Reborn to Dodge the Bad Marriage novel Chapter 37

Chapter 37 The Slap

na held on to her. “Olivia, was Julian really poisoned? Is it bad?”

That was the one thing the whole room wanted answered.

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Finished

Olivia went serious. “Julian hasn’t had an appetite in a long time. Yesterday Nora gave him something for it, and there was a poison in it called blackroot. Within a day it puts a person under, and if nobody gets to him in time, it kills him.”

Sienna’s voice tore out of her. “Julian could die? He could actually die?”

The room started talking again, and the other two branches of the family didn’t bother hiding how pleased they looked.

If Julian died, the next heir would have to come out of one of their sons.

Olivia nodded. “Yes. But I’ve already made up the antidote. I can pull him through this.”

Mandy shouted over her. “Miss Blithe, you can’t just say things like that. My sister got married this morning. Why would she poison her own husband?”

Sienna laughed at her. “Why wouldn’t she? Your family is broke and you’re all after our money.

“Nora marries Julian, Julian dies, and she walks off with half of everything. That’s more money than your family would see in ten lifetimes.”

Sienna had said the exact same thing to Mandy the first time around.

Mandy held her ground at the stairs with her chin out. “I don’t care. She’s not going up there to bother Nora and Julian. Save him, my foot.”

She stared at Olivia and put every ounce of poison she had into it. “You want to be his mistress. You don’t get to lay a hand on him!”

Sienna’s lip curled. “Nora is the one who doesn’t belong in this family. Get out of the way and let Olivia go up to Julian.”

“Not happening,” Mandy said.

“Get out of the way!” Sienna shouted.

The two of them went at each other, grabbing and shoving.

The noise was splitting Constance’s head open. She grabbed the nearest thing off a table and threw it at the floor.

“Enough!”

Everything stopped. Sienna and Mandy glared at each other and let go.

Olivia tried Constance one more time. “Grandma Weston, are you really going to trust the woman who poisoned him and keep me from going up there?”

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15:20 Thu, Oct 10

Chapter 37 The Slap

Her words had barely landed when Nora’s voice came down the staircase, cool and even.

“You sound very sure it was me who poisoned him, Miss Blithe. And very sure it was blackroot.”

Finished

The whole room looked up at her Nora had changed out of the wedding gown into a slim tailored dress with a white wrap over her shoulders.

Her hair was twisted up and held with a single tortoiseshell clip, and the whole effect was so composed and so quietly expensive that she might have stepped out of an old oil painting.

Olivia had on something similar, and on any other day the room would have called her striking. Standing there next to Nora, she looked like a roadside daisy set beside a long-stemmed rose. It wasn’t close.

Olivia recovered first. “Weren’t you supposed to be saving him? Why are you the only one coming down Where is he?”

Constance spotted her on the stairs and hurried over, taking both her hands. “Where is he? How is he?”

Nora patted the back of her hand. “He’s through the worst of it. He’s going to be fine.”

“Really?” Constance hadn’t seen him herself, and she couldn’t quite let go of the fear.

Nora nodded. “Really.”

Sienna let out a laugh. “Olivia says he’s been poisoned and you’re standing here telling us he’s fine. What exactly are you playing at, Nora?”

Mandy shouted right back at her. “My sister may not know a thing about medicine, but if she says he’s fine, he’s fine.”

It sounded like a defense. What it actually did was tell the entire room that Nora had no training and nothing out of her mouth could be trusted.

Nora slid her a cold look.

Sienna laughed louder. “Nora can’t read a chart and she’s promising us Julian is fine. There’s something very wrong with that.”

Olivia rounded on her. “He’s been poisoned and you’re telling everyone he’s all right. If something happens to him, are you going to answer for it?”

Nora pulled the wrap closer around her shoulders and gave her a mild smile.

The smile was what did it. Olivia snapped.

“Nora, if he comes out of this with so much as a scratch, I will make you pay for it!”

Her hand came up and swung for Nora’s face.

A crack went off across the ballroom.

Nora had been faster. Her palm had landed flat across Olivia’s cheek.

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15:20 Thu, Oct 1 D

Chapter 37 The Slap

Finished

Guests came up out of their chairs and stared at Nora, unable to believe what they’d just watched happen.

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