Chapter 95
Lionel’s parents‘ lectures about the Quinn family needing an heir didn’t help. “Anna’s healthy enough to bear children, his mother had reasoned. “You can’t put your life on hold for a ghost. What if Stella never comes back?”
Gradually, Lionel was persuaded to start dating Anna. The Quinn family began to push for an engagement as soon as Anna graduated.
The day before the engagement, Lionel found out Stella was coming back. His heart stirred again. He knew he shouldn’t, because Stella was too young, but he couldn’t help it.
So, he waited for her to grow up. He had already made up his mind. On Stella’s eighteenth birthday, he would confess to her. He was determined to be with her. But before her birthday even came, that incident happened.
In the beginning, Lionel had been Stella’s lone defender against the Hayes family’s cruelty. But as months bled into years, his conviction eroded. Maybe they’d been right about her all along. Maybe she’d brought this on herself.
That was why when he finally saw her again, the words tore out of him like shrapnel. “Jesus, Stella, quit making scenes. Don’t you ever think?”
But the Henry incident? That was when he’d crossed a line even he couldn’t justify. As her physician, Lionel knew better than anyone how fragile Stella’s health had become after the abduction.
Those stolen months in the hospital–poring over her charts, watching the numbers decline–he’d seen the expiration date written in her lab results. Yet he’d still taken her blood that day, telling himself one vial wouldn’t matter.
The look she gave him as the needle slid in–pure, undiluted hatred–would haunt him longer than any of his other sins.
At that moment, when Stella heard those words, she was shocked. Lionel felt like he wasn’t just taking Stella’s blood, but his own. But he had no choice. He had to do it.
“Lionel, we’re murderers. Goddamn murderers!” Max’s fist connected with Lionel’s jaw.
Lionel spat blood and swung back. “You wanna play moral high ground? I salted the wound twice. You people poured the whole damn shaker!”
“There’s a difference between neglect and pulling the trigger,” Max growled, dodging another punch.
“Keep telling yourself that, Hayes. If you really believed it, why’re you drowning in bourbon every night since she came back?”
“Yeah, we’re all jerks. We’re all the ones who hurt Stella,” Max yelled. The two of them fought fiercely.
Across town, Stella’s phone shattered her sleep. She groggily answered it. “Hello, this is Stella.”
“Ms. Hayes?” A harried officer’s voice came through. “We need you down at the police station. Your brother and Dr. Lionel Quinn got into a fight, and they’re here now.”
“Not my circus, not my monkeys,” Stella slurred, already reaching to disconnect.
“Wait! They keep asking for you. Maybe they want you to come over.”
1/3
20.11 Fr, 1 Aug di
Chapter 95
“Should I feel honored, then? Just tell them I would never come,” Stella said firmly and hung up.
The police officer was stunned and didn’t know what to do. Eventually, Lionel’s father and Andrew came over and took the two of them out of the station.
Andrew surveyed his eldest with palpable disgust. “You and Lionel used to be brothers. What the hell happened? Why did you get into a fight?”
“We didn’t fight,” Max said.
“Don’t give me that,” Andrew snapped. “You’re acting like some angsty teenager instead of the next head of this family.”
“I can’t go to work lately,” Max said. Every time he thought that Stella might have been set up by Anna, he felt terrible.
‘Dad’s in denial, Mom’s blind to it, and Anna? Christ, she could win an Oscar for that innocent act. The realization hit him like a gut punch. ‘Has Stella been fighting this battle alone her whole life?‘
Across town, Lionel’s father, Joel Quinn, was tearing into him in the back of their town car. “You’re a top–tier surgeon, for God’s sake! Brawling in some dive bar like a frat boy?”
Joel huffed, “One viral video of this shitstorm, and there goes your reputation–our family’s reputation.”
Lionel said, “It was my day off. No hospital ID, no scrubs-”
“Don’t play dumb with me,” Joel snapped. “You think the press cares about technicalities? Not with our family hanging by a thread.”
And that was the bitter truth. The Quinn family’s financial freefall had been swift and silent. That was why Lionel had agreed to Henry’s deal: a discreet blood draw from Stella in exchange for a lifeline investment.
The Quinn family had kept their troubles quiet–if things were really that bad, why hadn’t they helped the Hayes family when they were in trouble?
They had tried to find a solution, but nothing seemed to work. The Quinn family couldn’t afford to fall, and his parents had begged him to do whatever it took.
Lionel had finally given in to their pressure and agreed to Henry’s demands. He had planned to make it up to Stella after he took her blood just this once. But he had no idea that her body wouldn’t be able to handle it.
Afterward, the hospital found a matching blood type. Henry sent word through someone from prison, saying that if Lionel could get him the blood from those people, he would still help the Quinn family.
And once again, Lionel had chosen to abandon Stella to help Henry. Not even the hospital director knew about it. But despite everything, he still couldn’t save his family, and it only made Stella hate him more.
That night at Jordan’s house, he’d wanted her to strike him. Physical pain might’ve dulled the guilt festering in his gut. But she didn’t do it. Her words only made him feel worse.
Lionel had wanted to find a way to make things right for everyone, hurt you at all.‘
but
new
seemed to work. ‘Stella, I really… I didn’t want to
Joel looked at Lionel, fuming with anger, but since the deed was done, there was
no point in saying more.
13
Chapter 95
Stella Hayes was knee–deep in two investigations–one aimed at uncovering whether her sister Anna had played a role in her kidnapping years ago, and the other digging into the twisted history of Lionel Quinn.
She had long since written Lionel off, but that didn’t mean she’d let his betrayal slide. If he had the audacity to turn on her, then she’d make sure he paid for it.
At the very least, she wanted him stripped of his medical license. The world didn’t need another heartless bastard in a white coat.
So far, Lionel’s trail had gone cold–but her private investigator had just dropped a bombshell. “Ms. Hayes, I found something during my investigation,” the detective said over the phone.
Stella kept her voice steady. “What is it?”
“Back when you and Anna were seniors in high school, your sister was frequently seen with Emily York.”
க
