Chapter 185
“An irrelevant person?” Stella repeated, finding the words almost laughable. “Who’s irrelevant? Anna?”
Monroe said, “Look, I saw you in trouble and I saved you. But this is how you treat my girlfriend? If I’d known you’d act like this, I wouldn’t have bothered helping you at all.”
Stella chuckled. “You saved me because you felt like it. If you didn’t want to, you could’ve just walked away. I never begged you for help, did
“?ן
“You!” Monroe sputtered, furious. He had never met anyon
so infuriating before.
“Look, I’ve already made it clear. Your saving me settles things between us. It’s just between you and me. It has nothing to do with Anna,”
Stella said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Monroe couldn’t get it at all.
Stella couldn’t be bothered to explain. If Monroe actually cared, it wouldn’t be hard for him to dig up the truth. But he clearly didn’t want to. Maybe he really did have feelings for her, so she wouldn’t even bother worrying about it.
“Yeah, I admit it. I did it to Anna. Go ahead, call the cops or try to get revenge, whatever. I did it, and I just have one thing to say: Anna had it coming,” Stella said flatly.
With that, she turned to leave, but Monroe yanked her back. His hand raised like he was about to slap her.
Stella stared him down, waiting. When he still didn’t dare hit her, she sneered, “You really are a useless coward.” Then she turned around and walked away without another word.
Monroe stared at Stella in utter disbelief. He thought, ‘Did she really just call me a coward? How the hell am I a coward?‘
Meanwhile, back at the office, when Stella returned unscathed, Nola let out a huge sigh of relief.
As soon as Stella got back to the office, she received a video call from Jordan. She settled into her chair and answered. The scenery on the other end was completely unfamiliar to her, but it was absolutely stunning.
“So, what do you think? Isn’t it gorgeous?” Jordan asked.
Stella nodded. “It is beautiful. Jordan, have you had lunch yet?”
“Yeah. Guess what I had for lunch?” Jordan asked.
Stella smiled. It was a genuine, heartfelt smile that seemed to only appear when she was with Jordan, as if she could truly be herself around
him.
“What did you have?” she asked.
“Local home–cooked food. It was really good time I bring you here, I’ll take you to try it,” Jordan said.
Stella nodded. “Okay.”
For the first time, Stella felt like someone actually cared about her. Whenever Andrew or Max went on business trips, they’d always bring back snacks, but Anna was always the first person they thought of. No one ever remembered her.
Stella realized just how tough she used to be. No matter what people did to her, she always managed to tough it out. She thought, ‘It’ll be one thing if putting up with everything actually leads to something good, but what if it doesn’t?‘
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Jordan went on, sharing all kinds of stories about the place and even promising that he’d take Stella there someday. Whether she would zo there or not, at least she knew that, right now, she really mattered to him.
“You don’t believe me?” Jordan teased when he noticed Stella hadn’t answered.
“Of course I do. Didn’t you say if my supermarket wasn’t about to open, you’d have already taken me there?” Stella replied.
“I thought you were quiet because you thought I was just messing with you,” Jordan said.
“No, I was just lost in some old memories, that’s all. Oh, by the way, Anna came to see me today,” Stella said.
Jordan immediately tensed up. “Did she mess with you again?”
Stella said, “Hey, don’t get worked up. She didn’t do anything. Actually, it was me…”
Stella confessed everything she’d done, but even after admitting it, she couldn’t shake the guilt. She felt like she was no different from Anna.
“You’re not in the wrong,” Jordan suddenly cut in.
“Don’t beat yourself up. You’ve always tried to be a good person, but all that’s ever done is let people walk all over you. Haven’t you had enough of being treated like that?”
Stella suddenly got it. “Alright, I get it now,” she said.
“You’re just giving her a taste of her own medicine. There’s nothing wrong with that, Stella. You did the right thing. Besides, someone like her deserves to be treated that way,” Jordan said firmly.
Stella knew she didn’t have the evidence yet, but she was determined to make sure Anna realized she would be property punished.
“Alright, I gotta go. I’ve got some things to take care of,” Jordan said.
Stella nodded. Before she could think any more about it, she heard a knock at the door. “Come in,” she called, and Nola walked in.
“Ms. Hayes, Andrew Hayes is here,” Nola said. Obviously, he was here because of Anna.
“Tell security to stop him. Don’t let him in,” Stella said.
“Yes, Ms. Hayes,” Nola replied.
Downstairs, Andrew was throwing a fit, but no matter how much of a fuss he made, Stella didn’t bother going down to see him. She was swamped with work and had zero time to waste on him.
Andrew kept waiting, thinking he’d finally catch Stella when she got off work. But when the time came, she just slipped out through the underground garage and was gone before he even realized it.
Of course, Andrew wasn’t about to give up that easily, so he went straight to Jordan’s place to stir up trouble there instead.
Stella still ignored him completely. She thought, ‘Let’s see if he really dares to hang around here all night.”
Just as she expected, Andrew finally left a little after eleven. Stella just found it laughable. She thought, ‘Paternal love, huh? When it really matters, people only ever look out for themselves.’
Stella slept pretty well that night. But the next morning, on her way to work, Andrew was waiting for her outside. “Stella, you disobedient brat. Get out of the car right now,” Andrew yelled.
Stella opened the car door to get out. Andrew’s hand shot out, ready to slap her. But before he could touch her, a few men rushed over and
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quickly restrained him. Stella had never seen these guys before, so she was a bit surprised.
One of the men quickly explained, “Don’t worry, Mrs. Erwin. We’re not bad people. Before Mr. Erwin left, he asked us to protect you
Stella felt warm. She thought, ‘The people who gave me life never cared about me, but now, a man who used to be a complete stranger is the one who actually worries about me.‘
Stella walked straight up to Andrew. Andrew tried to struggle, but the guys pinning him down were pros, so he couldn’t budge at all.
“Stella, are you crazy? How could you treat your sister like that? I’m here to set things right. Tell them to let me go. Don’t forget, I’m your father,” Andrew shouted.
Stella slowly crouched down, watching as Andrew was pinned to the ground.
“Father? Oh, so you still remember you’re my father? What kind of father doesn’t give a damn about his own daughter and keeps drugging her, shoving her into hell?” Stella shot back.
“You’re my child, so I can do whatever the hell I want with you!” Andrew barked.
Stella suddenly let out a laugh. “You’re right. You always did whatever you wanted. But guess what? I can fight back now.
“When I was a kid, I was powerless, had no one to rely on, so I just had to take it. But now that I’m grown, why the hell should I let you keep walking all over me?
“When I was on a business trip, Anna tried to have a bunch of guys rape me, So tell me, what’s wrong with me fighting back?”
“What nonsense are you spouting? Anna would never do something like that. She’s way better than you ever were. You’re just making excuses for your own mistakes,” Andrew yelled.
“Andrew, maybe I don’t have the evidence yet, but one day, I’ll lay it all out in front of you and show you what your precious Anna is really like,” Stella said coldly.
Suddenly, Stella remembered something. “Oh, and actually, I’m not completely without evidence. Just take a look at this and you’ll see for yourself.”
