Ellison And Joycelyn: A Love Beyond The Rules

Chapter 22
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Fred glanced at his dad and replied to Octavia, “Let’s not bother him. He must be in the middle of some business.”
Octavia hummed as she looked at the group of them at the entrance. Then she looked at Tommy’s car. It was worth close to a
hundred thousand dollars. Their family finances far exceeded her own, so Octavia wasn’t surprised that Joycelyn would be
interested in him.
She made another suggestion. “How about having dinner with your dad later then?”
“Sure, I’ll ask him later,” Fred was willing to accommodate Octavia’s every need.
“You’re so good to me,” Octavia cooed as she gave Fred a kiss. Fred smiled so widely that his eyes narrowed into slits.
Although Fred was only twenty–five years old, his life of comfort and ease had made him pudgy. He was also lacking in the looks
department, but his family was loaded, so Octavia put up with him.
At the very least, Fred was young. She pitied Joycelyn, who was only capable of seducing ugly old men, Comparing the father
and son, Octavia believed she had landed the better catch and that soothed her vanity and ego greatly.
Soon, the trio of ladies entered a private dining room in the hotel restaurant with their associates. Linda greeted all the directors
once again and invited them to take a seat. She had deliberately arranged for Joycelyn to sit next to Tommy. “Joycelyn, you and
Mr. Cross seem to have hit it off well, so do have a good chat with him about our project,” Linda had a warm look on her face, but
her tone was more commanding than encouraging.
“Sure,” Joycelyn replied, ready to retrieve the folder from her bag and get down to business.
Tommy took his seat and looked Joycelyn up and down with his narrow eyes. Although Joycelyn dressed modestly, Tommy had
seen his fair share of women, and he could tell from Joycelyn’s smooth, porcelain skin that she was ravishing.
“Your name is Joycelyn, right? Anyone can see that you’re inexperienced at this game. We haven’t even had any drinks yet, and
you’re already preparing to talk shop,” Tommy chided while reaching his hand out to cover Joycelyn’s.

Joycelyn quickly pulled her hand back to avoid his touch. “You’re right, Mr. Cross. How rude of me.”
“No worries. I’m in a generous mood today. Let’s see you down a couple of shots first to apologize,” Tommy said, pretending to
be magnanimous.
“I drove here today, so I can’t drink. I’ll have a soda instead if youll allow it,” Joycelyn explained. Right on cue, Aurelia brought a
glass of soda over for her. Looking at Tommy, Aurelia said, “Mr. Cross, I heard you’ve been interested in working with the Grant
Group for a while. It’s obvious that you have a good instinct for business.
“Out of all the potential enterprises, Joycelyn had picked out your company to form a joint venture agreement. This isn’t just the
work of fate but Joycelyn toiling away behind the scenes to make all this possible.”
She stood between Tommy and Joycelyn with the glass of soda, singing Tommy’s praises and complimenting his successful
business. Tommy was incredibly pleased and he began to beam with pride.
The other business directors all nodded and smiled in agreement.
Joycelyn drank her soda, and soon, the servers began to enter the private dining room with various dishes.
Linda saw that Joycelyn wasn’t making any attempts to socialize so she whispered in her ear, “Can’t you tell that Mr. Cross is
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Chapter 22
interested in you? As long as you take some initiative, you’ll be able to renegotiate the project. Plus the man is an eligible
bachelor worth millions of dollars. Don’t waste this opportunity
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As she said so, she topped up Joycelyn’s glass with soda. Secretly, though, she’d also mixed in some vodka. Linda knew that
Joycelyn wasn’t a good drinker. If she could make Joycelyn drink this, the deal would be in the bag.

“Aurelia, head to the kitchen and instruct them to serve the seafood specials. They’re taking too long,” Linda instructed,
attempting to distract her.
Aurelia turned to Joycelyn and said, “I’ll get the kitchen to speed things up. Let’s finish this discussion early and head home.”
Joycelyn nodded in understanding.
Linda waited for Aurelia to excuse herself, then pulled Joycelyn into a toast with all the business directors. Joycelyn raised her
glass. Everyone was in high spirits.
As Joycelyn brought the glass closer to her mouth, she caught a whiff of a strong smell of alcohol.
“Drink up. If you don’t, you’ll ruin everyone’s mood,” Linda hissed.
Joycelyn pursed her lips and forced herself to drink. She could only manage to finish half of it. The smell was one thing, the taste
was a whole different matter. Her throat and stomach burned.
Joycelyn coughed a few times and excused herself to go to the restroom, taking her phone with her.
She knew she had been set up by Linda. As she walked, she could feel her legs start to give way. She felt as if the ground was
giving way beneath her.
She’d barely made it to the restroom when a person suddenly held on to her. She thought it was Aurelia, but it turned out to be
Octavia instead. Joycelyn immediately put her guard up. “What are you doing here, Octavia?” she asked.
“Joycelyn, you’re drunk, Octavia said in mock concern. Her eyes kept darting to the entrance of their dining room. She had been
hanging around the area waiting for an opportunity to present itself, and now it had.
She’d watched Joycelyn as she stumbled out of the dining room, and Tommy had soon followed after her.
“Oh, Mr. Cross, are you looking for my sister?” Octavia called out to Tommy in a sweet voice.
Upon hearing the question, Joycelyn fought back her giddiness to frown at Octavia. “Let go of me,” she said sternly as she tried
to break free from Octavia.
Tommy walked up to them but didn’t recognize Octavia. Octavia ignored Joycelyn as she pushed her into Tommy’s arms. “Mr.
Cross, my sister had a bit too much to drink. She was waiting for you here.”

“And you are?” Tommy asked.
I’m Fred’s girlfriend. I’ve seen you on the news before but I can’t believe I have the honor of seeing you in person today,” Octavia
gushed like a starstruck teenager.
Tommy fell for it hook, line and sinker, beyond pleased with himself.
As soon as Joycelyn got close to Tommy, her instincts to resist kicked in. She didn’t mind falling onto the floor instead of into
Tommy’s arms. She was determined not to let him touch her.
Joycelyn bit down hard on her tongue to keep her mind clear asong as she could. In that moment, without hesitation, she
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took her phone out and called Ellison.