Outside the hospital room, Stella Sterling walked briskly, her high heels striking the floor, producing a clear and crisp echo.
She tightly gripped her handbag, her knuckles turning white.
Jasper Hawthorne’s stance just now had completely severed the last thread of connection in her heart.
Good.
This is for the best.
From now on, the bridge will be a bridge, the road will be a road.
She took out her phone, glanced at the ti, and prepared to contact Finn Lockwood to begin advancing the next step of the lawsuit.
However, a new ssage popped up first.
Sender: Shane Donovan.
[Did things go smoothly?]
Stella Sterling’s heart stirred slightly.
She hesitated a mont, then replied: [Just finished, not too smoothly, but it’s within expectations.]
Just a few seconds after the ssage was sent, the phone screen lit up, and Shane Donovan’s call ca through directly.
Stella Sterling looked at the na flashing on the screen, paused slightly, then took a deep breath, adjusted her breathing, and answered the call.
"Hello, President Donovan."
On the other end, Shane Donovan’s deep and steady voice sounded, "Sounds like the eting wasn’t pleasant?"
Stella Sterling walked to the window at the end of the corridor, looking at the endless stream of traffic below, and pulled her lips in self-mockery: "It was more than unpleasant. Jasper Hawthorne asked to withdraw the lawsuit and settle privately."
There was a mont of silence on the other end, followed by the faint sound of tapping, like Shane Donovan lightly tapping the table with his fingers.
"Need my help?" Shane Donovan asked, "Elias Peyton has connections in this area too."
"No need, President Donovan." Stella Sterling declined his offer, "This case, I want to handle personally. I am the victim and also a lawyer. No one knows better than how it should be fought."
Shane Donovan seed to chuckle lightly on the other end, but before he could say anything, Stella Sterling’s phone was interrupted by another call—it was Finn Lockwood.
"President Donovan, my assistant is calling, there might be a matter at the firm, I need to take it."
"Alright, go ahead."
After hanging up Shane Donovan’s call, Stella Sterling imdiately answered Finn Lockwood’s call.
Just as the call connected, Finn Lockwood’s wailing ca blasting through the receiver, nearly bursting Stella Sterling’s eardrums:
"Boss! Chief! Help! When are you coming back?! The firm has a living hell king visiting! No no no, more terrifying than a hell king! That aura is incredible! I feel like our small firm is about to be torn down by him!"
Stella Sterling was so annoyed by his cries that she held the phone farther away, furrowing her brow: "Calm down, explain slowly, what hell king? A client?"
"Client? I initially thought he was so tough big client too!"
Finn Lockwood’s voice was trembling, "That person, in a black suit, super tall, face is outrageously handso, but those eyes, cold as... like a Siberian cold front’s passage! Standing at our firm, I feel like we don’t need to turn on the air conditioning, directly saving power!"
He rambled incoherently: "As soon as he ca in, without speaking a word, just glanced around, directly asked where you were. I told him Counselor Sterling is not in right now, if you have any business you can discuss with first, and guess what happened?"
"..."
Stella Sterling pinched the bridge of her nose, exasperated. This kid not doing cody really is a waste of talent.
Should be sent to Cloud Society.
Seeing Stella Sterling not respond, Finn Lockwood didn’t mind, "He just looked at , really, just one look! I almost knelt from the shock! Then he said—’Let Stella co out and see .’ Oh my god, that tone, that posture, one would think our firm owes him billions!"
Listening to Finn Lockwood’s exaggerated description, the feeling of foreboding in Stella Sterling’s mind grew stronger.
Tall, cold aura, handso face, asking for her by na...
She pressed her dry lips and tentatively asked: "That person... isn’t his walk a bit... unnatural? Slightly limping?"
"Holy shit!" Finn Lockwood exclaid directly on the other end of the call, his voice changing pitch, "Chief! You really have divine foresight! How did you know?! Yes! Just a little, but not obvious. If I didn’t observe carefully..."
Finn Lockwood’s later words were already unclear to Stella Sterling.
She only felt a buzzing in her head, as if sothing had exploded.
It’s over.
It’s really him.
Her older brother—Aidan Sterling.
How did he find out about Riveria?!
And even directly stord her firm?!
Stella Sterling gulped hard, feeling a layer of cold sweat instantly break out on her back.
"Chief? Chief, are you still listening?" Finn Lockwood continued to mutter anxiously on the other end, "Who exactly is that person? Too intimidating! I told him you went on a business trip to Kenton, his face grew darker, didn’t say a word, turned around and left... I feel he wasn’t here to discuss business, but to... clean house?"
Clean house...
Stella Sterling’s mouth twitched slightly.
With her brother’s temperant, it could very well be.
Back when she insisted on coming to Kenton with Jasper Hawthorne, she almost fell out with her family.
Her brother Aidan Sterling was so furious he almost cut ties with her, declaring that if she suffered outside she shouldn’t co crying back.
Years have passed, and her contact with the family has dwindled, especially with her brother, almost in a cold war.
Now she quietly left Jasper Hawthorne, ran to Riveria, and started a firm...
Her brother must have gotten word and ca bustling over.
"Alright, I understand." Stella Sterling forced herself to calm down, "He didn’t do anything to the firm, right?"
"No, he almost scared into a heart attack." Finn Lockwood patted his chest, "Boss, you should hurry back! I feel that master won’t let it go easily; he’ll co looking for you again! I won’t be able to handle it next ti!"
"Okay, I’ve almost wrapped things up here, I’ll book a flight back tomorrow." Stella Sterling rubbed her throbbing temples, "Before I return, if he cos again, just say... say I went out for evidence gathering, the return date is uncertain."
"Ah? Coseagain?" Finn Lockwood’s voice, with a sobbing tone, "Boss, spare please! I really can’t bear it!"
"You have to even if you can’t!" Stella Sterling replied in aggravation, "Okay, I’m hanging up now, there’s still matters to handle here in Kenton."
Without waiting for Finn Lockwood to wail again, Stella Sterling hung up the call directly.
She leaned against the cold wall, exhaling a long breath of foul air.
With Jasper Hawthorne and The Quinn Family’s mother-daughter entanglent in front, and brother Aidan Sterling’s chase from behind...
Life, truly an unending series of problems.
...
anwhile, in a high-end private club in Riveria.
Aidan Sterling sat on the leather sofa, with a steaming cup of tea in front of him.
His face was gloomy, the old injury in his left leg faintly aching in this kind of damp southern weather, worsening his mood.
"Have you found out?" He looked at the assistant standing opposite, voice cold and hard.
"President Sterling, we have found out." The assistant respectfully handed over so docunts, "Miss Sterling did indeed open a law firm in Riveria, nad ’Serene Law Firm,’ registered for less than two months. The address is the sa place you visited today."
Aidan Sterling took the docunts, skimd them quickly, when he saw the firm’s na, he raised an eyebrow first, then snorted coldly: "Serene... Sterling? She sure knows how to na things."
"Additionally..." The assistant hesitated for a mont, continued, "We found Miss Sterling has been getting closer to Shane... Shane Donovan recently."
"Shane Donovan?"
Aidan Sterling’s brow instantly furrowed tightly, his gaze sharp as a knife, "Which Shane Donovan?"
"The Crown Prince of The Donovan Family... the founder of Innovatech Bio." The assistant’s voice unconsciously lowered.
Aidan Sterling’s countenance instantly turned extrely unpleasant, "Book a flight, I’m going to Kenton!"
"Yes... President Sterling!"
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