The Contracted Ever After (Cordelia and Ronan) novel Chapter 141

It was morning and Barney was holed up in his room, doodling away.

"Grandpa, I'm here to see you," Deanna told Barney.

"Is that you, Deanna? You and Ronan have a chinwag in the living room. I won't be budging from here," chuckled Grandpa.

"Grandpa, you're cracking me up. Truth be told, I was hoping Ronan would invest in me, but he wasn’t biting." Deanna said, pretending to be disappointed.

"So you want me to twist his arm, do you?" Barney replied, grinning.

"No way, I wouldn't put you in a tight spot." Deanna laughed back. She then noticed a bottle of "Betaloc" medicine next to Barney's drawing table.

Like many elderly folks, Grandpa had his fair share of old-age ailments and relied heavily on his meds. Deanna, being an actress and pretty worldly, knew that this medicine was primarily for treating heart failure.

"Grandpa, I better be off now," Deanna said.

"Alright then," Grandpa replied nonchalantly, continuing his drawing.

After Deanna left, she chatted with Ronan again, "How about this, Ronan. You come with me to my workplace on Sunday, and then decide whether you want to invest. How does that sound?”

"Sunday? I've already got plans." Ronan had already made arrangements to discuss a project with someone.

Deanna pretended to be angry. "Well, I guess we'll have to take a rain check on that one."

In the afternoon, Cordelia came home and dropped a set of keys in front of Ronan. It was the keys to Shelley's house, which Ronan recognized all too well.

"What's up?" he asked Cordelia, looking up.

"My mom said no. Why are you giving us such a valuable thing out of the blue? My mom specifically asked me to bring these keys back to you today," Cordelia said. "My brother won't listen to her. Besides, he's already moved into the house you gave him. She plans to move back to the old house in the future, so you don't need to bother yourself anymore!"

Seeing Cordelia trying so hard to protect her dignity and thinking about Deanna and her mother's greed, Ronan was filled with mixed feelings.

"This house is worth a lot more than half a million," Ronan said. "Don't you want more?" Once upon a time, he thought Cordelia was a real gold digger.

"But we can't accept it. Money needs to come from legitimate channels." Cordelia said, tidying up her clothes in her room.

"Are you worried that if we get too much, it will affect our relationship in the future?" Ronan asked again.

Cordelia's eyes dimmed. She knew that one day she would have to part ways with Ronan, so why would she want his things?