Replacement Bride Left With His Baby (Sophia and Easton) novel Chapter 38

**The Case of the Bleeding Shadows by Emma Blackwood**

**Chapter 38**

In the elegantly furnished Weston residence, Stella found herself standing by the tall window, her fingers lightly tracing the cool surface of her phone as she took Yvonne’s call. The afternoon light streamed in, casting intricate shadows on the polished floor, but Stella’s expression grew darker with every word she heard. Her brow furrowed, and her eyes narrowed like a hawk spotting its prey.

“Make sure they understand—no one speaks out of turn,” Stella commanded, her voice slicing through the air with a sharpness that left no room for argument. There was an unmistakable weight in her tone, a warning that resonated deeply.

As the call concluded, Yvonne sat in her dimly lit office, trembling slightly, her heart racing as fear gripped her mind. The memories of recent events were still fresh, like an open wound. Yet, she was acutely aware of the consequences of defying Stella’s orders. With a resigned determination, Yvonne picked up her phone and navigated to WhatsApp. Her fingers hesitated for a moment before finding the troublemaker’s wife in her contacts. Taking a deep breath, she initiated a voice call, her heart pounding in her chest.

“You took my money and botched the job. Now you have the gall to demand more?” Yvonne’s voice was frigid, laced with barely contained fury.

“That’s not my problem,” the woman shot back, her tone defiant. “My husband’s in trouble, and getting him out will require greasing a lot of palms. Another 300 thousand is more than fair under the circumstances.”

“You knew the risks when you took this job,” Yvonne retorted, her voice steady despite the storm brewing inside her. “Why bring this up now instead of beforehand?”

“You promised backup would be there for my husband, Ms. Hart. Yet he still wound up in the Roths’ hands,” the woman replied, her voice sharp, cutting through Yvonne’s defenses. “Consider 300 thousand cheap for keeping our silence. Pay up, and this never happened.”

Fury ignited within Yvonne, a blazing inferno fueled by frustration and helplessness. Yet, she felt trapped in a web of her own making. There was no escape from this predicament, no alternative but to comply.

As soon as the call ended, she hastily wired the money, her fingers trembling as she blocked the recipient, severing all ties. A sense of false security washed over her; she convinced herself that the entire transaction had been executed in perfect secrecy.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Yvonne, Sophia had already outmaneuvered her. Just moments before, she and May had reached the troublemaker’s family first, employing a delicate balance of reason and pressure to persuade them.

Hidden from view, the two women stood nearby, their ears attuned to every word of the negotiation unfolding before them.

With trembling hands, the woman pulled up her banking app, her heart racing as she sent the transaction screenshot directly to May. The evidence against Yvonne was overwhelming—witnesses and physical proof that left no room for doubt regarding her guilt.

Yet, Sophia sensed an undercurrent, a deeper layer to the story that remained hidden. Yvonne couldn’t possibly be acting alone; the threads of this tangled web seemed to stretch further than she had anticipated.

When Sophia emerged from behind May, Yvonne’s composure crumbled like a house of cards. Panic surged through her veins, a tidal wave of dread crashing over her.

Whether driven by guilt or the sudden realization that her scheme had been discovered, she sprang up from her chair, instinctively ready to flee.

But she barely took a step away from her desk when Sophia closed the distance between them, her movements swift and purposeful.

In one decisive motion, Sophia seized Yvonne’s arm, shoving her back into the chair with an intensity that left Yvonne breathless.

The energy radiating from Sophia was overwhelming, and a genuine fear coursed through Yvonne’s body like ice water.

“Sophia, what is this about? Storming into my office like this is against the law,” Yvonne stammered, her voice trembling, betraying her desperate attempt to sound authoritative amidst the chaos.

A cold, mocking laugh escaped Sophia as she locked eyes with Yvonne, the tension palpable. “The law? Don’t talk to me about the law. The things you and Stella have been scheming are the real crime.”