My Unchosen Ex Chases Reborn Me (Soren and Fiona) novel Chapter 66

10:22 Sat, Oct 11

Chapter 66 Terms Of Surrender

Chapter 66 Terms Of Surrender

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“Every expense Ulrich faces, I can shoulder,” Fiona said. “Every hole in the accounts, I can patch. All I ask is that you yield the household keys. The choice, Aunt Joanna, is entirely yours.”

Joanna had come precisely because delay was no longer possible. Settling the debt quietly with the second branch was, in truth, her best and only option.

After she confessed everything to Stanley, he unleashed a storm of scolding and, when the shouting ended, ordered her to surrender the household accounts to Meryl.

When you report our agreement to Mother, give her only half the figure, Fiona said, her tone light, almost companionable. “As for the ledgers you hand over, I trust you know how to arrange them.”

Fiona kept the ledgers deliberately modest. She had no wish for Meryl to discover that her daughter ran a quiet side business. With the figures pared to scraps, Meryl would assume the money was nothing more than private spending cash.

Joanna chose the simplest explanation–Fiona must be shielding Meryl’s tender heart. She pressed no further, yet the incident etched itself in her mind. The young woman from the second branch, she decided, was anything but simple.

Once the notion settled in Joanna’s mind, the actual handover unfolded with brisk efficiency. Figures were tallied, seals exchanged, and servants hurried down corridors like chess pieces swept into their proper squares.

After Joanna and Meryl reached a quiet agreement, Joanna presented the arrangement to Hannah. The matriarch sat beneath a blanket, listening while the winter light silvered the lines of her face and lent a grave stillness.

Though suspicion flickered in the old woman’s eyes, she was in no mood for another skirmish

the younger women

between the main and second branches. She waved them awaz or another skirmish

to handle matters as they wished.

Only after the negotiations were history did Fiona see Yolanda again. Fiona was basking in the courtyard’s early sun, ankles tucked under a fox–fur throw, when the other woman appeared at the gate

“Yolanda, perhaps you resent me for all that trouble?”

“Hardly. I was only afraid you wouldn’t wish to see me.”

Her dowry maids had grumbled that losing authority in the main branch would leave her

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10:23 Sat, Oct 11

Chapter 66 Terms Of Surrender

husband begging favors from the second. Yolanda dismissed the chatter. She could not imagine Fiona exploiting the shift to make life difficult for her.

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Fiona clasped her fingers. “Yolanda, the quarrel between our branches changes nothing in my heart. If my brother needs help, send for me–day or night–and I’ll be there.”

Joanna’s missteps were Joamma’s burden. Fiona would never let that stain her affection for Rita

still less for Ulrich. The sins of one woman, she believed, should not be pinned to those who loved her.

Yolanda’s eyes shimmered. “I know my mother–in–law was at fault,” she said softly. “Mu husband feels the same. He believes you chose the right course.”

Yolanda, if Joanna ever crosses you again, promise me you’ll tell Ulrich at once. Enduring in silence helps no one; it only convinces him his mother treats you kindly”

Yolanda nodded, though at her tender age she had yet to learn when obedience ended and self–protection began.

“Your knee’s still mending–can you manage a stroll to fly kites with me?”

Fiona laughed. “Running may be out of the question, but walking is easy enough.

Early spring had finally broken the snow’s grip. Meltwater threaded along stone paths, trees pushed out shy green shoots, and by noon the sun turned so generous that a shawl felt excessive rather than prudent.

The proposed kite excursion was merely a pretext. What mattered was getting beyond the estate walls, where Fiona had business that could not be conducted under family eyes.

Several days earlier, Harriet had smuggled a note to Fiona. A ragged middle–aged man had appeared at the Amber Room and refused to leave, no matter how many clerks tried to shoo him into the street.

Fiona suspected the stranger was connected to the clusive Divine Doctor, Morgan Murren. Once her knee allowed, she meant to pay the teahouse a quiet call–hence today’s outing with Yolanda

Passing the Amber Room, they found a sea of heads bobbing in a queue that curled like ribbon around the corner.

From inside their carriage, Yolanda lifted a silk curtain and peered out. “Their business is booming,” she said, eyebrows lifting in mild envy.

“Would you like to step inside and look around?” Fiona asked, a playful tilt to her smile.

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10:23 Sat, Oct 11

Chapter 66 Terms Of Surrender

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“You know how things stand with the main branch,” Yolanda sighed. “If I return with luxuries on my arm. Mother–in–law will scold that I spend too freely when our position is already

delicate.”

Fiona suppressed a sigh. Yolanda still weighed Joanna’s opinion too heavily, she thought, event when the money came from her own dowry. If Joanna begrudges even that, isn’t her pettiness laid

bare!

They entered all the same, the fragrant crush of cosmetics wrapping around them. At once Fiona’s gaze snagged on the shabby middle–aged man crouched near the counter. He wasn’t the person she had envisioned, yet he was close.

She allowed herself only a heartbeat’s study before turning away. Two boxes of Snow–Glow Cream were selected as casually as choosing bread. At the register, she murmured to steward Jonathan to see the vagrant lodged and fed.

Purchase complete, she linked arms with Yolanda and slipped back into daylight, neither woman giving the watching crowd the faintest hint of ulterior purpose.

The day broke bright and gentle, the kind of early spring clarity that coaxes color back into stone walls and sets pond water blinking like glass.

In Jexburgh, that meant silk parasols opened shamelessly early and half the noblewomen of the capital spilled onto the avenues in search of breezes, gossip, and any excuse to stay outdoors

Naomi spotted Fiona almost at once. The younger girl gathered her silk skirts and hurried across the lawn, her eagerness as blatant as the spring light glancing off the river in the

distance.

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