Reborn to Dodge the Bad Marriage novel Chapter 108

Chapter 108 The Bait

Arian said nothing and kept his eyes on Nora, as though he meant to read her all the way down.

The look put Mandy on edge. She grabbed his hand fast. “Ace, that necklace is beautiful. Will you get it for

me?”

Adrian let himself be steered off it and looked at her, indulgent. “All right.”

They started bidding, and none of it interested Nora. If Cordelia hadn’t had her brought here, she wouldn’t have come at all.

Adrian paid $3,000,000 for the necklace and handed it to Mandy.

She went after an opal bangle and took it for just over $1,000,000, and when it came up to the box, she caught Nora’s hand and slid it on for her.

“You like a good tailored dress, Nora, and this suits you. It’s a present from me.”

The color ran through the stone in bands and caught the light every time it moved.

Nora turned her wrist to look at it, then at Mandy, whose smile was bright and didn’t quite cover what was going on behind her eyes. She smiled back. “Then I’ll let you spend the money.”

So she’s working an angle? Then I’m keeping the bracelet.

With the bangle on Nora’s wrist, Mandy decided things had thawed between them.

“Nora, how are things with Julian these days?”

Nora’s brows went up at her. “Ours was a snap decision. What kind of feelings could there be? It’s not like we have your story, where the girl gets to play hero and save the guy.”

The sarcasm came off it in waves, and Mandy’s nerve slipped. She glanced up at Adrian without meaning to.

“You and Julian get along fine, though. He must have told you about the Orion project.”

So that’s what this is about.

Nora had what she needed and nodded. “He did. He’s been buried in it lately.”

Mandy leaned closer. “You know Ace put tonight’s auction together for Zane. Ace picked something up along the way. Julian’s proposal for that project has a problem in it.”

The calm finally went out of Nora’s face. “Is that solid?”

Mandy’s face went serious. “Zane wouldn’t lie to Ace. If it weren’t for you and me, Ace would never have opened his mouth.”

“Then what do I do?” Nora said. “I’ll tell him right now…”

Mandy saw the worry and knew the hook had set. “You can’t tell him. This is inside information. If it gets out, it lands on Ace and on Zane, and Julian’s company loses the right to bid at all.”

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12:37 Thu, Oct 1σ

Chapter 108 The Bait

Finished

“So I sit here and do nothing?” Nora sounded more frantic by the second.

Mandy talked her down and laid out the plan. “We do it quietly. You photograph his proposal and send me the pictures, I get Ace to show them to Zane, and he points out what’s wrong. That’s all it takes.”

Nora heard her out and let her mouth twist. “Photographing a man’s proposal behind his back is stealing company secrets. That’s a crime, Mandy.”

The ask was so stupid that playing dumb took effort.

Mandy didn’t think it was stupid at all, and she kept working on her. “You’re not handing the proposal to another company. You only want to know where the problem is. You’re trying to help him.

“Once somebody points it out, Julian will be grateful. Otherwise he loses a project worth $1,000,000,000,

and that has to hurt.”

Nora gave her a flat look and let herself be talked around. “All right.”

Adrian watched her fold, and it made him look at her again, frowning. Is Nora really that easy to steer?

Something about it didn’t sit right with him.

He walked Mandy into the empty box next door and kept his voice down. “Nora doesn’t strike me as easy to fool. Is she really going to photograph that proposal?”

Her mouth went down. “This is because you don’t believe me. Build the bid the way I told you and you’ll win it. You don’t trust that, so I’ll have her photograph the Weston proposal for you.”

Adrian pressed his fingers to his temples. “It isn’t that I don’t trust you. You have no idea how sharp Julian is in a deal, or how ruthless he gets.”

Otherwise, he would never have held the top seat at the Weston Group that young. Plenty of other Westons wanted it.

They didn’t lack the want. What they lacked was the nerve, and the ability to back it up!

Mandy soothed him. “Relax. Nora and Julian married on a snap decision. There’s nothing between them. She grew up starved for affection, and that makes her easy.”

Adrian looked at her, and the look went deep enough to unsettle her, as though he suspected she wasn’t the

same person anymore.

Mandy’s voice caught, hurt by it. “Everything I’m doing, I’m doing for you. If you don’t believe me, I’ll go tell her to forget the whole thing.” She turned for the door.

Adrian caught her arm and pulled her in against him, and his voice came down soft. “Don’t get ideas. I believe you. I want a better life for you, that’s all, and that means being careful.

“Don’t be angry with me, all right?” He bent his head and kissed her forehead.

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