Page 54 of Vows In Corruption

“Who’s your uncle?” I ask for confirmation.

“Bennett Lane,” he announces his smile growing bigger. “I’m Drake.”

He holds out a hand for me to shake and I can’t help but to chuckle a little as I slide my hand against his.

“It’s nice to meet you, Drake. I’m Ella, your uncle’s assistant. Did you come here by yourself?”

The little boy shakes his head. “Henry and Elliot are coming up. I just beat them to the elevator. They’re too slow.”

“Are they now?” As if on cue, the two men that I saw earlier today at the Lane property walk toward my desk.

Henry looks annoyed and Elliot looks amused.

“Mr. Drake, what did I say about running?” Henry reprimands, but the little boy just give him a shrug.

“I was excited.”

Henry shakes his head and is about to say something to me but he is interrupted but Bennett’s twin.

“Hi, I’m Elliot. We didn’t get to meet back at the house. You must be Ms. Vincent.”

This guy can’t be that much younger than me, so him calling me Ms. has me scrunching my nose.

“Call me Ella and it’s nice to meet you too. If you guys want to go in and see Bennett you can, but I should warn you, he’s bee busy pacing a path to the floor below us.”

All three of them look at each other, as if they are trying to figure out what to do, but that’s when the door to Bennett’s office opens, revealing the man himself.

“Uncle Bennett, look. We’re matching.” Drake’s voice breaks the small silence as both Bennett and I look over at Drake, who is indeed matching his uncle.

Omigod. That is the most adorable thing in the world. Before the night is over, I need to take a picture and get it printed so that I can put it in Bennett office.

“That you are.” Bennett says to his nephew and gives the little boy a smile, that I’m seeing for the first time. One that reaches his eyes and makes him look even more like the most gorgeous man ever.

No, he is the most gorgeous man ever and I’m going to hell for thinking it.

The Lane men talk for a few minutes as I kick myself for thinking that my boss is hot. I’m still lost in thoughts of his smile that I almost miss when Bennett calls out my name.

“What?” I ask, getting myself out of the daze.

“Are you ready to head upstairs?” Bennett asks, his eyebrows bunching up in the process.

I frantically grab my notebook, pen and phone before getting up. “Yes. I’m ready.”

Bennett situates Drake in his office, where is going to wait until the board meeting, and once that is taken care of, he, Henry, Elliot and I head up to the top floor of the Lane building.

“This room is as stuffy as I remember,” Elliot mutter from where is next to me as the four of us walk into the conference room.

The three men head to the huge conference table that sits in the middle of the room and take a seat while I head over to the floor to ceiling windows where three other assistants are.

There are so many people in this room that I have never seen before. I guess that should tell me the severity of the CEO calling a board meeting.

A few minutes pass by and a minute or so before the meeting is about to start, the doors close and Gerald Goldman stands at the head of the table, with a smile on his face.

“Thank you everyone for coming tonight. I know this was a bit of last notice, but appreciate the effort.” Mumbles fill the room before the attention goes back to Gerald, who takes a second to collect himself. “A lot of you may know why we are here tonight, some may have guessed it, but if you don’t know, I called this meeting to officially announce that I have decided to retire.”

Claps sound out, and more than a handful of people get up from their seats to either give Gerald a handshake or a hug, congratulating him on his retirement, including Bennett.

Once everyone has had their chance to thank Gerald for putting in the work at Lane Enterprises, everyone sits back down and waits for the current CEO to continue speaking.

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