Revenge amnesia upgraded to his brother novel Chapter 121

Chapter 121

Norah’s POV

After seeing Mateo out, I went to Irina’s apartment.

Finished

Irina wore a gold silk robe, her red hair falling loosely over her shoulders. She leaned lazily against the doorframe with a glass of red wine in hand.

When she saw me, she raised a brow. “Well, well, our queen. Came here to lick her wounds after losing a battle?”

I ignored her teasing and walked straight in.

“I want you to officially become a partner in Thistlebird.”

Irina froze for a second, then laughed, setting her glass down as she headed for the bar to pour me a drink.

“A partner? Norah, I thought we were just allies. You want to use my name and resources to give your little brand that just crawled out of the rubble a boost?”

I took the glass and looked at her. “Not a little brand. An empire.”

I placed the equity transfer documents for Elysian Dream on the bar, along with Medici Group’s latest partnership confirmation.

Irina’s smile finally faded.

She picked up the documents and flipped through them quickly. The surprise in her eyes grew with every

page.

“Madwoman,” she muttered as she set them down.

“One Thistlebird, one E&D. One in Paris, one in Milan. You want to run two luxury brands at the same time? Norah, who do you think you are–the tsarina of the fashion world?”

“Why not?” I countered.

We locked eyes, the air between us thick with ambition and the thrill of a coming war.

That was when a sudden wave of nausea ripped through me.

I clapped a hand over my mouth and bolted for the bathroom, collapsing by the toilet and heaving until the

room spun.

Footsteps sounded behind me.

Irina leaned against the doorframe, frowning as she watched me in that pathetic state.

“Norah, that’s not just being drunk. What’s going on with you?”

I rinsed my mouth and splashed cold water on my face.

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Chapter 121

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The woman staring back at me in the mirror was pale as a ghost.

I dug into my bag, took out the ultrasound report and handed it to her.

Irina took it with a puzzled look. When she focused on the blurry little image of the tiny gestational sac, shock exploded across her face.

“Whose is it?”

“Who do you think?”

“Lucien,” she said, eyes sharpening. “So what now? You want me to charge ahead for you while you sit back, rest up, and wait for your knight to come home, so he can put the Thornbird Crown on your head and lock you in his gilded cage?”

“No.” I lifted my head and met her gaze.

“This child is not my shackle.”

“He’s my armor. My weak spot, yes–but also my sharpest weapon.”

“I’m not going to walk away from the battlefield because of him. On the contrary, I’m going to build a real empire for him. One that belongs only to us.”

“An empire that doesn’t need to bow to any man or rely on any family. A fashion empire where I make every single decision.”

Irina looked at me for a long time without saying a word.

Then she laughed–this time with pure, unfiltered admiration.

“Madwoman,” she repeated, but now there was a feverish edge to it. “But I like it.”

“Alright then. Tell me what you need me to do.”

“Paris is yours,” I said. “I’m leaving the reconstruction and operation of Thistlebird to you and Sophie. I’ll go to Milan myself and sit at the helm of E&D.”

“Irina, I need you to guard our base in Paris.” I paused, resting a hand over my still–flat stomach. “And I need you to help me keep this secret.”

“He doesn’t know?” Irina asked, stunned.

“He doesn’t.”

“You’re planning to keep it from him?”

“No.” I shook my head. “I’ll tell him. Just… not now.”

“Not while he thinks he can use money and status to cage me. Not while he’s still bound by family duties and a marriage contract.”

“I’m going to wait until he truly understands that I, Norah Hawthorne, have never been some princess waiting for his salvation.”

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“I’ll make him see that without him, I still live beautifully and blaze just as bright. I want him to know that our love, if it still exists, is about standing side by side, equal in power–not about one person graciously protecting and providing for the other.”

I turned to the window and looked out at the night as I spoke, my voice level and steady.

“When that day comes, if he still loves me, if he’s still willing to give up everything for me–he’ll come find

me.”

“And if he chooses someone else…”

“Then this child will belong to me, and me alone.”

Irina came over and pulled me into a tight hug.

“No,” she said. “This child belongs to both of us.”

“Go,” she added firmly. “You can leave Paris to me. No one is going to so much as touch a hair on your empire.”

“And,” she stepped back, eyes drifting down to my belly, a wicked smile tugging at her lips, “I honestly can’t. wait to see Lucien’s face when he finds out his dear wife not only ran away, but took his child with her.”

I couldn’t help but laugh. All the gloom that had been weighing on me for days seemed to lift, just a little, in

that moment.

Right then, my phone started vibrating like crazy.

Emily had spammed me with dozens of messages.

I quickly opened the latest one.

It was a video.

The Constantine Group’s top–floor boardroom appeared on screen.

Lucien sat at the head of the table, dressed in a black suit.

Across from him sat Amélie–and next to her, her father, Robert Veyron, the head of the Veyron Group.

Amélie slid a document across the table toward Lucien.

He picked it up and opened it. The hand holding the pen hovered in mid–air for a long time.

At last, he lifted his head and glanced out the window.

Then he lowered his gaze and signed his name on the document.

The news alert Emily forwarded me had a headline that screamed:

[The Wedding of the Century! Constantine Group heir Lucien Constantine officially engaged to arms giant Veyron heiress Amélie Veyron!]

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