Page 18 of The Grumpy Billionaire

“This entire building is pineapple-free?”

Jane lowers her voice. “Hugh-dini is deathly allergic.”

“He is?”

“Deathly.”

I frown. Hugo’s deathly allergic to pineapple? I feel like I would’ve known about such a severe allergy. And Mom makes a killer fruit salad that’s full of pineapple. Surely we ate it when Hugo was over, being that he was always over.

“Deathly allergic to pineapple? Are you sure?”

“Deathly. You shouldn’t even have pineapple candy, because if Wulfric came around and smelled it? Off with your head. Instant termination.”

“Noted.” I frown, feeling baffled. Could it be a new allergy? But even then, there would have been some kind of near-death incident to kick it off. I would have known about it. Charlie would’ve said something.

Though Hugo is so weirdly private.

Jane lowers her voice. “The Quantum team was at this industry banquet one time? All the top Wall Street movers and shakers were there, and Wulfric discovered a pineapple tart on the dessert cart after he’d confirmed that there would be no pineapple served. He had the whole thing shut down.”

“He was literally flipping tables,” Hesh adds from the other side.

“I don’t think heliterallyflipped tables,” Jane says. “But there was yelling. Wulfric threatened some people.”

“I heard he flipped the dessert table,” Hesh says. “Hugh-dini is Wulfric’s secret weapon. He’s the sacred billion-dollar oracle of math whatsits. He’ll do anything to protect him.”

“And when they travel?” Jane adds. “Wulfric will pay entire hotels to take pineapple off their kitchen menu and scrub down their fruit storage areas.”

“Wow,” I say.

“You know whose problem it really is? Lola—Wulfric’s assistant,” Hesh says. “I’m sure she’s terrified that she’ll ever overlook a pineapple. She’s probably the one that has to call ahead to restaurants or whatever about the whole situation. On top of everything else she has to endure from Wulfric.”

“You couldn’t pay me enough to do Lola’s job,” Jane says.

“Hell no,” Hesh says. “Most of his assistants are gone in a week.”

“Wait, though…” Jane narrows her eyes at Hesh. “Has Lola been here an entire year already?”

“Is that possible?” Hesh gazes up at the ceiling, seeming to calculate this in his head. “Jesus Christ, she started in June of last year and it’s October. Over a year.”

“That’s…stunning,” Jane says.

“Okay, then,” I say. “No pineapple. Noted. And I’ll take the position of ‘Wulfric the ragey megalomaniac’s personal assistant’ off my job aspiration vision board.”

Viola comes by and we act like we’re working. Meanwhile, the card is burning a hole in my bag. I wander up to the courier desk now and then, but there never seems to be a delivery for me to take to Hugo’s area.

Until the following day. I’m up making copies at the machine when somebody throws a white cardboard mailer on the courier desk with a clipboard. “ASAP needs a signature from Mr. Jones.”

I gather up my copies and wander by. “I gotta go that way. Want me to bring it?”

Tinley widens her eyes. “You would?”

“Absolutely. And it needs Mr. Jones’s signature?”

“Right here on the clipboard, but Brenda’ll sign if she’s there. You don’t have to bug Mr. Jones with it.”

ChapterEleven

Stella

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