Never Mistake a Queen for a Lapdog novel Chapter 842

The other employees at Centribo saw this and secretly gossiped about whether their boss was getting married soon.

After all, that was what the news was saying.

Castle Joyner had booked the restaurant near The Esplanade.

The Esplanade was completely different during the day than at night.

By day, it was fresh, open, and full of life.

But by night, it was breathtaking, magical, and glowing with dazzling lights.

Noreen Gilmore preferred it at night.

For some reason, her mind suddenly wandered, and a few heated memories flashed through her head.

Her cheeks flushed involuntarily. She ended up drinking half her glass of iced lemon water just to snap herself out of it.

Castle didn't bring up business until the appetizers arrived.

"Katy's birth parents have officially given up on fighting for custody. The whole ordeal is finally over."

Noreen was quite surprised.

During the initial hearing, they had been incredibly stubborn.

Why would they suddenly just give up?

Castle explained, "They never really wanted custody of Katy. If they did, they wouldn't have abandoned her in the first place. They only put on this whole show because Katy's birth father got into some legal trouble, and Jaxon Caldwell used it to blackmail him. Jaxon forced them to fight for custody, knowing I would do whatever it took to keep Katy—including rushing into a marriage. That way, he could conveniently push me into marrying Sue."

In the five years since Mrs. Joyner passed away, Castle and Noreen had rarely crossed paths.

So Jaxon had been certain that Castle had no romantic interest in Noreen.

He was also confident that there were no other women in Castle's life.

That was why he had dared to make such a risky move.

"But for all his calculating, he never expected me to suddenly ask you to fake an engagement."

During the first hearing, the news of Jaxon Caldwell's death hadn't spread yet. Katy's birth father hadn't known, which was why he had dug his heels in.

It wasn't until a couple of days ago, when the Caldwell family announced the deaths of Jaxon and his wife, that the man finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Castle added, "I'm sorry for taking up so much of your time recently."

Noreen didn't feel inconvenienced at all. After all, she didn't have much going on personally anyway.

Still, breaking an engagement was a major event for both of them, and they definitely needed to time the announcement right.

The media had already been speculating that their engagement was a sham for the sake of the custody battle.

They couldn't just announce their split the second he secured custody.

It would create a PR nightmare and a crisis of trust.

That would be bad for both Castle and Noreen.

With the matter resolved, they enjoyed the rest of their meal in a relaxed atmosphere.

Halfway through, Noreen went to the restroom. On her way back, she unexpectedly bumped into an acquaintance.

It was Cecilia Soares.

Cecilia didn't notice her. She was happily chatting on the phone with Leonardo Soares. "Dad, thanks so much for setting up this date with Seth Harcourt! If we end up together, you're sitting at the head table!"