Reborn to Dodge the Bad Marriage novel Chapter 284

Chapter 284 Raising the Stakes

Finished

“If Nora fails, you take over the Weston Group and the whole family fortune. That’s worth more than $100,000,000,000. But if she succeeds, the bunch of you hand her 6% of the shares?”

Julian had only just woken up, and the attack had drained him. His voice was still weak and hoarse, but even so, he had Harlan and the others sweating.

Years of living under Julian’s authority had taught them to fear him.

Harlan wiped his forehead. “Then what else do you want?”

Julian just turned the question around. “You’re playing for the whole family fortune and kicking the three of us out of the main house. You tell me what’s fair.”

Harlan felt the pressure ratchet up another notch. He was afraid of Julian, but he was still sure Nora couldn’t close the deal.

“Julian, as long as you don’t help Nora with the negotiations, then if she closes the deal, I’ll give her every share I own, and my family will move off the Weston estate. That’s fair, isn’t it?”

Harlan owned 5% of the company.

Julian looked up at Nora. When she nodded, he had no objection. “Fine.”

As for the other board members, Julian didn’t bother going after them. The company’s interests were involved, after all.

Harlan breathed a sigh of relief when Julian agreed. Now that Julian was awake, they’d have been out of luck if he’d refused to make a deal. He was quick and ruthless. They’d never manage to remove him, and they’d only bring trouble on themselves.

But now, Julian had given his word, and for Harlan, that meant opportunity.

“Julian, you agreed to this yourself. You can’t help Nora. If you do, even if she closes the deal, we won’t honor the terms.”

“Fine,” Julian said.

“I won’t let him help,” Nora said.

Only then did Harlan relax, and he left with the board members.

But Constance was still anxious. She gave Julian a reproachful look. “Nora only said all that to buy time until you woke up. What were you thinking, going along with it? And promising not to help, on top of

that!”

One bout of illness, and his brain had turned to mush. Still, Constance couldn’t bring herself to say anything harsher than that.

Julian told her, “Grandma, you need to have faith in Nora. She’s not some clinging vine who depends on us. If she says she can close the deal, then I believe her.”

10:48 am

Chapter 284 Raising the Stakes

“You…” Constance was getting angry.

Finished

She couldn’t tell whether Julian really believed Nora could do it, or if he was just so crazy about her that he believed her blindly. Either way, it wasn’t a good thing.

But then she thought it over. This time, everyone had assumed only Cordelia and Olivia could save Julian, and in the end, Nora was the one who’d saved him.

Nobody had seen that coming. It wasn’t luck, either. They’d all overlooked what Nora could do, and it had never even occurred to them to trust her!

Constance looked up at Nora. She was beautiful, with bold, striking looks that could come across as a little fierce, but all of a sudden, there was something about her that made people want to trust her.

Constance wasn’t angry anymore. “All right. I believe in you. Go for it.

“Worst case, we move out of the main house and give up the company. We’ve got more money than we could ever spend anyway. At least then I’d get some peace and quiet instead of dealing with all that company nonsense.”

Constance had already planned out the worst-case scenario. Nora didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. “Grandma, do you believe in me or not?”

Julian gave Constance a helpless look too. “Grandma…”

Constance looked from Julian to Nora. Then, she pressed a hand to her head and groaned. “Oh, my. All that racket woke me up so early that I didn’t get nearly enough sleep. I’m so tired.”

She held out her hand. “Bess, take me home. I need to go back to bed.”

She was giving Julian and Nora some time alone, so she hurried out, closing the door behind her.

That left Julian and Nora alone in the room. They looked into each other’s eyes. It was quiet, and the air between them practically fizzed.

Nora broke the silence. “When did you wake up?”

Julian looked at her lips before he answered. “I’m not sure. I kept drifting in and out. I just couldn’t wake up.”

After coming back from the brink, he felt like he’d lost something precious and gotten it back. He’d been so afraid he’d die like that and never see Nora again.

The way he was looking at her was so intense that she could hardly stand it, and his answer made her think about last night.

Last night, she’d talked to him. She’d even kissed him on the lips and told him good night. He doesn’t know about any of that, does he?

She’d been planning to have a real talk with him about how she felt once he woke up. But now that he was actually awake, she suddenly felt shy and self-conscious.

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10:48 am T

Chapter 284 Raising the Stakes

Nora touched her burning checks. “So, um, are you hungry?”

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