I’m just a messenger? Don’t shoot the invitation when you inevitably get mad after hearing it."

That opening line earned a raised eyebrow.

"What does my father want this time?" Eli’s bright mood darkened instinctively with a bad omen.

"Um, not your father, actually. It’s Vanessa Jones." ƒree𝑤ebnσvel.com

... The bad omen just got worse.

"Her assistant called a few minutes ago," Justin continued. "She said that Miss Jones asked the message to be delivered to you word by word, which is: you will regret it if you bring that redhead to the gala this weekend."

A moment of menacing silence descended abruptly in the room.

What the fuck was that about? Eli frowned, not realizing till then that he had underestimated this crazy woman. Who the hell did she think she was, and was this some kind of a threat?

"I’m sure it can’t be as serious as it sounds though ..." Justin offered his opinion tentatively, probably because the silence had started to sound a bit intimidating. "Voyage Bank is a highly visible company, and we’ve been talking about partnership deals with them for a long time, haven’t we? I don’t think she actually means to get on our bad side with this. Maybe she’s just—"

"Get her on the phone. Herself, not her assistant."

Eli stood up from his chair. If he had to tell that bitch to her face what he truly thought of her to stop this farce, he would. But Justin only gave him another sheepish look. "According to her assistant, Miss Jones can’t be reached this whole week. She’s in France and busy getting her new designer’s dress fitted for the gala."

Tossing out words just like that without leaving a way for anyone to get back to her? Good planning.

Eli ran a hand a bit frustratedly down his chin. He didn’t like this surprise first thing Monday morning. Why did Vanessa suddenly drop a bomb like this, and what did she want? Was this still about the baseball game, or was this related to whatever conversation their fathers had had since then?

Was there something else going on behind the scenes that he wasn’t aware of?

"Um ... Anyway, I still have a lot of paperwork and appointment requests to sort through, boss. So if you don’t need me right now ..."

Justin, being the smartass opportunist, carefully excused himself when his words were met with more silence, slipping out the door and leaving his boss ruminating on his own.

Eli stared at the door darkly. Well, it didn’t matter whatever Vanessa or his father might be planning for this weekend. He knew one thing for sure—

He wasn’t going to let Harper out of his sight for the entire duration of that gala.