Reborn to Dodge the Bad Marriage novel Chapter 149

Chapter 149 Order Whatever You Want

Finished

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Nara thought about it. The endorsement didn’t have to be terminated. If she could rewrite the contract so it worked for her and for Sabrina, it would slap Mandy just as hard.

Harder, in fact.

That made it worth hearing. “How does Mr. Pierce want to do this?”

Adrian saw that she’d come around, and it drew a smile out of him. “It’s nearly one. I don’t imagine you’ve eaten. Let’s talk over lunch.”

Nora turned to look at Sabrina and Bridget, who hadn’t eaten either.

It also put her where she could watch Gus work through the cakes and the wine, so she agreed. “Fine.”

There was a restaurant right off the pool, and Nora picked a table with a view out over the water.

Once she sat down, though, she saw that Bridget and Sabrina had been seated at another table, with a whole table between them, and she frowned. “Why are they seated separately?”

Adrian looked at her. “I’m not used to eating with people. I’d imagine they’d find it uncomfortable too.”

Bridget and Sabrina heard it and nodded at Nora fast. “We’re fine here, Ms. Sinclair. We’d only be tense.”

Adrian was the Pierce heir, and neither of them had any business at his table. Sitting there, they really wouldn’t have relaxed for a second.

It was only one table over, close enough that they could hear everything said, so Nora let it go. “All right.”

Adrian handed her the menu. “Order. Anything you like. Don’t hold back, it’s on me.”

She had no intention of holding back, and she meant to take him for as much as she could.

Nora ordered whatever cost the most, most of it for Bridget and Sabrina, and she ordered a great deal of it.

For her own table she ordered what she liked, and every single thing Adrian wouldn’t touch.

He took the menu and glanced at it. Nearly every line on it was checked off, right down through the wine list, and he laughed under his breath. “You didn’t hold back.”

Nora looked up at him. “You told me not to. And you nearly stuck me with a $15,000,000 penalty, so I don’t see the problem with sticking you with a lunch bill.”

Adrian handed the menu to the server, smiling at her. “Mm.”

Nora frowned at him.

It struck Adrian too that he’d been odd with her, and he explained it seriously. “There are two reasons I’m renegotiating. One is that I think Sabrina has real potential. The other…”

He looked up at the cool in her face and the prejudice she had against him, and something turned over in him. Then he looked away fast and finished it. “The other is Mandy.”

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13:45 Thu, Oct 1

Chapter 149 Order Whatever You Want

Nora raised an eyebrow. “Mandy?”

Adian couldn’t look at her. “Yes. I’m sorry about last time.”

Finished

Nora laughed out loud. “Last time. You couldn’t stand the sight of her after that, and now you’re apologizing to me on her account?”

She knew exactly what he was. He’d watched Trevor pin Mandy down with his own eyes. There was no version of him that didn’t mind, that wasn’t disgusted.

Whatever he was saying now, none of it was true.

Adrian made a sound of agreement. “I’m not disgusted with her. I’ve been busy these last few days, and she’s seemed different from the girl I met, so I haven’t been to see her.”

Nora found it funny, and false all the way down.

But she smiled and said, “Good. I’m glad you’re not. She’s been low these last few days, afraid you don’t want her anymore. You should go and see her, or at least call her more. What if she does something stupid?”

Lock the two of them together. That way neither of them goes out and ruins anybody else.

Her phone rang while she was saying it, and one look at the name put her eyebrow up. She answered. “Hello.”

Mandy’s voice came through, showing off. “Nora, I’m out with Adrian right now, and he just bought me a limited-edition bag for $1,000,000. Jealous? Disappointed?”

Nora looked up at Adrian and laughed lightly. “Did he?”

Mandy huffed. “Of course he did. We had a romantic lunch somewhere expensive, and we’re together until tonight.”

“Is that so.” Nora smiled at nothing in particular.

Mandy couldn’t wait to make her point. “So Adrian and I are perfectly fine. That night didn’t touch us at all, and you’re not getting the show you wanted!”

That made Nora want to laugh, and she did, and it came out delighted. “Good.”

The happiness in that laugh came down the line and left Mandy feeling like a clown on a stage, and she went from embarrassed to furious. “Go ahead and be jealous! It won’t do you any good. You’d be better off staying on my good side. Then I could help you out sometimes.”

She was going to have the better life. As for Nora, nobody would have to lift a finger, because hers would be miserable on its own, and that was how it was meant to go.

Then Mandy hung up.

Adrian had watched her smiling from the moment she took the call, bright and warm, and it put him in a

better mood too.

Then something in him turned sour, a moment of ache, sharp as a needle going in.

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