anwhile, at the Walters’ house.
Stella had just stepped out of the car, dragging her small suitcase behind her, when the front door burst open.
Her mother ca rushing out, as if she’d been standing guard all morning.
The way Alicia’s face pinched with worry instantly made Stella’s stomach twist.
Stella opened her mouth, ready with a cheerful, "I’m ho, Mom," but she didn’t get the chance.
"Stella, why are you only arriving now?" Alicia blurted, eyes wide and frantic. "I thought you were coming back yesterday. Last night, your father ca ho and was looking for you. He is worried about you..."
Stella froze mid-step. Those words hit her like ice water down her back.
’Dad... ca back? And he looks for ? Did I hear the best joke ever?’
Her father hadn’t asked about her in months, maybe years. He barely ca ho anymore, claiming illness recovery and endless business trips.
The last ti he’d sat at the family dinner table, she couldn’t even rember.
She’d told herself it was because of the company’s struggles. The stocks are plumting, shareholders are breathing down his neck, and the disaster of that stalled project is what everyone whispers about. He was supposedly "too busy."
But now?
Now her mother said he’d co back and asked for her?
A bitter laugh almost slipped from her lips, but Stella bit it back.
She knew better. She knew the truth now. Evelyn had told her the truth about what was really happening.
Her father’s "absence" wasn’t due to work, illness, or stress. It was due to his fondness for Lana, his mistress.
And worst of all? Her strong, elegant mother had known for years. Known and endured the humiliation in silence and endured the sadness, the betrayal, and all of it for her sake.
Stella gritted her teeth silently.
Her chest burned with questions she couldn’t voice.
"Mom, why did you carry that pain alone? Why didn’t you tell ? Why let believe in him when he didn’t deserve it?" But all those questions, she swallowed them all down.
She couldn’t speak the truth yet.
Instead, she noticed the sharp lines on her mother’s face, the way her once-bright eyes seed dimr, and how her figure had grown thinner over the past year. Every detail was like a knife carving into her heart.
Without warning, she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around her mother, pulling her close.
Alicia stiffened at first, surprised that her daughter hugged her tightly, but then lted into the embrace.
"You silly girl," Alicia muttered against her shoulder, tapping her lightly on the back like scolding a child. But her voice trembled.
"Why didn’t you call ? I rang you so many tis, and you only answered once. Once! Do you want to report you as a missing person, Stella Walters?" Alicia asked.
Stella pulled back slightly, laughing through the sting in her eyes.
"Mom, I’m sorry. I extended one more day. But look, I’m alive, see?" She spread her arms, trying to show that she was fine.
Then she changed the topic, "Mom, I’m starving. I skipped breakfast before flying back... I was in such a rush."
Alicia chuckled, shaking her head.
"Honestly, you’ll give a heart attack one day." She swatted at Stella’s arm and then turned quickly toward the door. "Co inside. Change your clothes. I’ll make you sothing simple to eat. You need real food, not airplane snacks."
"Thank you, Mom," Stella said softly, watching her retreat to the kitchen.
And thank God her mother hadn’t asked any more profound questions. Not about where she’d stayed. Not about why her return was delayed.
Because if her mother pressed, she might slip. She might reveal Evelyn’s na, their eting in Grayenfall, and their fragile secret.
It wasn’t ti yet.
She smiled as she followed her mother, but as soon as she stepped out of the kitchen doorway, her smile faded.
The sadness she’d been suppressing spilled out, replaced by growing anger.
Anger at her father for shattering their family. Anger at Lana for daring to exist in their lives.
And anger at her mother, too... for quietly enduring instead of fighting back.
Her fists clenched at her sides as she walked upstairs.
In her room, Stella dropped onto her bed and stared at the ceiling.
She let herself replay her mother’s words over and over, each one scratching deeper. Her father had asked about her.
’Why? To soothe his guilty conscience, knowing Lana sent to et that bastard?’
’Or, did he get mad because I failed to get the contract signature and instead injured Lewis Harrison?’
The thought made her laugh, a sharp, humorless sound that echoed off her bedroom walls. If her mother heard it, she’d probably scold her for "losing her manners."
Stella sat up, pushing her hair off her face. Humor was the only shield she had against the rage boiling inside her.
"Well, Dad," she muttered to the empty room, "Hope you’re ready for the fireworks."
Because this ti, she wasn’t the naïve little girl waiting for scraps of attention.
This ti, she knew the truth, and she wasn’t alone. Evelyn was with her, and together they would ensure her father and Lana paid for every hurt they caused.
Right after Stella changed her clothes, she could hear her mother calling her na from downstairs.
"Coming, Mom!"
She forced her anger back down, tucking it into the corner of her heart where it would burn quietly until the right ti.
Then she bounded down the stairs, the good daughter again, the one who laughed and ate her mother’s cooking and asked about her day.
As Alicia set a steaming plate on the table, fussing over portion sizes and vitamins like always, Stella reached out and squeezed her hand.
"It slls amazing, Mom. Just what I needed."
Her mother smiled, exhausted yet sincere. For that fleeting mont, Stella allowed herself to be a daughter once more.
"Hurry up and finish your al... Your father knows you’re coming back. He said he’ll be ho soon."
Stella smiles, but deep inside, beneath her smile, her anger still burns. And her father’s return marked the beginning of the plan.
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