Never Mistake a Queen for a Lapdog novel Chapter 320

Things weren’t looking too bright on the Omniva Group side either.

Sophia glanced at Noreen. “You’re interested in the Seymour Group?”

“I’m just watching for now,” Noreen replied, noncommittal. “Who knows—maybe Jude will pull off a miracle and turn the Seymour Group around himself.”

Sophia had a hard time buying that.

“Oh, by the way, I found out something else.” Sophia leaned in. “Jude’s been selling off his collectibles to invest in TechVenture.”

Noreen just stared at her in disbelief.

How could someone trip over the same stone a hundred times and never learn?

Honestly, it was a miracle Jude hadn’t given himself a heart attack by now.

—

On Wednesday, Noreen cleared her entire schedule for one thing: visiting her mentor.

They hadn’t seen each other in seven years. Now, standing at his front door, her nerves were shot.

She couldn’t bring herself to press the doorbell. Her hand hovered, then fell, hovered again, then dropped back down. By the end of it, her palms were clammy with cold sweat, but the doorbell remained untouched.

Inside the house, Halley Joyner was getting restless too.

In the end, he had no choice but to nudge the housekeeper to take out the trash, just to “accidentally” bump into Noreen outside.

The housekeeper did as told, and Noreen forced herself to introduce, “Hello, my name is Noreen. I’m here to see Professor Joyner.”

“Oh! Professor Joyner is home—come on in,” the housekeeper said, ushering her inside.

At this point, there was no turning back; Noreen had to go in.

By the time she stepped into the foyer, Halley was already sitting in his chair, sipping tea with a newspaper open, looking thoroughly absorbed.

Noreen lingered awkwardly by the door, too nervous to take another step.

The housekeeper announced, “Professor Joyner, you have a visitor.”

Halley raised his eyebrows and shot a glance toward the entrance.

When he saw it was Noreen, he simply gave a curt look before returning to his paper, as if nothing had happened.

Noreen really wished she’d asked Dylan Wilder to come with her. At least then, someone could break this ice-cold silence.

She felt like a schoolgirl being punished, standing stiffly at the door, not daring to move.

Halley had planned to keep up the cold act, but as soon as he met her eyes, the facade began to crack.

“Fine. Tell the housekeeper what you’d like to eat—she makes a great stew.”

“You still remember I like stew?”

“Who said I remembered? I’m just saying she makes a good one.”

Halley had always been the type with a sharp tongue but a soft heart. The fact that he was even talking to her meant the anger had pretty much faded.

Noreen knew she’d been at fault back then. So she apologized sincerely, said a few kind words to soften him up, and soon enough, he relented.

She ended up staying for dinner.

She’d planned to spend the afternoon, but some urgent situation cropped up at Naylor Automotive Group, so Noreen had to cut her visit short.

“Work comes first,” Halley said.

She hurried out of the Joyner house, and as her car pulled away, she passed a Rolls-Royce coming from the opposite direction.

Henry Brooke, sitting inside, caught sight of Noreen through the window. His brow furrowed instinctively.

Why did she seem to pop up everywhere he went?