Shadows Between Us (Stella and Sebastian) novel Chapter 3

Chapter 3 Paid To Stay

Silent sobs shook Lucas’s little frame, tears now flowing freely down his cheeks. His need for comfort was clear.

“Do not pick him up,” Sebastian ordered, his icy voice cutting through the room and deepening the tension.

Stella acted as if she hadn’t heard him. She leaned down, shielding Lucas’s ears with her hands, and whispered softly to him, “Ignore that weirdo.”

Jake was trying to ease his way out of the room when his brother John shot him a look that could freeze fire. He stopped moving at once, his face settling into a resigned frown.

He was trapped. When forces like these clashed, the bystanders never fared well.

“Stella,” Sebastian said, a slow and dangerous smile crossing his face. He had never met anyone brave enough to defy him so openly.

“You’re not a young man, Mr. Gray. Why bother fighting with a child?” Stella’s voice was laced with clear sarcasm.

She easily lifted Lucas into her arms and held him close, all while giving Sebastian a sharp, challenging look.

Sebastian’s expression turned cold, his eyes fixed on her with a dark, unyielding intensity.

A heavy silence fell over the room. Everyone watching held their breath, sharing the same silent thought that Stella was either fearless or foolish.

A long moment passed before Sebastian finally moved, just a slight shift of his fingers. It was enough. The tension broke, and everyone around them let out a slow, collective breath. The sudden shift in tension felt utterly surreal.

Servants rushed forward, quietly clearing the wreckage from the floor before slipping out again.

With Lucas in her arms, Stella turned to leave.

As Stella turned to leave, John blocked her path at the door. “You have not been dismissed by Mr. Gray, Ms. Carter,” he stated flatly.

Stella recognized him immediately as the man who had knocked her unconscious in the warehouse. She regarded him with a thoughtful look.

Lucas huffed and tried to bite at John’s hand, but Stella gently caught his chin and held his mouth closed.

Lucas blinked, and then tilted his head to the side, looking suddenly as soft and harmless as a baby bird.

“Alright. I’m not going,” Stella replied calmly. She carried Lucas back into the room and took a seat directly facing Sebastian.

As she sat, a quiet realization stopped her. Sebastian was in a wheelchair, a detail she had missed until now. This didn’t fit, since she clearly remembered him standing in that warehouse.

She wondered if her memory was playing tricks on her.

“You’ve never asked my name,” Sebastian said, his voice low. His eyes, steady and inscrutable, stayed fixed on Stella.

His face revealed nothing, his sharp, handsome features a mask of cool control. He held himself with the calm authority of someone accustomed to being in charge.

Jake’s eyes lit up at the comment. He instinctively glanced toward John with an openly curious look.

John answered with another sharp look, a clear command for his brother to stop.

“Does it matter?” Stella said without thinking, her face showing her genuine confusion.

An uncomfortable silence filled the room.

A moment later, sensing her own bluntness, she added with a casual shrug, “I’m leaving soon anyway. Does it even matter what your name is, Mr. Gray?”

The air in the room seemed to grow even heavier.

Jake hunched his shoulders slightly, watching Stella. In his eyes, her manner was straightforward to the point of being almost tactless.

Sebastian’s voice was quiet. “I didn’t give you permission to go.”

He watched her with a look that felt too deep, too knowing. His hand moved slowly over the python’s head as it lay across his lap, the gesture steady and unnervingly patient.

Stella’s face showed nothing, but she was listening, weighing each word.

Then a contract was set down in front of her.

“Stay and look after him,” he said. “The offer is thirty million dollars.” He said it plainly, as if naming a price for an ordinary service.

Stella remained silent, though her lashes lowered for a beat.

A pen was quickly brought forward. Stella took it, letting it roll once through her fingers in a smooth, practiced motion before holding it still.

She looked directly at Sebastian and said, “Mr. Gray, let me ask you one last question…

“Are you really willing to pay thirty million to keep me here with Lucas, even if I might cause trouble for you later?”

It was a choice she was leaving in his hands.

Even without her memories, something deep inside assured her that she always kept her promises.

Payment meant responsibility.

Sebastian’s reply was immediate and straightforward. In one smooth motion, he slid a black bank card across the table toward her. It was an unlimited account, loaded with thirty million dollars.

“The pin is six zeroes,” he said, his voice calm and steady.

A small smile touched Stella’s lips, and her eyes seemed to brighten. “I have one more condition, though.”

“Name it,” Sebastian replied. His handsome face remained completely impassive, even as she raised the stakes.

“My condition is admission to Edenbury Academy,” Stella said. That elite academy was her price, and she would not be refused.

“Deal,” Sebastian replied, sounding like he’d been waiting for her to ask.

His swift agreement settled it. Stella took the pen and signed. “A deal, then.”

From that moment on, she saw him as her sponsor.

“Mr. Gray,” John’s voice cut in, sharp with urgency. “Your grandmother is in the hospital.”

The atmosphere in the room turned.