I Was His Wife, Then His Widow, Then No One's But My Own novel Chapter 292

Nora paused, her hands tightening around the teacup. She knew exactly what Zelda was referring to.

"Zelda, I really—"

"I know you declined."

Zelda cut her off, determined to make her case. "But I still want to tell you about him. His name is Preston Yates. He's three years younger than you, specializes in bioinformatics, and just returned from overseas. I've met him twice. He's grounded, respectable, and definitely not the flashy type."

Nora kept her head down and stayed silent.

Zelda let out a soft sigh. "Nora, I'm not telling you this because I want to play matchmaker. It's because I see how exhausted you are. You're carrying an entire lab on your shoulders, and when you go home, you don't even have anyone to talk to. It's not that I think you can't handle it. It's that I think you deserve to be cherished."

A sudden lump formed in Nora's throat.

She took a deep breath, forcing the wave of emotion back down, and looked up with a small smile. "Zelda, is your stew ready for seasoning? I think I smell something burning."

Zelda froze, then bolted toward the kitchen in a panic. Nora leaned back against the sofa and closed her eyes.

During lunch, Zelda didn't bring Preston up again. Instead, she chattered endlessly about recent events—her retirement life, how Xavier Vance had started keeping pet fish, and how her cat had eaten them, sending Xavier into a fit of rage.

Listening to her, Nora couldn't help but laugh. It was a warm, comforting afternoon, and she didn't leave until well after lunch.

By the time she walked out of Zelda's house, it was already 2 PM.

Getting into her car, Nora noticed she had unread messages.

One was from Xander, asking if she was home.

And, of course, there was another text from Finnegan.

Nora ignored Finnegan entirely and opened Xander's message thread.

Xander stepped inside and handed her the envelope. "Take a look at this first."

Nora took it and pulled out the contents. Inside was a stack of photos and several printed documents. The photos featured a middle-aged man she didn't recognize.

She flipped through a few pages, her brows knitting together. "What is this?"

"Seraphina Shaw's medical records from her time abroad."

Xander's tone was dangerously calm. "After you mentioned her involvement in the trial last time, I had someone look into her. She has no medical background whatsoever. But while she was overseas, she was involved with a research team whose focus was highly identical to yours.

"That team was later shut down for fabricating data. Her role back then wasn't as a researcher. She was their funder."

Nora's grip on the papers tightened. Terrified she had misread it, she went through the photos and documents again from start to finish. Finally, she looked up at Xander, absolute shock flashing in her eyes.

"Are you telling me that Seraphina's entire identity is a complete fabrication?"