Find me in your labyrinth (Stella and Jonathan) novel Chapter 3252

Hannah forced a dry laugh. "That would be Celia. She felt terrible about it, but she's always been so meticulous. I was the one who left the door unlocked that day, so I couldn't possibly blame her."

"That's not what I meant," Norah countered smoothly. "What I mean is, sometimes when an employee ruins a valuable item, they panic. To avoid taking the blame, they point the finger at someone else. Especially if that 'someone' happens to be a cat. It's the perfect scapegoat—it can't talk, and it can't defend itself."

Hannah's expression stiffened. "Celia isn't that kind of person," she snapped defensively.

"Is she? Let's bring her in and ask," Norah challenged. She turned to a nearby maid pouring tea. "Please go get Celia."

Hannah immediately looked at Simon.

This was Hanson family business. Since when did an outsider have the right to boss their staff around?

She couldn't say that out loud, of course, so she settled for shooting her husband a pointed, frowning glare.

Geoffrey was a man of strict decorum. He knew perfectly well that Norah shouldn't be meddling in another family's internal affairs. Yet, instead of reprimanding his granddaughter, he offered Simon a teasing smile. "You just praised her, and look what happened. It went straight to her head. You're going to have to clean up this mess yourself, Simon!"

Simon was a shrewd man himself. He chuckled, his expression indulging. "I praised her, so I'll indulge her. We'll let Norah call the shots on this little domestic issue today."

With that, he waved at the hesitant maid. "Do whatever Ms. Norah asks. We listen to her today. Honestly, I'm quite curious to know exactly how my wife's gown was destroyed."

The maid nodded hastily. "Yes, Mr. Hanson!"

Hannah's jaw tightened. She shot Norah a sideways glance, adjusting her posture to sit perfectly straight. She forced a magnanimous smile. "Then we'll play along and humor Norah's little game."

The underlying message was clear: she thought Norah was being utterly ridiculous.

Simon leveled a heavy, calculating stare at Hannah. "We aren't just humoring her," he said lightly. "I genuinely want to know if Gonzalez's cat was framed."

Yvonne's voice was frosty. "Norah, throwing around accusations without a shred of proof is framing someone too, isn't it?"

Norah nodded in cheerful agreement. "You're absolutely right, Yvonne. If only you applied that same critical thinking to everything else, things would be much better!"

Every time Norah condescendingly corrected her logic, Yvonne felt like she was going to have a stroke, yet she was utterly powerless to stop it.

The subtle jab at Yvonne's hypocrisy regarding the rumors about Gonzalez only infuriated her further.

Norah didn't miss a beat. "Since none of us have concrete evidence and we're just throwing around empty words, I suppose there's only one solution. Let's call the police."

Hannah and Yvonne both froze. All the color drained from Celia's face.