The Paper Wife’s Empire novel Chapter 24

Afterward, Yancey explained to Ramona that Wisteria was the Huxley family’s adopted daughter. They’d practically grown up together. Wisteria had a bit of a temper, but she wasn’t a bad person. Yancey told Ramona not to take her words to heart.

“The Huxley family? As in Huxley Toys?” Ramona suddenly remembered Ms. Huxley, whom she’d met when house-hunting.

“That’s right, Huxley Toys.” Yancey went on to say that Mrs. Huxley and Melinda were close friends, so the two families interacted often.

The Huxleys had no sons—just two daughters: Solenne, their biological daughter, and Wisteria, their adopted one. So the woman she’d competed with over buying the house must have been Solenne.

No wonder Wisteria had looked at her so strangely when she heard her name. It must have been Solenne who spread the rumor about her being illegitimate.

The thought of having to see those unpleasant people at the dinner party tomorrow left Ramona feeling deflated. Socializing with these high-society heiresses was far more exhausting than any ordinary work event.

It was Ramona’s first time abroad, and she found herself unable to sleep because of the jet lag. Lying in bed, she started scrolling through her phone and stumbled across a new tweet from Ethan. It was nothing but a beautiful city nightscape—no caption, just the photo.

Ramona recalled what Fenton had said on the plane earlier that day.

“Ramona, have you heard of the three-day rule when it comes to dating?”

“The three-day rule?” she’d asked.

“It means that if someone contacts you within three days of meeting, they’re interested. If not, there’s no hope.”

It was obvious Fenton was fishing for updates about her and Ethan. But what was there to update? It had already been three days, and Ethan hadn’t reached out at all.

Ramona tapped on Ethan’s profile. His avatar was also a night scene, but instead of the city, it was a wild, starlit mountain landscape—vast and bright.

After hesitating for ages, Ramona finally sent him a message:

“Mr. Jordon, are you awake?”

The message disappeared into the void. Ramona stared at her phone for twenty minutes, but there was no reply. Ethan’s tweet had been posted just a minute ago—he was clearly online. He just didn’t want to talk to her, did he?

Truthfully, Ramona had no ulterior motives. She just felt uneasy, surrounded by people she couldn’t trust. This marriage alliance was her safety net. She had to treat it as seriously as her career: if Ethan wasn’t going to make the first move, then she’d have to be the proactive one.

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