Queen of Wild Cards novel Chapter 394

He was definitely going to remember her after this!

Stella waved her phone at Julius. "Drake agreed to see me."

Blackmail worked wonders. She just hoped Drake wouldn't be so enraged that he'd decide to silence her permanently once she stepped inside.

"Be careful in there. If anything feels off, get out immediately. Don't provoke him into a fight." Julius had heard every word of her threat over the phone.

He was genuinely worried Drake might try something lethal.

Stella patted his arm reassuringly. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. If things go south, I'll bolt. Just make sure you scout a good getaway route out here—I'll be counting on you if I need to make a run for it."

He stroked her hair gently and watched as she walked through the doors.

Reaching the office, Stella knocked and let herself in to face the underground boss.

"Who exactly are you?"

"I'm Star Todd." She smoothly dropped the alias she used in the underground.

Drake stared at her in prolonged silence. Finally, he asked, "What's your relationship with him?"

He didn't sense any malice rolling off this girl, nor did she look like someone seeking revenge. If anything, there was a flicker of deep, underlying concern in her eyes.

"We share the same last name. Take a wild guess." Her instincts were right. Drake absolutely knew where her grandfather was.

"Are you a distant relative, or are you his granddaughter?" He needed absolute clarity.

Stella met his gaze evenly. "I'm his granddaughter. I've been searching for him for a long time. I finally tracked down a lead placing him in Port City three years ago, and I came all this way just to find him.

"If you know anything, please tell me. Whatever you want as payment—as long as it doesn't involve murder or breaking the law—I'll do whatever it takes."

"Really? So you'll tell me what happened to him?" Stella's eyes widened in genuine relief. She hadn't expected him to fold this easily without her having to deploy her final trump card.

Drake's gaze grew distant. "Three years ago, he was indeed in Port City. He was an incredibly loyal and honorable man. But he never had his hands chopped off over loan shark debts. That was a fake rumor I planted on purpose."

"Why? What actually happened back then?" Hearing that her grandfather was whole and unharmed felt like a massive weight lifting off her chest.

And she was absolutely certain now—the man Drake was talking about was, without a doubt, Dewey Todd.

Her grandfather was famously loyal to his friends, which was precisely why he had built such a massive network over the years.

Drake shook his head slowly. "I don't know the full story. He wouldn't tell me. But he saved my skin back then.

"When I found out some dangerous people were hunting him down to kill him, I spread the rumor that he got his hands chopped off over debts and was thrown out of the city. He slipped away during the chaos, and I haven't seen him since."

Stella realized immediately. "So, when I first came asking about him, you refused to tell me anything because you thought I was one of the assassins coming to finish the job?"