The Contracted Ever After (Cordelia and Ronan) novel Chapter 36

Cordelia had some sweet reveries about Ronan, but she wasn't pinning high hopes on the marriage. Being kicked out, she didn't feel the sting of loss or gain.

She even shot Adrian a message: [Look what you've done. You threatened Ronan and he threw me out straight away. How much space you reckon I occupy in his heart? He throws me a dime when he's in a good mood and I don't even dare to take it, yet you thought it was a good idea to blackmail him!]

The whole point of this was to get Adrian to drop the idea of blackmailing Ronan, to alert him that Ronan was no pushover.

Adrian, seeing the message, got even more pissed off. He too realized that Ronan was no easy mark, let alone someone to be trifled with.

"Heartless! Cold-blooded!" Adrian muttered bitterly.

"Who are you talking about?" Jamie asked.

Adrian was the Colby family's driver, tasked with taking Jamie to the accounting firm today. Jamie had his own firm.

"Ronan, he kicked Cordelia out!" Adrian said.

"Why?" Jamie asked.

"I don't know. Maybe he did it to mock and trample on the dignity of us poor folks. Who knows what his real motive was?" Adrian replied with a dark chuckle.

As expected, Jamie furrowed his brows.

After a while, Adrian went on, "Also, when I last visited Ronan, he said that his marriage with Cordelia was just a formality. Apparently, Ronan's grandfather is sick and he needed to get married to show him how happy he is, just to put the old man's mind at ease. That's why he picked Cordelia."

That was Adrian's well-considered conclusion.

During his last visit to Ronan's place, the maid had whispered to him that Barney was ill and sleeping, asking him to keep his voice down. Adrian also noticed the medical supplies and loads of medications around Ronan's house.

Later, Adrian found out that Ronan's grandfather had only recently moved in, most likely because his condition had worsened. Ronan was probably putting on a show, clandestinely getting married to cheer up his grandfather and then quietly divorcing, with Barney being the only one in the dark.

Ronan kicking Cordelia out really did make it seem like there were no feelings between them. No wonder he showed her no sympathy.

So, Adrian figured that the key to the whole marriage situation was Barney. Barney was the key!