Six or seven engineers immediately fell silent, all eyes darting toward the CEO. If memory served, hadn''t he just asked everyone to share suggestions?


    Why was he suddenly in such a foul mood?


    For a moment, the conference room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Ian''s long fingers drummed softly on the table.


    "I want theb renovation proposal on my desk by Monday," he said, his voice low and even. "Now, let''s move on to the project status updates."


    An hourter, the meeting wrapped up. Ian looked up at Eleanor. "Eleanor, stay. Everyone else is dismissed."


    Joel frowned. Ian had a habit of using work as an excuse to see Eleanor alone.


    The others filed out quickly. As he passed her, Joel said quietly, "I''ll wait for you outside."


    He hadn''t forgotten thest timen had grabbed Eleanor''s hand in the office-he still had no idea whatn''s intentions had been.


    "Okay!" Eleanor nodded.


    "I only care about things that actually concern my work. I don''t need your fake concern," Eleanor said, standing up and grabbing her notebook.


    If Eleanor needed it, he was willing to approve it.


    She shot back over her shoulder, "Not necessary."


    Work was already overwhelming any personal matters could wait until she got home. Besides, she wasn''t here to put on a show.


    After Eleanor left,n stood alone for a moment, lost in thought. Then his phone rang. It was Henry Holt. Recently, Henry had been talking about investing in a private ind to build a luxury resort, and he wantedn''s and Xavier''s opinions. "Hey, Henry."


    "I''ve got lunch ns with Xavier at noon. Want to join us?"


    Meanwhile, in his office at Holt Properties, Henry breathed a sigh of relief. He''d been worried that, with all the tension between Xavier andn over Eleanor, they might refuse to see each other outside of work.


    Thankfully, for his sake, the two were still willing to sit down and share a meal. After all, when he''d called Xavier earlier, Xavier had readily agreed.


    Whenn arrived at the restaurant, Henry and Xavier were already waiting in a private dining room.


    "There you are,n," Henry said, raising an eyebrow.


    As the waiter began to bring out their lunch, Henry wasted no timeunching into his ind project. He passed them a thick folder-the proposal he''d brought along and asked his two oldest friends for their thoughts.


    "This project carries some hefty risks,"n said, flipping through the proposal. "Did you have an environmental impact assessment done?"


    Xavier was reading along. "The local ecosystem looks pretty fragile."


    Henry watched as they discussed, grateful as always for their sharper business instincts. He''d always trusted their advice.


    A momentter, Henry''s phone buzzed. He nced at the screen and sighed. "The board is really giving me a hard time."


    "Board members?" Xavier arched an eyebrow.


    "Yeah. I''ll go handle it—you two go ahead and eat,” Henry said, stepping out with his phone.<pn picked up his coffee cup, took a sip, and looked at Xavier. "You went to Eleanor''s birthdayst night, didn''t you?"