Shadows Between Us (Stella and Sebastian) novel Chapter 271

Chapter 271

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“Yes, Ms. Carter,” John slipped in silently, waiting for her next order.

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Stella’s voice was indifferent as she took a lazy step forward. Bastienne instinctively tried to dodge, but before she could even move, Stella had already grabbed her shoulder.

Stella smiled at Bastienne, leaned in close, and whispered in her ear, “Got a gift for you.”

Bastienne’s eyes widened in shock.

The next second, as Stella pulled away, she yanked the letter opener from Bastienne’s shoulder blade. Bastienne’s scream echoed through the air, and blood shot up several feet:

Anything on Sandridge Island, no matter how tainted, belonged here and wasn’t leaving.

Stella spun the bloodied letter opener between her slender fingers and then tossed it to the ground. Her eyes went cold as she said, “Take Mrs. Everhart off the island.”

“Yes!” John replied. He grabbed Bastienne off the ground and dragged her toward the edge of the island, without a hint of emotion.

He didn’t show her the slightest bit of mercy.

Stella watched Bastienne being dragged away, a hint of a smirk on her lips, her eyes icy and merciless. Unbeknownst to anyone, she had already sent out a message before she even made her move downstairs.

Meanwhile, in Jaffina, Everhart Group was thrown into chaos.

The Lion Squad showed up and took Steven away in the blink of an eye. They slapped seals on every major department, including the finance office.

Steven was dragged out of the company, his face dark with fury. “This is persecution! I’m being framed! I’ll fight this!” Steven shouted, his eyes dark with rage as he raised his handcuffed hands high above his head.

The reporters, who’d already gotten the tip and were waiting at the entrance, instantly aimed their long lenses and mics at him.

Some streamers even started broadcasting the whole thing live online for everyone to see.

The Lion Squad members, all over six feet tall with broad shoulders and slim waists, basically looking like runway models, didn’t even blink at Steven’s theatrics. They just let him put on his little show.

That was when everything went sideways.

Suddenly, a long arrow tore through the air with a murderous aura.

Before anyone could react or even blink, the arrow shot through Steven’s left shoulder, punching right through him.

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Chapter 271

The force of the arrow slammed Steven back, nailing him to the wall behind.

Blood sprayed everywhere.

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On Sandridge Island, Blake suddenly shouted out of nowhere, grabbing everyone’s attention. Annoyed, Kendrick smacked him on the back of the head. “Why are you yelling?”

Blake didn’t even care about the pain. His face was full of shock as he looked around. “Steven just got shot with an arrow!”

Kendrick stared. “What?”

The news was so insane that everyone just stared at each other for a second before scrambling to pull out their phones.

Then they thought, ‘Wait, it’s actually real?’

That tag shot to the top of the trending list, and the fresh live stream replay was going viral on every platform!

The footage of Steven raising his cuffed hands, only to be instantly shot through the left shoulder by an arrow, was seared into everyone’s eyes. But Stella, totally unfazed, just strolled back to Sebastian’s side as if nothing happened.

Sebastian turned to look at her.

Stella was in a black dress, her skin pale as snow, her face strikingly pretty, but she looked completely innocent.

Behind her, Allan lowered his voice, “Stella, you…”

Stella calmly cut him off, “I don’t know, don’t care, not my business.” She looked up, meeting Sebastian’s eyes. “Maybe the universe just got tired of him and decided to teach him a lesson.”

Sebastian said nothing, just took her hand in his.

Blake thought, ‘Wait, if I’m not seeing things, that arrow looks exactly like the one Chloe used, right? Crap, better keep my mouth shut. Feels like I just stumbled onto something I shouldn’t know.’

Bernard glanced at the two, sighed deeply, and said, “Take me to the grave. I want to see it for myself.

*****

Behind the mountain, two tombstones stood quietly.

Bernard took the flower from Jake, his gaze lingering on the photo of Sebastian’s father. Memories washed over him, and maybe it was the moment that hit him, because his shoulders drooped.

He was starting to feel the strain from standing so long, but he still refused help from the guards.

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Chapter 271

The others lined up behind him, each holding flowers.

Bernard bowed, and the others bowed along with him.

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Sebastian stood by the tombstones, holding Stella’s hand. With a cold, weary look and his eyes downcast, he calmly accepted the Jaffina big shots paying their respects to his father and brother.

While everyone was caught up in the solemn mood, Stella caught sight of someone quietly sneaking off from the back row.

No one knew when Blackie had climbed onto Stella’s shoulder, flicking its tongue, those shiny black bead eyes glinting with icy gleam.

Stella reached up and gently stroked its little head.

Blackie showed her that it wanted to chase after that person.

Stella said, “Go on.” Her tone was totally casual, like she couldn’t care less.

Blackie darted off in a blink, chasing after the shadow that had just slipped away.

In the villa, Celia was sneaking around, eyes darting everywhere. With everyone out back on the mountain, this was her perfect chance to swipe the chip.

She’d thought she’d have to hunt all over for Big Ben, but to her surprise, she caught sight of the robot right away in Lucas’s room. Big Ben was just chilling by the wall, plugged in and recharging itself.

Maybe it was just her nerves, but she couldn’t shake the feeling she was being watched. Celia whipped her head around.

Celia stared at the plant on the table and wondered, ‘Was that plant always there?’

Celia blurted out, “What is that thing? Why is it so ugly?” Her voice dripped with disdain.

‘Ugly?’ the plain plant thought. With a pathetic flop, its leaves wilted and turned yellow, drooping over the edge of the pot.

The poor plant kicked the bucket right in front of Celia.

Celia couldn’t believe her eyes. She took a deep breath, not daring to waste any more time, and started rummaging through Big Ben for the chip, not noticing a thing behind her.

On the table, the shriveled yellow leaves of the plain plant suddenly snapped out like tentacles, stretching crazily. They were just about to wrap around Celia’s neck from behind.

If it hadn’t been for a snow-white tail tip clinging to the pot for dear life and dragging the plain plant back, Celia would’ve dropped dead on the spot.

A thud sound suddenly echoed.

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Chapter 271

“What was that?” Celia whipped her head around.

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On the table, that ugly plant, which looked like some weird Picasso doodle, was still wilted and yellow. Nothing had changed.

Celia kept rummaging through Big Ben, still hunting for the chip.

Behind her, the shriveled yellow leaves suddenly shot out, stretching and twisting wildly!

They writhed in the air, swaying like seaweed, just like a scene straight out of a horror movie!

Snowball was hiding in the shadows and staring at her.

“Why can’t I find it? Seriously?” Celia was sweating bullets, totally freaking out.

She’d seen Stella pull the chip out of the robot yesterday.

On the table, a few little critters who overheard Celia mumbling to herself were all speechless.

Even the plain plant that wanted to strangle her was just speechless.

They hadn’t seen a human this epically dumb in forever.

Snowball and Blackie popped their heads up from the edge of the table, one big, one small, and exchanged a quick look.

Suddenly, Celia felt someone poke her in the back.

“Who’s there?” Celia, feeling super guilty, nearly jumped out of her skin. She spun around, but all she caught was a shadow zipping past, and right by her ear, she heard a sharp click as the chip compartment on Big Ben popped open.

Celia just stared, dumbfounded, as the chip suddenly appeared right in front of her.

‘Damn, am I seeing things?’ Celia thought.

She didn’t waste a second, grabbed the chip, shoved another chip in its place, and made a beeline out of Lucas’s room.

After a while, the peregrine falcon flapped in, spare chip in its beak, landed right on top of Snowball’s big head, and chirped.

Snowball poked the fake chip with his nimble tail tip and tossed it aside.

The peregrine falcon popped in the spare chip Stella left behind, and Big Ben’s round, bouncy body instantly lit up with a soft, warm glow.

“Geez, I nearly died! For a second there, I thought that crazy lady was after my hot robot bod!” Big Ben exclaimed, thumping his chest all proud and silly.

Snowball, Eggie, Blackie, and plain plant all fell in silence.

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John appeared quietly behind Sebastian and whispered, “The Grays are here.”

Carlos had barely gotten off the plane before he was rushing straight to Sandridge Island. Now he was blocked at the dock, and his men were calling Sebastian ungrateful.

They were trying to whip up a scandal, hoping to pressure Sebastian into letting them onto the island.

Sebastian parted his lips, about to say something, when Stella pressed a hand to his arm.

He turned to look at her.

Stella gave him a barely noticeable shake of her head. Blackie was suddenly back, curled around her, shoulder and hidden in her hair, its beady black eyes gleaming.

Stella spoke calmly, “I’ll go.” With that, she took a half step back and walked away.

“Follow her,” Sebastian said, his eyes cold as ice.

The dock was a total mess. Carlos stood firm with his cane, Richard right next to him, and behind them was a whole squad of bodyguards and muscle.

Honestly, they looked more like they were here to start a fight than to observe a moment of silence.

“What gives you the right to keep us out? This is Sebastian’s own grandfather!” Richard yelled, craning his neck and causing a huge scene.

Carlos just let him rant, while the rest of the crowd stuck outside the island started pointing fingers and whispering behind their hands.

The Yates family guarding the dock didn’t mess around. With a sharp click, a loaded gun was shoved right up against Richard’s forehead.

They didn’t even bother with any nonsense.

“Dad! Dad, help me!” Richard was scared out of his mind, yelling for Carlos to save him, practically falling apart like the biggest coward ever.

Carlos’s face went pale. “What the hell do you think you’re doing? Is Sebastian really going to kill his own family?”

And suddenly, a cold female voice cut through the noise at the dock. “Now that’s a line I really don’t care to hear, Carlos.” Everyone turned toward the sound. Stella stepped out in her black dress, John trailing behind her, both looking completely unfazed.

Carlos already couldn’t stand her, and when he saw her talking to him like that, his scowl deepened. “This is the Gray family business. What business does a brat like you have meddling here?”

Stella strode right up and coolly laid her pale hand over the black barrel aimed at Richard’s forehead. The stark clash of black steel against her pale skin made the whole scene pop. Everyone watching felt the tension

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crackle.

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The Yates family guys didn’t even blink. They dropped their guns instantly. With that, everyone stepped back, falling in behind Stella.

The whole dock saw it go down, and all those big shots knew exactly what was up.

Stella glanced up, a cold little smile on her lips. “Go home. Today’s not your day.”