The Divorce That Brought Us Back novel Chapter 68

At Arthur Dodge's birthday banquet two years ago, the patriarch had tried to finalize an engagement between Nora and Sebastian.

Arthur had meant well.

Knowing Vivian treated Nora like garbage, Arthur had hoped Sebastian would become the powerful backer Nora so desperately needed.

But that very decision was what pushed Bella to make her move.

Vivian hadn't wanted Bella to carry the stigma of stealing her cousin's fiancé.

Destroying Nora entirely was the cleanest solution.

So, even when Nora explicitly stated that she didn't like Sebastian and wasn't ready to get married, no one cared. Everyone simply pushed their own agendas.

Maloney included.

He had also attended that banquet.

He had seen Vivian and Bella drag Nora away, and he had followed them.

When Nora had clung to Maloney, begging for help, only one thought had crossed his mind.

This was his only chance.

When they were younger, Nora had been perfectly happy to follow Maloney around. But as she grew older, every time she saw him, she would look startled, cover her blushing face, and run the other way.

Whenever he tried to ask her out for dinner, she would stutter through an awkward rejection.

If Nora had married Sebastian, Maloney would have lost her forever.

So, he had carried her away.

She had quite literally thrown herself into his arms.

Carrying her into a hotel room, Maloney had asked, "Let me help you. Okay?"

Nora hadn't answered.

Holding her hand, he asked a second time.

She had tried to pull away.

But her hands were small, and her strength was gone. Maloney had enveloped her delicate hand completely in his, refusing to let go.

She still hadn't answered.

A few years ago, when Nora first started gaining public recognition, an interviewer had asked her to name the three people she was most grateful to. Nora had answered: First, Professor Eloise, for discovering her talent; second, her two best friends, for always standing by her; and third, the person who had protected her when she was young.

In reality, the people who had protected her the most during her childhood were undoubtedly her two best friends.

Yet she had carved out an entire, separate category just to acknowledge childhood favors.

It proved just how heavily she weighed past debts of gratitude.

Maloney just so happened to have helped her a few times when they were young.

He occupied that tiny fraction of her heart.

So, Maloney had absolutely no right to criticize Nora for being too grateful.

He was actively benefiting from it.

"Maloney."

Nora had slipped out of the interrogation room without him noticing. She waved a hand in front of his face to snap him out of his daze.

Blinking, Maloney grabbed her hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles.