Chapter 205
Jordan studied Stella for a long moment. “Maybe you should stay home today. If there’s nothing urgent at the office, just take it e rej
Stella laughed. “Jordan, are you not sleeping well? Or is work getting to you? You’re being paranoid.”
“I don’t know. I feel better when here with you. But when you’re out there alone… Just skip work today, okay?”
“You’re overthinking this,” she said, shakin
her head. “I’ll be fine. Come on, let’s go together.”
Jordan exhaled, relenting. “Fine. But
go together, and
come
back together. No leaving alone.”
“Deal.” She looped her arm through hi
with a playful grin.
As they walked out, Mary watched them with an amused shake of her head. At least some things never changed.
Jordan made sure Stella entered the Hayes Group building safely, but before leaving, he called her one last time. “Any chance you’ll be leaving the office today?”
“Not sure,” Stella replied. “Probably not unless something comes up..
Why?”
“Just… try to stay inside if you can.”
Stella sighed in amused exasperation. “Alright, alright. If there’s no reason to go out, I won’t. Promise.”
Only then did Jordan seem to relax.
As she walked through the lobby, Stella couldn’t suppress a small, private smile. ‘No one has ever cared about me this much. Is this what it felt like to be truly loved?‘
But the moment she stepped off the elevator, her instincts prickled. Her grip tightened on her purse, eyes scanning the office.
S
The employees seemed normal, typing away at their desks and chatting by the coffee machine. Stella told herself maybe she was just paranoid after Jordan’s warnings.
Then she noticed Nola’s empty desk. Her assistant was never late. Stella was about to ask someone when her phone buzzed. It was an unfamiliar number with a vaguely familiar area code.
“Hello?” she answered cautiously.
“Stella.” The voice was unmistakable: Hasan, Lionel’s father. Her stomach dropped.
“What do you want?”
“Listen carefully.”
A strained voice crackled through the line. “Ms. Hayes, don’t! I’m fine, don’t come-
“Nola?!” Stella’s blood turned to ice. ‘They’d taken her?” “Hasan, you bastard. What the hell are you playing at?”
Hasan let out a dark chuckle. “Oh, you’ll see.”
Stella’s nails bit into her palm. Jordan’s paranoia hadn’t been unfounded after all.
Hasan’s voice dripped with smug malice through the phone. “You know why I didn’t come for you directly. You’re too clever. You’d never have
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Chapter 205
followed me willingly. But your secretary? Well, 1 doubt you’ll abandon her.”
In the background, Nola’s frantic protests were cut short by the sharp crack of a slap. Stella’s grip tightened on her phone.
“I’ll come,” Stella said coldly. “But if a single hair on her head is harmed, whatever you want from me? You’ll get nothing
“Now that’s more like it.” Hasan chuckled. “Play nice, and your little friend suffers less. Oh, and ditch Jordan’s new security detall I know they’re shadowing you. Come alone, or you’ll be identifying her corpse.”
Stella exhaled slowly. She wasn’t afraid for herself. If the Quinns wanted to drag her back, so be it. ‘But Hola? An innocent caught in the crossfire? Classic Quinn family move.’
After agreeing to Hasan’s terms, Stella sat motionless in her office, calculating. Within the hour, she’d acquired a janitor’s uniform and slipped past Jordan’s guards unnoticed, her face hidden beneath a cap.
The taxi she hailed barely came to a stop before she slid into the backseat. “Take me to a chemical supply store first,” she ordered.
The driver glanced at her in the rearview mirror. “Kid, you’re not… look, whatever you’re planning-”
Steel glinted as Stella pressed a blade to his throat. His hands froze on the wheel.
“Listen carefully,” she murmured. “You don’t know me. You didn’t see me. I’m not a bad person. Play hero, and you’ll regret it. Nod if you
understand.”
The man swallowed hard. “Y–yeah.”
Stella lowered the knife and stepped into the chemical supply store. She quickly found what she needed and returned to the cab.
“Now, you’ll drive where I tell you,” she instructed, her voice icy. “When I say stop, you leave. No looking back. No cops. If you disobey, your family pays the price. Understood?”
The driver swallowed hard. “Y–yes, ma’am.” He didn’t dare say another word.
Stella worked quietly with the chemicals in the backseat. Her hands weren’t entirely steady, but years of lab work in school gave her confidence. ‘I can do this.‘
By the time they reached the destination, she had finished her preparations. She tossed extra cash onto the front seat and fixed the driver with a warning glare. “Drive away and don’t come back.” Then she stepped out into the desolate landscape.
-The area was barren. Abandoned warehouses stretched into the distance. Stella checked her phone, comparing it to the coordinates. ‘That’s
the one.‘
She pocketed her phone and moved forward. Just as she neared the building, a pack of snarling dogs lunged at her. She flinched but resisted the urge to reach for the chemicals in her bag. ‘Hasan’s testing me.‘
The dogs were seconds from knocking her down when Hasan’s voice cut through the growls. “Enough. Back.” Instantly, the Dobermans retreated, their teeth still bared.
Stella steadied herself and walked inside.
Nola was bound to a chair, her mouth sealed with duct tape. The moment she saw Stella, her eyes widened in panic, a muffled “No!” trapped
behind the tape.
Hasan lounged nearby, lazily picking at a plate of barbecue. “Took you long enough.”
Stella ignored the taunt. “Why kidnap my secretary?”
Chapter 205
“Would you have come otherwise?” He smirked.
“You’ve seen me. Now let her go. Whatever you want, we’ll discuss it, just you and me.”
Hasan chuckled. “And lose my leverage? Please. She stays right where she is.”
AD
