Madly Yours (Nora Reed) novel Chapter 335

"Mom."

Nora's tears instantly spilled over.

She had thought that after bearing her heart, her mother might spare her even a fraction of maternal love.

At least enough to make her feel like her mother loved her too...

But there was nothing.

Her mother's eyes only saw her stepdaughter, Jade.

She was willing to clear every obstacle for Jade, even if it meant groveling in front of her own biological daughter.

"You don't need to do that," Nora said softly. "Even if you threw yourself on the floor, I wouldn't agree."

She turned and walked toward the door.

"Nora!"

Penelope's expression shifted drastically. "You can't do this to me! I left everything behind in Northampton and suffered so much in San Francisco just for you! You—"

"You fled to San Francisco for yourself," Nora replied without looking back. "Not for me."

Her hand rested on the doorknob, just as she was about to turn it...

In a moment of sheer panic, Penelope blurted out, "Your father is out of prison!"

Nora froze in place, utterly motionless.

Seeing that she had finally stopped Nora in her tracks, Penelope breathed a sigh of relief, her tone softening.

"Nora, you don't want us to go back to the miserable lives we used to lead, do you?"

She quickly stepped up behind Nora.

"We have to be on the same page right now, just like we were fifteen years ago, to get through this crisis."

"He already tracked me down and said he wanted to see you, but I turned him away."

She paused, lowering her voice conspiratorially. "You wouldn't want Hudson or the Lancasters to know you have a biological father like that, would you?"

But before she could finish, Nora interrupted.

"He already found me. Hudson met him too."

Penelope's expression rigidified, failing to process how her usually foolproof trump card had suddenly lost all its power.

Nora turned to face her.

This was going to completely ruin her!

...

By the time Nora returned to the banquet hall, there were no visible traces of tears on her face.

Catching sight of an elaborate dessert and beverage station in the corner, she picked up a glass of juice and downed it in one go.

The chilled liquid slid down her throat, yet it did nothing to quell the bitter surge in her chest.

She reached for another glass, but just as it neared her lips, someone snatched it from her hand.

"Other people drown their sorrows in alcohol. What exactly is my darling trying to drown with juice?"

She instinctively glanced back, meeting a pair of intensely dark, piercing eyes.

She quickly looked away. "I was just thirsty."

Hudson didn't call her bluff. He set the juice aside. "Even if you're thirsty, you can't chug it like that. You'll give yourself a stomachache."

For some reason, a sudden wave of grievance swelled in Nora's heart.

She instinctively lowered her gaze, not wanting him to see her eyes tearing up again.