Queen of Wild Cards novel Chapter 63

The next day.

Stella woke up feeling refreshed, but Julius was suffering.

He woke up with a splitting headache, feeling like a thousand tiny men were taking hammers to his skull.

The pain was so agonizing that he couldn't even stomach the porridge Stella brought up, opting instead to bury his head under a pillow.

Stella had never seen him like this. He was usually so calm and composed, yet a hangover had reduced him to a whining child.

He had endured the agonizing pain of medicinal soaks and having dead flesh scraped from his legs, but a hangover was what finally broke him?

Stella shook her head in amusement, rummaged through her suitcase, and pulled out a bottle of pills. She tapped one out and handed it to him with a glass of water.

"Take this, and your head will stop hurting. By the way, that'll be a hundred grand. I accept all major payment methods. Are you interested, Mr. Blackwood?"

Julius immediately sat up, shoving the pillow that had been over his head behind his lower back.

He took the pill and water from Stella's hands and quickly swallowed it down.

He swore he would never drink like he did last night again.

He had originally planned to get Stella drunk so she would spill her secrets, but she remained completely sober while he drank himself into oblivion.

The medicine kicked in almost instantly. The throbbing in his head eased up significantly.

"A hundred grand. Venmo or Zelle?"

Julius looked at her in disbelief. "Are you obsessed with money? I'm your husband, and you're charging me for a single pill?"

It made sense the first time she charged him, back when she had just arrived and they barely knew each other.

But now? Now they were legally married, and she was still billing him for a headache pill!

"Mr. Blackwood, you can't look at it like that. Business is business, even between spouses."

Too bad he had failed so spectacularly, dragging his friends down with him.

She wondered how his buddies were holding up.

Julius opened the saved video on his phone and showed it to her. "Is this you? Don't worry, I had it scrubbed from the internet."

Stella glanced at the video and immediately denied it. "No."

A wave of disappointment washed over Julius. She had answered too quickly. Why was she afraid to admit it? What was she trying to hide?

"Actually, I had someone look into it. That same day, you were seen at the Recess Club with the Jennings family daughter, wearing the exact same outfit as the person in this video."

"I was at the Recess Club with her that day, but just because we were wearing the same outfit doesn't mean it's me. Ever heard of people owning the same clothes? You're jumping to conclusions."

Julius grabbed her by the arms. "Stella, look me in the eye and tell me the person in this video really isn't you."