Shadows Between Us (Stella and Sebastian) novel Chapter 135

Chapter 135

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On the other end, Conrad was so dumbfounded by the scolding that he couldn’t even get a word out.

Meanwhile, everyone watching the live call on this side was just speechless.

After a while, just like that, Victor went back to being the picture of a refined old gentleman after hanging up the phone directly and throwing the phone to Henry.

Stella, lounging lazily against the wall, gave him a thumbs-up.

Victor smiled back at her.

Everyone was speechless.

Landen, meanwhile, was even more curious about the plain plant Sebastian was holding. Obsessed with herbs, his eyes practically sparkled as he stared at the sad-looking, half-dead plain plant.

Noticing Landen’s intense gaze, Sebastian just hugged the plain plant closer, his face totally blank.

Landen asked, “Is this a legendary beauty among plants?”

As if it had heard its name called, the plain plant perked up, quivering with excitement.

Sebastian just deadpanned, “Ugly.”

‘Seriously?’ the plant raged inside.

The plain plant drooped in despair.

Landen’s eyes

lit

1. “Is this the one and only, peerless beauty of the plant world?!”

The plain plant instantly perked up, quivering with anticipation.

Sebastian said deadpan, “Ugly.”

The plain plant drooped in despair.

Landen leaned in, practically shouting, “The most gorgeous plant ever!”

The plain plant instantly perked up, quivering with anticipation.

Sebastian replied deadpan, “Ugly.”

The plain plant drooped in despair.

Landen pressed his face right up to the plain plant. “Legendary…”

Suddenly, the plain plant, which had been drooping lifelessly, exploded with energy and shot up several feet, smacking Landen across the face twice with its leaves. Then, just as dramatically, it collapsed back into the

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Chapter 135

pot, playing dead again.

Everyone was left speechless.

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Landen clutched his face, tears brimming in his eyes. He pointed at Sebastian, voice trembling as he demanded the plain plant, “Why didn’t you hit him?!”

The wilted, yellow leaves twisted in Sebastian’s direction. Sebastian was sitting there in his wheelchair, cold as ice, radiating ‘don’t mess with me’ vibes.

The plain plant was left speechless.

Then it whipped its leaf around and gave Landen another slap.

It thought, ‘So what if I only pick on the weak?

‘Did I take anything from you or something?’

Everyone was speechless.

Victor coughed awkwardly and instinctively turned to Stella. “So, what do we do now?”

He thought, ‘I vented my frustration and felt pretty good about it. But if I tried to tell anyone, who would believe me? Besides, we do not have any direct evidence that Conrad is the culprit.

Everyone turned their eyes to Stella.

Stella wondered, ‘Why are you all staring at me?

‘Weren’t you just inviting me here for dinner?’

“If you don’t sign, you’re the one holding all the cards. So what’s the problem?” Stella said lazily, not even bothering to look concerned.

Victor was speechless.

‘Honestly, she’s right. What can I even say to that?’ He thought.

Victor asked, “So, is Conrad gonna use this to mess with people again?”

Stella was left speechless.

She replied, “Do you really think a dog can ever quit eating garbage?”

Everyone was speechless.

‘That was weirdly on point, they thought.

“The CoreOne Chip 1.0 has had the higher-ups watching it like hawks from the very start. Conrad really didn’t need to pull any crazy stunts,” Levi, director of the Kinetic University Tech Research Institute, said, looking genuinely confused.

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Chapter 135

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Levi thought, ‘Once the chip went public, people would be scrambling to get in on the action. Why would he even need to get involved personally?’

Stella didn’t respond, just shot a lazy glance upward.

Under her cool stare, Levi’s voice faded to a whisper. “Unless…”

Victor suddenly blurted out, “Unless there’s something wrong with the chip itself!”

Stella let out a sigh. ‘Man, this team is a handful. At least they finally managed to get there on their own, she thought.

She said, “This way won’t work. He’ll just have a backup plan ready.”

‘Seriously, when do we eat?’ Stella wondered.

Noticing everyone’s confused stares, Sebastian, with an icy face, slapped Landen’s sneaky hand reaching for the plain plant. “The Gray family.”

Everyone was speechless.

Victor shot Sebastian a thoughtful look. “The Gray family had a project that was basically a guaranteed win, but it got shut down out of nowhere when they discovered that ancient tomb.

“Now they’re scrambling to recover their losses. If they get a chance to team up with Conrad, they’ll probably go all in…”

Sebastian’s eyes were dark and stormy, and his face looked like a block of ice. He didn’t give a damn about the hint in Victor’s words.

Victor hesitated, words stuck in his throat. If things really were as he feared, the Gray Group was about to get wiped out. And the real culprit was Sebastian.

Victor glanced at Sebastian.

But Sebastian just flashed him a thin, chilling, almost predatory smile, his eyes shadowed and menacing, gone in a heartbeat.

Victor was speechless.

‘That’s his own family, but Sebastian would tear it all down without even blinking,’ Victor thought.

John, who’d been MIA for half the day, slipped back to Sebastian’s side with a bag in hand. Sebastian passed it to Stella. “Go clean up. Once you’re done, we eat.”

He could see she was getting antsy.

The bag had a fresh set of clothes inside.

The blood on her was seriously messing up the vibe.

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Chapter 135

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“Get her a room,” Sebastian said, his tone as cold as ever. Only when he looked at Stella did his eyes soften a little.

Victor was speechless.

Victor wondered, ‘Am I just being too sensitive?

‘There’s something kind of ambiguous about the way Sebastian looks at that girl’

Victor instinctively glanced at Landen, only to see him sneaking his hand toward the plain plant again. Of course, Sebastian, face still icy, swatted his hand away without even looking.

Victor was speechless.

As soon as Stella left, Landen, the herb maniac, literally jumped three feet in the air. “Why can’t I just touch

it?!”

Sebastian instantly went back to his frosty, ‘stay the hell away’ mode now that Stella was gone. “No,” he replied.

Landen just lost for words.

“Sebastian,” Stella called, poking her head back in through the door.

Sebastian gave a low reply and turned to look at her.

“Don’t mess with the old guys while I’m gone,” Stella tossed out, then ducked away again.

Sebastian was left speechless.

He slowly turned his head, eyes like a stormy abyss, dark, cold, and hellish, as he stared down Landen.

Landen felt utterly helpless.

He could actually hear himself swallow.

Landen stammered, “M-Mr. Gray, can we just talk this out…”

And then his words just died in his throat.

Landen just lost for words.

He glanced down at the plain plant in his arms, then looked up at Sebastian with a mix of dread and resignation. Sebastian barely parted his lips, coolly saying, “One minute.”

Landen wondered, ‘Wait. What?’

Sebastian started the countdown, glancing at his watch: “59, 58, 57…”

Landen only just realized Sebastian was actually counting down.

They were left speechless.

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His voice was pure steel, and no room for negotiation, just raw, icy authority.

Landen stammered, “Uh…”

Sebastian’s eyes got even colder as he dragged the plain plant over to his side.

The plain plant, which had been all wilted and yellow, instantly sprang to life.

It started flexing, acting all tough just because Sebastian was backing it up.

The three older guys were left speechless.

‘Okay, chill, no need to flex that hard,’ they thought.

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Sebastian slid the boneless fish over to Stella, then nodded at the plain plant, his eyes locked onto her face.

Stella was left speechless.

She had to admit, the way she spoiled Lucas worked just as well on Sebastian. No wonder they were uncle and nephew. Those two were seriously two peas in a pod.

“I gave that to Sebastian. It’s one of a kind,” Stella said calmly to Landen, not even blinking at Sebastian’s intimidating stare.

Landen was speechless, watching as Sebastian gave him a thin, satisfied smile. ‘Did he just scoff at me?’ Landen thought.

Landen said, “Pretty boy!”

Sebastian was left speechless.

His eyes narrowed dangerously, like a storm about to break loose, making people want to run for cover.

Landen instantly regretted it.

‘How did I get so brainless that I dared talk to Mr. Gray like that?’ Landen thought.

Just when everyone thought Sebastian was about to snap, Stella lazily reached out and gave his chin a casual squeeze. “Pretty, huh? Let me check. Yeah, pretty fair.” She let go, then shrugged.

Everyone else was left speechless.

The storm fizzled out in an instant. Sebastian lowered his eyes, then shot Landen a cold look. “Shameless old

man.”

Landen just lost for words.

Totally at a loss for words!

Suddenly, Levi’s phone rang shrilly. He set down his fork and answered it. “What did you say?” He’d barely listened for a moment before his expression changed completely.

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Stella shot a glance in Levi’s direction, a few loose strands of hair falling across her check. Sebastian didn’t even bother to look up. He was coldly toying with her slender fingers, completely tuned out to the world.

Levi’s voice caught, then rose sharply. “What about the translator? You can’t get in touch with them?!”

Levi looked like he was about to blow a gasket.

After what felt like ages, Levi finally hung up.

“Levi, what’s up?” Victor asked, his brow furrowing.

Levi replied, “The translator Conrad was supposed to get in touch with isn’t answering!

“The online procurement meeting starts in an hour. How the hell are we supposed to pull this off?” His hands were shaking so badly he had to pop a few fast-acting heart pills just to steady himself.

On his phone, the procurement docs were still sitting there, completely untranslated.

Victor grabbed Levi’s phone. “What did they even send? I don’t know them at all.”

Landen craned his neck for a look. “Why are there random punctuation marks mixed in with the text? What is this supposed to be?”

Stella barely glanced at it and didn’t even bother to comment.

“I’ll have Henry reach out to some students from the School of Foreign Languages,” Victor said.

He knew that any procurement handled by the Kinetic University Tech Research Institute was tied to major national projects. One wrong move and the whole thing would blow up in their faces.

He always knew Conrad was shady, but this was low even for him. Messing with something this important was just plain nasty.

“There’s no way we’ll make it. There are way too many technical terms, and we still have to communicate online later…” Levi said.

The more he said, the more he felt that it was impossible. But he still forced himself to think of a solution.

Victor and Landen just lost for words.

If it were anything else, they might’ve been able to help, but with this, they were totally out of depth.

Stella calmly grabbed a napkin, wiped her mouth, and said, “Let me see.”

She reached over, took the phone from Victor, her fingers flying as she scrolled through the sitting next to her, just lifted his eyelids with zero emotion.

Just like that, the two of them were done reading.

pages. Sebastian,

Levi had tried everything he could think of, but nothing worked. He was about ready to lose it when suddenly, Stella got up, all casual, and blocked his view.

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Chapter 135

“Come on, I’ll get you back to the hotel,” Stella said offhandedly.

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It took Levi a second to realize she was talking to him. Just as he was about to answer, Stella checked her watch. “It’s forty minutes from here to the hotel. You’ll make it in time for the online procurement meeting.

“And trust me, John drives like a maniac,” she paused, then added.

Levi was just stunned.

‘Even if I make it, so what? We still don’t have a translator. That meeting’s gonna be a train wreck. And of course, it’s an international conference. No way to change the time. We’re totally screwed,’ Levi thought.

Victor looked up at Stella, who was as calm as ever, and suddenly had a flash of inspiration. “Levi, let Stella take you back to the hotel. Who knows, maybe something miraculous will happen.”

Levi was left speechless.

‘Miracle my ass. Like that’s ever gonna happen to me,’ Levi thought.

Stella just glanced at Victor, her face unreadable.

Victor mouthed three words to her, silent but urgent, “Help us out.”

Stella was left speechless.

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