I Was His Wife, Then His Widow, Then No One's But My Own novel Chapter 175

The moment Sienna stormed out of Nora's place, she frantically dialed Seraphina's number.

The second the call connected, her furious voice blasted through the speaker. "Let me tell you, Seraphina, Nora is completely out of line! Do you know what she just said to me? She actually had the nerve to demand her money back! I went out of my way to set her up with a great guy, and she repays me by hounding me for that 500,000 dollars. Tell me she isn't totally psycho!"

Seraphina was lounging on her living room sofa with a sheet mask on. At the sound of Sienna's rapid-fire screeching, her brow furrowed in annoyance.

She was already in a foul mood. Finnegan's wounds hadn't fully healed, Nora had checked out of the hospital early to return to the institute, and just that morning, Nora had publicly humiliated her in front of everyone at the lab.

She hadn't even recovered from that suffocating frustration, and Sienna's whining only grated on her nerves further.

However, Sienna's next words made Seraphina sit up straight, her senses instantly on high alert.

Sienna babbled on, full of grievance. "And get this—Nora didn't even accept the setup! My cousin just texted me. She flat-out rejected his friend request without a second thought!

"Seriously, she's a widow with baggage! How dare she turn up her nose at my cousin? Sure, he's divorced, but he's an executive making a million a year! He's got a house, a car, savings. Frankly, I thought he was settling by going for her, and she has the audacity to say no. But my cousin mentioned before that she was exactly his type, so now it's just an embarrassing mess."

Seraphina bolted upright on the sofa. The sheet mask slid off her face as she snatched it and chucked it into the nearby trash can. Her voice dropped to an icy octave. "What did you just say? She rejected it?"

Thrilled to finally have an audience, Sienna laid it on thicker. "Yes! What is wrong with her? I'm not trying to sabotage her; I'm looking out for her! She's raising Cassie all by herself, and Finnegan has been dead for five years. She can't seriously plan to spend the rest of her life playing the grieving widow, right?"

"Seeing is believing, right? Maybe once she meets your cousin in person, she'll change her tune. Women always play a little hard to get with these things, especially someone as stubborn as Nora. If you ask her directly, of course she's going to say no. But if you put the man right in front of her face, do you really think she'll have the nerve to reject him publicly?"

Sienna's anger cooled slightly at the logic, though she still sounded bitter. "Forget about the date for a second. She didn't just reject him; she had the gall to demand her money back! It's fifty grand! She made it sound like I was trying to steal from her.

"It's not like I wasn't going to pay her back. As soon as I have the cash, I'll transfer it, down to the last cent. We've been friends for years, and she comes after me like some ruthless loan shark. Over a little money? Really?"

Seraphina couldn't care less about Sienna's 500,000 dollars. She completely tuned out the rest of the rant, her mind already spinning a new, venomous web.

Her eyes narrowed slightly as a smirk touched her lips. "I have an idea. Find an excuse to invite her out tomorrow. Don't mention the blind date. Just tell her you want to go shopping or grab lunch. Then, have your cousin happen to be at the exact same place. Frame it as a total coincidence. Once everyone sits down and starts talking, the tension will break, and Nora might just lower her guard."