Reborn to Dodge the Bad Marriage novel Chapter 68

Chapter 68 Keep the Scarf

ozen houses stood scattered across the Weston estate, every one of them grand.

Fin her

The one they lived in was the main house, and the only people with rooms in it were Constance, Julian as the heir, and now Nora.

Everyone else lived in the others, his parents included.

They were only summoned to the main house for dinner on the first and the fifteenth of the month, or for something special.

The rest of the time everyone lived their own lives and barely crossed paths.

Julian leaned down and answered her in the same low voice. “If you’re going to make an example of someone, you bring in everybody who needs to see it. Otherwise it doesn’t stick.”

That left Nora with nothing to say.

“You still didn’t have to wake Grandma up.”

“It lands harder when the person everyone answers to is watching,” he said.

Constance rapped her cane against his leg. “What are the two of you muttering about? Say your piece. Dragging people out in the middle of the night.”

She had nearly scared herself to death on the way down, certain he had taken a turn and slipped away.

Finding him upright and whispering with Nora let her breathe again.

As long as Julian was all right, the sky could come down for all she cared.

The turnout was so much larger than Nora had planned for that she needed a moment to find her opening.

Olivia got there first, planting herself in front of Constance with her chin tucked down. “Madam Weston, I’m sorry. All of this started with me.”

“What happened?” Constance took in the maid’s jacket around her shoulders and frowned. “Bess, go get Olivia a coat. Now.”

If word got back to Cordelia that Olivia had been left standing in a maid’s jacket, there was no telling what she would make of it. A grudge like that could end with her refusing to treat Julian at all.

Olivia went on. “One of the staff gave me Nora’s clothes to wear. Nora saw them on me and got angry, and she tore them off me with her own hands. Then she had Julian call everyone in.

“That’s why all of you are up in the middle of the night. It started with me.”

Constance turned to Nora. “Is that how it went?”

For once Olivia had stuck to the facts, without the usual sweetener.

Nora nodded without hesitating. “That’s how it went.”

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15:29 Thu, Oct 1.

Chapter 68 Keep the Scarf

ལ

Fini

Tessa frowned, mild but pointed. “Nora, it’s one outfit. Was all of this really necessary, putting your hands on

relothes? You could offend Dr. Blithe over it.”

Sienna glared at her. “That’s what you get from a family with no name. She put on the wrong outfit. Is that worth this much noise?”

She scoffed, and the contempt came through. “Then again, the Sinclairs aren’t rich enough to drop $50.000 on an outfit without blinking.”

The tracksuit was a limited edition, and the full set ran somewhere between $50,000 and $60,000.

It was an obscene amount of money for a tracksuit.

Nora had come in meaning to lay out her rules for the main-house staff and nothing more.

Now, looking at the people lining up behind Olivia, she decided the whole room could use the lesson.

She crossed the floor to Sienna and looked down at the white embroidered silk scarf at her throat.

“What?” Sienna said.

The word was barely out before Nora reached over and lifted the scarf right off her.

“Give that back! Are you that broke? You’re stealing a $5,000 scarf now?”

Sienna shouted it at her, furious.

Nora carried the scarf over to a maid standing on duty nearby and wiped it once down the side of the maid’s face.

Then she turned and held it out. “Here. Your scarf.”

Sienna stared at the smear of foundation and lipstick across the white silk.

Her whole face curled. “You wiped it on a maid. It’s filthy. I don’t want it. Throw it in the trash!”

Nora smiled without a trace of warmth. “So you do understand. Something another person has used is dirty and belongs in the trash. It disgusts you. What makes you think it doesn’t disgust me?”

“That’s different,” Sienna snapped. “She’s a maid. Olivia is a Blithe.”

Nora’s eyes stayed cold. “Everyone in this room is a person. Does a family name make Olivia worth more than a maid?”

Sienna had nothing to come back with, and her face went red.

Nora tipped her head and smiled at Olivia. “Miss Blithe, do you think you’re worth more than a maid?”

Olivia had always played warm and approachable, nothing like an heiress.

There was only one answer available to her, and she gave it with a smile. “Of course not. We’re all people. Nobody is worth more or less because of a name or a job.”

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15:29 Thu, Oct 11.

Chapter 68 Keep the Scarf

Finished

Nora pushed the scarf into her hands. “Then it’s yours. A $5,000 scarf, so wash it properly. Don’t let it go to waste.”

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