Reborn to Dodge the Bad Marriage novel Chapter 29

Chapter 29 Twenty-Six Minutes

Filed

They walked in on Mandy flat on the floor with both hands pinned under Nora’s feet, still screaming at her to take the gown off.

Victor raised his voice. “What is this? What are you doing? On a day like today? How does any of it look?”

Then he turned it on Nora. “You’re the older one. Why are you always going after Mandy? Can’t you give way to her even a little?”

Nora looked up at him without any warmth at all. “It’s my gown. Why exactly should I hand it over?”

Victor waved that off. “It’s a dress. What’s the harm in letting her have it? Are the Westons going to come up short over one dress?”

Nora laughed at him coldly. “A gown worth 100 million dollars, and out of your mouth it’s just a dress?”

Victor went blank. “Worth what?”

One hundred million dollars.

And she’s wearing it around the house.

Yvette could not stand seeing Mandy like that and shouted up at Nora. “Let go of her right now, or I’ll tear that gown apart, 100 million dollars or not.”

Nora gathered the hem, carried it right up to Yvette, and laughed softly. “Go ahead and tear it.”

Yvette grabbed the hem without a second thought, and before she could put any force into it, Nora’s voice came out ice cold.

“The Queen of Valmora designed this gown with her own hands. Never mind tearing it. Pull a single thread and you’ve insulted her, and you’d be better off digging your own grave first so the end comes quickly.”

Yvette let go in a panic. “The Queen of… of Valmora?”

She looked down at Mandy, not believing a word of it.

Mandy sobbed and screamed at the same time. “The Queen of Valmora designed that gown for me. She isn’t the one who wears it. I am!”

Yvette took in how far gone she was, and then the fear caught up. She had come within a second of tearing that gown and insulting a queen, and she would never have known what killed her.

The anger came out through her hand, and she slapped Mandy hard.

“Get a grip on yourself. That gown is what the Westons gave Nora.”

Never mind a queen. The Westons alone were far beyond anything she could afford to offend.

Yvette produced an awkward smile and apologized. “I’m sorry. Mandy’s half asleep and not thinking straight. Your face is what matters right now, and you can’t be late getting out the door. Lift your feet and I’ll take her away and stop being a problem for you.”

Chapter 29 Twenty-Six Minutes

Mandy was still wailing that the gown belonged to her, and the sight of it earned her a second slap.

No lifted her feet.

It took Yvette dragging and hauling both to get her out of the room.

Finished

Victor explained himself awkwardly. “I had no idea the gown was worth that or where it came from. I’ll.. I’ll go and deal with Mandy.”

Nora let out a short scoff and sat back down in front of the mirror. “Let’s keep going.”

Yvette pulled her back into her room, found her still raving about that gown, could not bring herself to hit her again, and threw the glass of water off the table into her face. “Quiet.”

The cold water settled her. She went silent and simply cried while she looked at her mother.

Yvette gathered her in and tried to soothe her. “It’s a dress. Once Adrian is the richest man in the country, you’ll have a billion-dollar gown made for your own wedding, and you’ll outshine Nora by a mile.”

Mandy had no way to explain what was actually wrong. That gown belonged on Adrian’s bride. It should have been hers. Somehow it had ended up on Nora again.

What frightened her was that a change this small might set off a butterfly effect and turn everything she knew about the last life into nothing.

Yvette went on. “So what if she’s dressed well? Didn’t you say Julian would be in an emergency room today and wouldn’t even make it here to collect her? However good the gown is, she’s still a joke, and she’ll carry the name of the bride who killed her groom.

“Once he’s dead, that gown is cursed. What’s so special about it then?”

That got through to her a little, and she wiped at her eyes. “What time is it?”

Yvette checked. “Nine thirty-four.”

Mandy came right back to life. “Twenty-six minutes left. I refuse to believe he shows up for her. Nothing changes. Nothing is going to change.”

It’s one dress. One dress changes nothing.

As long as the big things hold, as long as he doesn’t come and he drops dead in a month, everything runs exactly the way it did.

Twenty-six minutes. I can wait.

“The groom’s here! He’s come for her himself!”

The clock read 9:50.

Engines had sounded out front, and the shout had come from the staff downstairs, delighted by the whole thing.

Nora went to the window to look.

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12:19 Thu, Oct 1 ·

Chapter 29 Twenty-Six Minutes

A red carpet ran from the front gate of the neighborhood all the way to the Sinclair door.

Mion-dollar cars ran escort down both sides of it, and the Maybach came up the middle at speed, carrying itself like something royal.

Finished

The car stopped in the courtyard and Julian stepped out of it, cool and immaculate and entirely out of reach.

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