Pampered by my three brothers: the return of the neglected heiress

Chapter 1322: Second date

[Miller's Company]

Open invitations lay scattered across Haines's desk, his face grim. He had opened them only because they came from Penny's "legal team." Assuming they were important invitations Penny needed him to attend, he checked them all. But alas, they were just birthday invitations.

There were a total of thirty.

"Uh... Haines." Just then, Charles's voice reached his ears.

Charles was holding the door open, seven invitations in his hand. "Do you happen to know what these invitations from Gracie are about?"

"..." Haines glanced at the invitations in Charles's hand and compared them to the ones on his desk. Charles had received far fewer. "How many did you get?"

"Seven," Charles replied with a nod. "All of them are birthday invitations from Gracie. Is this some kind of prank Penny came up with?"

"It must be," Haines said, his voice colder than usual as he gathered the invitations on his desk, intending to throw them away later. "Just ignore them, Charles."

Charles furrowed his brows as he took in the sheer number of invitations on Haines's desk. "Why do you have so much junk on your desk? Did Grace send you all of those? How come you got more than I did?"

"If you want them, you can have them, Charles."

Deep lines appeared between Charles's brows as he noted the deliberate coldness in Haines's tone. Although Haines was generally quiet, he was rarely this cold. Not that he was the friendliest person, but something was clearly bothering him.

"Is everything alright, Haines?" Charles asked, his concern evident. "You seem... off."

"I had an hour stolen from me. And another fifteen minutes today," Haines muttered, pushing the invitations onto the floor before facing Charles. "I am not satisfied with this."

"Uh... I guess you're fine, then." Charles smiled and raised a brow briefly. "I'll be heading home after my meeting in an hour. Are you coming?"

"No, but I'll be there later-for Nina."

smile widened. "Of course, you

ask about

pinched the bridge of his nose. After dropping Grace off that night, he hadn't heard from her again. He had thought— hoped that she had finally snapped out of whatever ridiculous idea she had

days later, here she was,

to

were her words, and now, Haines could only see these fake birthday celebrations as her way of making good on that

troublesome," he whispered to himself, exhaling heavily

had she successfully stolen an hour of his time that night, but she was also stealing more. Because now, he couldn't focus on work. Not because he

was showing interest in him. Or

in his chair, thinking of how to

his options. Should he ignore it completely

a moment of consideration, he nodded

"Ignore it."

it affect him. This was what she wanted-his attention. If she didn't get it, she would try something else. And by allowing himself to be

return to work-after all, Theo Miller had just sent him a presentation on expanding their network,

began reading, his

the device, he removed his reading glasses and answered

to hear

neither, but I had

with a small smile. "It's been a while. How

"The family is still the same, and I've

been too preoccupied with work to visit her properly. Even when he does,

Penny had also

Penny's real problem

wasn't

was the

treating her office like a