Time-Limited Love: A Contract Expired, Not Renewed novel Chapter 249

“Rosalie, don’t worry,” one of the ladies said, her voice dripping with certainty. “Mr. Ford will divorce that doctor sooner or later and marry our Noelle. Just look at her—she’s clearly a lucky girl, blessed from the start.”

The room buzzed with similar flattery, each compliment building on the last. Rosalie and Noelle basked in the attention, their faces glowing with pride and unrestrained satisfaction.

At that moment, Juniper stepped into the living room, catching the tail end of their conversation. His already dark mood seemed to grow even stormier.

“Honey, you’re home!” Rosalie greeted, trying to smooth things over. “There’s a new roast of coffee—would you like to try some?”

“Try it? All you ever do is waste time on these pointless things! Do you do anything useful at all? You spend all day spending money and contribute nothing!”

Juniper’s harsh words landed with a thud in the middle of the room. Rosalie’s smile vanished; her face stiffened with embarrassment at being scolded in front of guests.

“What’s gotten into you?” she snapped back, her voice rising. “Why are you taking it out on me?”

Sensing the tension, the well-dressed ladies who’d come for coffee exchanged glances and hurriedly gathered their purses.

“We should be going. Thank you for having us,” one of them murmured.

“I’ll walk you out,” Noelle offered with a practiced smile, ushering the women to the door.

When she returned, her father’s voice boomed through the house.

“You’re still in the mood for coffee? We have a serious problem here—do you even realize what’s happened?”

Noelle hurried to his side, her tone gentle as she tried to soothe him. “Dad, let’s not get upset. Why don’t you tell us what’s going on?”

“That’s impossible,” Noelle blurted out, shaking her head. “Are you saying Landon gave that order? Why would Landon go out of his way to make things difficult for us?”

Noelle refused to believe Landon would ever turn his back on her.

“It has to be someone in the executive office—some jealous snake using Landon’s name to mess with us,” she spat, her expression twisting with bitterness at the mention of her imagined enemies.

Juniper regarded his daughter with something like exasperated pity. He didn’t even bother to argue. No one in Ford Group’s executive office would dare forge Landon’s orders and make such a major decision. Anyone smart enough to work in that office wasn’t as naïve as Noelle seemed to think.

But there was no point in saying any of that. His daughter would never accept the truth. She was completely lost in the fantasy Landon had spun for her, unwilling—or unable—to see reality.

“I knew it the moment I visited Ford Group the other day,” Rosalie cut in, refusing to let go of her own suspicions. “Those women in the office, all made up like sirens, have probably had their eye on Landon for ages.”