What She Overheard in Her Own Marriage novel Chapter 569

Seeing the fleeting sadness on her daughter's face, Jane immediately stopped her son from prying. "Alright, mind your own business. Stay out of Kaia's affairs."

"Mom, I just think it's a real shame. They were actually a great match, and there's Brynlee too," Leo said with a sigh.

"There's nothing to feel bad about. If the effort isn't mutual, even the deepest love will turn ice cold. It's pointless." Jane raised her arm, gesturing to Warren. "Go pay the bill, it's time we head back."

Warren suddenly realized he hadn't settled the check yet and hurried toward the front desk.

"Mom, let me," Kaia said.

"No way. You're a Chavez, and your father and I agreed we were throwing this birthday dinner for you." Jane grabbed her arm, stopping her.

Warren quickly returned, looking thoroughly confused. "Someone already paid."

Jane blinked. "Did they say who?"

"Just that it was a handsome guy."

Jane laughed. "Everyone who showed up today was handsome. Which one was it?"

Leo immediately slapped his thigh. "I'm so slow! If I had known, I would have used the restroom excuse halfway through and paid the bill."

"What's the point of saying that now? You should have been quicker," Jane rolled her eyes at him.

Kaia smiled faintly. "Well, since it's paid for, let's head home."

Warren and Leo grabbed the mountains of birthday gifts, and the family left together.

Meanwhile, Noelle was sitting in Chloe's living room, sipping bird's nest soup and enjoying the heater. The afternoon was lazy and comfortable. She stroked her slightly rounded belly, feeling a sense of security.

Just then, Heather forwarded her an article about the Sanders Conglomerate.

Noelle casually scrolled through it, but a second later, she sat bolt upright.

It was a freshly published financial report. The headline read: Aethelstan Medical Scandal Explodes, Group Rushes Integration Plan.

But what exactly was this Aethelstan scandal?

Because Noelle had been kicked out of the company chat groups, she no longer had real-time access to internal news. She immediately called Gordon and found out that a vision-treatment project she had previously negotiated for the company was embroiled in data fraud. Noelle was instantly paralyzed by panic.

With a disaster of this scale, the conglomerate hadn't reached out to hold her accountable. They hadn't even called to ask about the initial negotiations. Instead, they just merged Aethelstan and Veridian and handed total control to Kaia. Whose decision was this?

Was it Finnian?

If they were skipping the investigation entirely, did that mean she had been permanently kicked out of Aethelstan?

Right on cue, a text from Heather popped up: "Noelle, are you okay?"

Noelle saw red. Her toxic friend always knew exactly when to slide the knife in deeper.

She was doing perfectly fine—she just wanted to smash her phone and everything else in sight into a million pieces.

Her face dark with rage, Noelle completely ignored the fake concern, stood up, and stormed upstairs.