Queen of Wild Cards novel Chapter 507

"Stella, I need to take a work call in the study."

Julius stood up and headed for the home office.

"Okay." Stella assumed it was a standard business emergency and didn't think much of it, idly scrolling on her phone.

Julius answered, "Yeah?"

"Mr. Blackwood, we have a problem. Faye Langley is gone!" the panicked voice on the other end reported.

"How the hell did that happen? What am I paying you people for if you can't even keep eyes on one woman? Send everyone out to find her right now!"

After hanging up, Julius made several more rapid-fire calls, his expression tightening into a knot of deep frustration.

...

Stella was quite busy for the first few days after returning from North Myanor.

Aside from visiting Nadine at the ancestral manor, she went to see her grandparents at the Vaughn residence the following day. She also called Vincent to thank him, though he was too tied up with work to meet in person.

The rest of her time was spent reconnecting with friends. She went shopping with Sabrina Sherwood and grabbed drinks with Carter Coleman.

Over the weekend, she treated Cecilia Eames and Sylvie Jennings to a nice dinner.

Sabrina had mentioned that when they couldn't reach Stella over the holidays, they had all been worried sick and even tried tracking her down.

This genuine concern from her inner circle was something Stella deeply cherished.

She didn't have a massive social circle, but the friends she did have were fiercely loyal.

Though her schedule was packed, she hadn't ignored Julius. Yet, something felt... off about him lately.

It was as if he had something heavy on his chest, but whenever she pressed him, he brushed it off.

Today, she decided to drop by the Blackwood Group unexpectedly to see what he was up to.

The receptionist recognized her immediately and ushered her straight to the private elevators.

This was the CEO's wife. She hadn't been around recently, but a woman with her striking looks was impossible to forget.

Downstairs, the receptionist looked utterly bewildered. The CEO's wife had just gone up and was back down in under ten minutes. Was the boss not in?

But she hadn't seen him leave the building.

Did they have a fight?

The receptionist shook her head, thoroughly confused.

Stella was furious. She drove her car out to a deserted stretch of highway on the outskirts of the city, flooring the accelerator and racing for several laps until the edge of her rage began to dull.

Once she finally calmed down, she drove home. She had promised him once that no matter what happened, she wouldn't sentence him to death without a trial. She would give him a chance to explain. So, she would wait for him to come home and hear exactly what he had to say.

If he had gotten someone pregnant, he had to take responsibility. Running away wouldn't solve anything.

Evening arrived.

By the time Julius walked through the door, Stella had already cooked dinner.