Shadows Between Us (Stella and Sebastian) novel Chapter 142

Chapter 142

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Celia swallowed her sobs before she found her voice. “Don’t you think it’s cruel to say something like that to me?” She looked at Sebastian, tears streaming down her cheeks.

Anyone else would have felt sorry for her, but Sebastian did not. He sat there, cold as ice, completely unmoved.

“Tomorrow morning, I’ll have someone escort you off the island,” Sebastian said, his tone final and absolute.

Celia turned away. “If my sister and her husband were still alive, they’d never let you treat me like this!” She wiped her tears hard. “You’re going to regret this!”

With that, Celia slammed the door behind her and stormed out.

Sebastian watched her leave, his gaze dark and icy.

John slipped in quietly at Sebastian’s side. “Mr. Gray.”

“Tonight at the Lane family’s party, replace everyone inside with our own crew. You understand?” Sebastian rolled the prayer beads between his slender fingers, lifting his eyes to John, cold enough to freeze him in place.

John nodded. “Yes, sir.”

Sebastian pressed his hand to his forehead, the black prayer beads dangling loosely from his fingers. Because Celia had brought up the people he had lost, his already pale face turned paper white, the blue veins beneath his skin standing out sharply.

He dismissed John with a cold flick of his hand.

Soon, the room was empty.

Sebastian’s electric wheelchair rolled up to the floor-to-ceiling window. His reflection stared back at him, eyes cold, brooding, and faintly fragile. Five years. The deal he had made with those people in Jaffina was almost up.

Meanwhile, Stella answered the call and parked her motorcycle outside the pool hall.

Blake headed upstairs.

At the entrance, several burly men blocked the doorway, their arms nearly as thick as Stella’s waist. When they saw her approaching, they smirked and pushed the door open. “Go on in,” one of them said.

Stella shot them a cold look. Dressed in an all-black zip-up jacket and jeans, her pale skin made her stand out even more, striking and impossible to ignore.

She did not hesitate and walked straight in.

The moment Stella entered, she heard several men near the pool table struggling and making muffled noises.

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Chapter 142

Their mouths were gagged, so no one could tell what they were shouting.

It turned out to be Blake and those spoiled chads from the street race that night.

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At the moment, they were trussed up like turkeys, hands and feet bound tight, rags stuffed into their mouths.

They had been playing pool when they were suddenly ambushed and tied up by these men.

At the pool table, Joey, dressed in hip-hop gear with dreadlocks, grinned wickedly as Stella walked in. He tapped the cue ball, sending it straight into the pocket with a sharp crack.

“You got here fast,” Joey said, leaning both palms on the pool cue. When he saw Stella clearly, he let out a sleazy whistle.

Joey looked her up and down with a cocky, shameless gaze.

“Well, look who it is. We meet again,” Joey said.

The door slammed shut behind her. Several men holding steel pipes swaggered out from the corner, grinning with bad intentions. Joey was itching to see fear on Stella’s face.

Unfortunately for him, he got nothing he wanted.

All he saw was cold, endless indifference.

“Let them go,” Stella said coolly. She had just argued with Celia, so her mood was already foul.

Her eyes were icy, and there was a wild, dangerous edge to her, though the men in front of her had no idea what kind of trouble they were facing.

Joey laughed. “You think I’ll let them go just because you said so? Where’s my pride in that?” He grabbed a pool cue and tossed it to Stella. She caught it without blinking. Joey flashed a cocky grin. “You know how to play, princess?”

Stella remained silent. Under the shifting lights of the pool hall, her sharp features looked even colder and more mysterious.

Someone quickly reset the balls on the table.

Joey took a shot, scattering the balls with a loud crack. Whether intentional or not, every ball landed in the worst, hardest-to-reach positions. “Sink a ball and I let them go. Miss, and you strip,” Joey leered.

He chuckled, his eyes gleaming. “Fun game, right?”

Blake, tied up and helpless, could only stare in silence.

The entire scene felt painfully familiar; even that cocky look on Joey’s face was just too recognizable.

Blake swallowed hard.

Seeing how confident Joey looked, Blake thought, ‘If nothing goes wrong, that means something is definitely

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Chapter 142

about to go wrong.

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Suddenly, Stella bent over the table and began sinking balls one after another, one every second, without even blinking.

When the last ball dropped, Stella lifted her eyes and fixed Joey with a cold stare. “Let them go.”

Joey was stunned, completely speechless.

His men gaped, too shocked to react.

Blake froze.

The other Chads just stared, mouths hanging open.

The pool hall fell into dead silence.

Joey stood there, dumbfounded. “Wait… you… uh…” He stared at the table, with only the cue ball left. ‘Did I even say start? How the hell is it already over?’ he thought, totally lost.

“Let them go,” Stella said again, her voice calm and indifferent.

Joey was stunned, completely speechless.

He had intended to humiliate Stella, but now his expression twisted into a chaotic mix of disbelief and frustration. After a moment, he finally forced out a response. “What if I say I’m not letting them go?”

Stella did not answer. She simply fixed him with a steady, unbothered stare, without the slightest trace of panic.

The pool hall was silent as a grave.

“Not letting them go?” Stella tilted her head, giving it real thought. “Works for me.” A wild glint flashed in her eyes as she cracked her neck, dangerous energy rolling off her. “Isn’t this what you wanted? To see me strip?”

There was a harsh tearing sound.

She yanked down the zipper of her jacket, shrugged it off, and tossed it aside.

Stella was already in a foul mood and had zero patience left for these clowns. She locked Joey in a cold, amber-eyed stare, and his entire body tensed as the suffocating fear from the street race slammed back into him.

“What are you all standing around for? Get her!” Joey only remembered he had backup when he felt the man behind him. He straightened up, suddenly full of swagger. “Take her down!”

Stella smirked.

‘You’re right on time!’

She was seriously pissed off right now.

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‘So what do you do when you’re pissed off?’ Stella mused.

Just fight it out, that’s all,’ Stella thought.

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As seven or eight burly guys charged at her with steel pipes, grinning like they were about to have a good time, Stella planted one hand on the pool table and vaulted clean over it.

In a split second, she clamped her hand around the throat of the guy in front of her, and with a nasty crack, the dude, easily twice her size, collapsed to the floor, twitching uncontrollably.

Joey’s crew froze on the spot, mouths hanging wide open.

Blake, tied up in the corner, could only stare, completely at a loss for words.

It was déjà vu all over again.

Blake almost wanted to cry; it felt so painfully familiar.

‘Why the hell did you guys have to go and piss her off?’ Blake thought, on the verge of tears.

Stella snatched the steel pipe from the fallen guy like it was nothing, her face blank and unreadable. Her eyes swept slowly across every face in front of her, and wherever her gaze landed, fear rippled visibly through the crowd.

“All together?” Stella cocked her head slightly, asking with a faint hint of politeness.

Joey’s crew just stood there, burning with humiliation.

Joey hid behind his own muscle and shouted, “Get her! All of you, move!” He refused to believe that with this many guys, they couldn’t take down one tiny chick.

At Joey’s command, the thugs let out a messy battle cry and rushed in. Blake and the others, still tied up in the corner, started wailing and stomping the floor like their lives depended on it.

Stella was speechless.

‘Seriously, could they be any louder?’ Stella thought, irritated.

With a sharp swing, Stella smashed the steel pipe straight into the nearest guy’s knee. The sickening crunch echoed through the room, and the guy dropped instantly, curling up and howling like a wounded animal.

Stella didn’t even blink. She went to work, cracking knees left and right like a one-woman wrecking crew. Wherever she moved, bodies hit the floor, their screams slamming into the walls.

Joey watched in horror as his muscles went down one after another. Then his eyes locked onto Stella as she closed in on him, slow and steady, like a boss coming to collect her dues.

Joey froze, completely freaked out.

When the last thug hit the ground, Joey’s legs turned to jelly and he dropped to the floor with a hard smack.

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“When are you coming back?” Sebastian’s voice came through the line, cold and deep. Before Stella could answer, Blake and the Chads’ eyes went wide. “Stella, look out!”

Sebastian said nothing on the other end of the line.

The thug trying to sneak up behind her froze, the steel pipe jammed against his throat. His eyes narrowed to slits in shock. ‘How did she even notice me? She didn’t even turn around!’ he thought, completely spooked.

Stella replied calmly, “Soon.”

She jumped off the pool table, forced the would-be attacker into the corner, and with one brutal swing, cracked his head open. He dropped instantly, eyes rolling back as he collapsed right on top of Joey.

Joey was about to scream when Stella shoved the steel pipe against his mouth, cutting the sound off before it could escape.

Stella silently mouthed “shh,” her expression completely unreadable. “Just playing some pool,” she said.

She knocked the pool ball into the pocket with the steel pipe.

Yeah, she wasn’t lying.

“What are you doing?” Stella asked, completely unfazed, tossing the question right back at him.

Down in the dungeon, Sebastian stared stone-faced at Conrad’s assistant, who was tied up on the floor and shaking with fear. Snowball, the massive white snake, was lazily coiled in front of him, radiating a deeply sinister presence.

Ivan stood quietly off to the side.

Conrad’s assistant slowly came to, and the first thing he saw was a giant white snake’s face inches from his own. Its mouth was wide open, two razor-sharp fangs fully exposed.

There came a hiss.

He went completely berserk, thrashing wildly like a lunatic.

‘Snake! Snake!’ he screamed inside his head.

‘That’s a freaking python!’ he panicked, totally losing it.

‘Help! Somebody save me!’ he shrieked mentally.

Sebastian said evenly, “Just taking the snake for a walk.”

Seriously, neither of them was lying.

Stella said nothing.

Snowball, who had been trying hard to look terrifying, froze in place.

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Ivan said nothing either.

‘Legendary!’ Ivan thought, utterly stunned.

“Alright, have fun walking the snake,” Stella said.

“Alright, you have fun too,” Sebastian replied.

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Neither of them mentioned the chaos unfolding on the other end of the line. They both knew exactly what was happening and chose to keep it to themselves, sharing a silent understanding.

After Stella hung up, her expression turned icy. She slowly looked down at Joey. With a heavy thud, he dropped to his knees in front of her. “I’ll pay!” Joey cried out. “I’ll pay whatever you want!”

Blake froze again.

‘Even the way he’s groveling is freaking déjà vu!’ Blake thought, a strange sense of familiarity washing over him.

“How much?” Stella asked, looking down at Joey. Her presence was so overwhelming that it felt like the air had been sucked out of the room.

Joey raised one trembling finger. “O-One hundred?”

Stella kept her face blank and casually dragged the steel pipe across the floor with a screech.

Joey hurriedly raised another finger. “T-Two hundred?”

Stella smirked, her eyes flashing with cold, dangerous amusement.

Joey clenched his teeth, desperation etched all over his face as he raised a third finger. “Three million!”

‘That’s my limit! No way I’m going higher!’ he panicked inwardly.

“Deal!” Stella stepped right up to Joey and crouched down until they were eye to eye. Her presence pressed down on him until it was almost suffocating.

“Five hundred thousand for each of us,” she said evenly. “Call someone to bring the cash. No checks or cards.”

Joey was completely floored, unable to speak.

‘Why the hell did I have to be such an idiot and pick a fight with her today?’ Joey thought, instant regret crashing down on him.

‘My money!’ Joey screamed inside his head, watching his bank balance go up in flames.

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