Never Mistake a Queen for a Lapdog novel Chapter 538

Sanford had known Professor Joyner long enough to understand his temperament. The man was a classic eccentric genius—brilliant, arrogant, and utterly indifferent to convention. He fit every stereotype.

After the final roadshow, Carman had a conference call with Noreen to report on their success. All that was left was the final review from the securities commission, which, given their current momentum, seemed like a mere formality.

"You've worked hard," Noreen told him. "I've already had Sophia inform the staff that everyone is getting a week of paid vacation. It's a company-sponsored team-building trip, all expenses covered."

"What about you?" Carman asked. "Aren't you going to take a break and relax?"

"I'm buried in grad school prep. I can't go anywhere."

"Then I'll stay behind too—"

"You absolutely have to go," Noreen interrupted, not letting him finish. "One of us needs to be there to represent management. Otherwise, it'll be chaos."

Carman reluctantly agreed.

Noreen had just hung up when Claire called. She answered on speakerphone, continuing to type her thesis without missing a beat.

"Babe, you will not believe who I ran into today!" Claire's attempts at building suspense were always a failure. If Noreen didn't take the bait, Claire would just spill everything like a leaky faucet anyway.

"I ran into Jerk Seth and Bitch Bianca!" she announced. "Seriously, those two are so obnoxious. Rivercrest City isn't big enough for their PDA, so they had to bring their lovey-dovey act all the way to Northcrest. You have no idea how nauseating they were at this gala. And people were actually asking them about their love story! I'm sitting there thinking, who on earth wants to hear the romantic details of their affair?"

"And Bitch Bianca, going on and on with ‘my Seth this' and ‘my Seth that.' You'd think they were already married! Which, by the way, someone actually asked. ‘You two seem so in love, why aren't you married yet?'"

"And guess what Jerk Seth said?"

Noreen's typing paused for a fraction of a second. "What did he say?"

"He said that Bitch Bianca is focused on her career right now and wants to achieve something significant before thinking about marriage. And that he, of course, respects her decision. He was playing the part of the perfect, supportive partner to a T!"

"...The nouveau riche kind. His family's land was bought out by the city, so now they have a little money."

When the sound of typing resumed, Claire let out a quiet sigh of relief. She had managed to deflect.

The call didn't faze Noreen in the slightest. As soon as it ended, she was once again completely immersed in her work.

The next morning, her lawyer called with an update. The case had taken an unexpected turn.

The driver of the white sedan had recanted his testimony. He was now insisting that he had acted entirely on his own and that Lana had nothing to do with it.

There was a very real possibility that Lana would be released without charges.

In the space of a few short sentences, Noreen's expression turned to ice. So that's why Seth had stopped bothering her. He had found another way.