I Was His Wife, Then His Widow, Then No One's But My Own novel Chapter 351

Standing right beside her, the smile on Finnegan's face stiffened. He lowered his voice so only the two of them could hear. "Nora, don't make a scene."

Nora turned her head and glared at him with glacial intensity. Who exactly was making a scene here?

Ignoring his warning, Nora shifted her focus directly to Alastair Fletcher. "Mr. Fletcher, I have always addressed you with respect, but if this circus was the true purpose of tonight's dinner, then I've already given you my answer. This is an absolute joke. Excuse me."

With that, Nora spun on her heel and walked away.

Finnegan's expression turned viciously dark. He slammed his champagne flute down onto a nearby table and practically sprinted after her.

The piercing stares from the distant relatives felt like needles burying themselves into Finnegan's back.

As he stormed out, he could hear the vile, gossiping whispers trailing behind him. But he couldn't care less about his pride right now. All he cared about was catching up to Nora and demanding to know how she could publicly humiliate him in front of the entire family.

Finnegan intercepted her right near the main entrance, his hand shooting out to lock around her wrist in a vice grip. "Nora! Do you have any idea what you just did? Every single relative we have is in that room! How am I supposed to clean up the mess you just made?"

Nora kept her face devoid of emotion and aggressively ripped her hand from his grasp. Under the pale moonlight, his eyes were terrifyingly cold, brimming with a violently suppressed rage. "What did I do, Frederick? I did exactly what I had to! Did any of you stop to consider my feelings before orchestrating this? You used Dr. Reed's name to bait me here, just to ambush me with an engagement announcement. Did I ever agree to this? I'm trying not to say something we'll both regret."

Finnegan's chest heaved with heavy breaths as the most absurd justification spilled from his lips. "I did this for your own good. You are Cassie's mother, and that bond can never be severed. You're going to have to return to the Fletcher family eventually. But right now, you have no legitimate status. I was simply trying to give you a proper title as my wife, making it easier for me to take care of you in the future."

The moment she reached the main road, she hailed a passing cab. Sitting in the back seat, her hands were still trembling with adrenaline and fury. She let out a long, shuddering exhale and squeezed her eyes shut.

Her fingertips were white from gripping the seat. How could Finnegan be so despicable as to use Dr. Reed to manipulate her?

The entire evening had been a meticulously crafted trap. Dr. Reed was never going to show up. She had been an absolute fool to believe him. The keynote speaker was undoubtedly buried in preparations for his seminar—why would he ever attend a random family dinner like this?

Right at that moment, Nora's phone buzzed with an incoming text. She glanced down at the screen to see a message from Xander Harrison: "Did everything go smoothly today?"