The Wife He Forgot to Marry (Winona and Yule) novel Chapter 279

Violet packed her bags and immediately returned to the Capital. Within days, the news dropped: the Goddard matriarch had fallen mysteriously and severely ill.

Panicked, Mr. Goddard summoned Margaret back to the Capital to play the dutiful daughter-in-law and wait on Violet hand and foot.

Roxana packed her bags as well. "Stefan, I'm heading back to the Capital too. I'll be your inside man! If Mom tries to sneak back to Riverton, I'll text you the second she boards a plane."

"Perfect," Stefan agreed.

Once Roxana was gone, Stefan called his assistant into his office. "Have Mrs. Mallory and Maeve returned to the Capital?"

"No, sir," the assistant replied. "However, I did find out that Mrs. Mallory has flown a top-tier team of psychiatrists and therapists into Riverton."

It seemed Mrs. Mallory was planning to set up camp in the city, entirely enabling Maeve's obsession.

Stefan's expression darkened. With a mother indulging her every delusion, it was no wonder Maeve was rapidly losing her grip on reality.

*

After clocking out, Winona walked out of the office building and paused. Zack Charlton was standing eagerly by the entrance.

She blinked in surprise. Zack immediately jogged over, his face lighting up.

"Winona! You helped me out so much with that project data last week. I wanted to treat you to dinner to say thanks!"

A few colleagues walking past threw curious glances their way. Not wanting to spark office gossip, Winona quickly unlocked Zack's car and slid into the passenger seat.

As soon as he got in, she smiled pleasantly. "Let's invite Nigel and Sheldon, too. I actually have a few industry questions I wanted to run by them."

"Oh." Zack's face instantly fell. He had spent all day hyping himself up for a romantic, one-on-one dinner. Adding their two senior colleagues instantly turned it into a boring networking event.

But he couldn't bring himself to say no to her. Defeated, he pulled out his phone and made the calls.

Sheldon and Nigel arrived at the restaurant shortly after.

"Zack, you sneaky bastard! Trying to take Winona out without us?" Sheldon teased the moment he sat down.

Zack just sulked silently, entirely too depressed to engage in banter.

Halfway through the meal, Sheldon turned to Winona. "By the way, I spoke with Mr. Harper recently. I asked if he'd be okay with you coming over to our research institute to guest-lecture the new hires. He gave it his full blessing, but told me the final decision is obviously yours. What do you think?"

"My son, Zayden, is actually dropping by in a few minutes," Blythe announced with a sickeningly sweet smile. "It'll be wonderful for you young people to chat and get to know each other."

Simone wasn't an idiot. She instantly realized this was a forced blind date.

Her polite smile vanished, replaced by a glacial stare. Her aunt had tried this before, setting up "accidental" meetings with wealthy heirs. But Simone knew the truth: these men didn't want her; they wanted to absorb her father's tech empire.

So what if she was an only daughter? Why did society assume she needed a man to run her own family's business? She had absolutely no intention of marrying a man who just wanted to strip her of her assets and leave her powerless.

She had sworn off marriage entirely.

Seeing Simone's sudden, icy demeanor despite all her flattery, Blythe felt a surge of rage. She internally blamed Winona. If that ungrateful brat hadn't ruined things at the gallery, Simone wouldn't be so defensive right now!

Meanwhile, Winona and her group finished their dinner and walked out to the lobby.

"I can drive you home!" Zack offered eagerly.

"No, thank you," Winona laughed gently. "I live really close by. I'll just grab a cab. You guys go ahead."