Shadows Between Us (Stella and Sebastian) novel Chapter 71

Chapter 71

Chapter 71

24#

Grace screamed as she grabbed her face and scrambled to her feet. Stella stood nearby, casually swinging the empty coffee cup in one hand, completely calm and unapologetic.

She looked at the soaked, disheveled woman. For once, she held back her usual sharp edge, just because Lucas was still around.

“Lucas,” Stella called, her eyes deep and knowing as she looked at him.

Lucas, frozen in self-defense, didn’t move.

“Lucas,” Stella called again, her voice gentler this time.

Lucas’s fingertips twitched slightly.

“Go get Mr. Gray,” Stella said, placing her cool palm over Lucas’s eyes. In the next moment, his long lashes fluttered.

“Hmm…” Lucas murmured, his voice soft and small.

“I’m fine. Go ahead,” Stella reassured him, catching the worry in his eyes. She withdrew her hand, her whole demeanor still laid-back and calm.

Lucas’s eyes lit up again, and he dashed off. Every few steps, he’d glance back at Stella, then run some more, and then look back again.

Stella kept that faint smile on her lips until Lucas finally disappeared from sight. The moment he was gone, the smile vanished, and her face went cold.

She crouched in front of Grace, grabbed a fistful of her hair, and forced her head up.

“What you just said to Lucas. Say it to my face,” Stella said. Her voice was flat and indifferent, but the quiet authority in it sent a chill straight through Grace.

“I’m with Mrs. Gray! How dare you touch me?” Grace shrieked, her voice shaking. Hearing Stella was calling Sebastian over, she started to panic. She clung to Annette’s name like it was her only shield.

Stella let out a soft laugh, but her eyes stayed icy cold. She clamped Grace’s jaw in a vice-like grip.

“Even if Mrs. Gray herself was standing right here, she couldn’t save you,” Stella said, her tone casual, but the threat in her words was chillingly clear.

“You…” Grace stammered, her eyes flickering with a sudden idea. She started stripping off her jacket.

“I’ve been here way longer than you. Just wait till Mr. Gray gets here. I’ll accuse you of assault!” Grace threatened.

Stella shot Grace a look, her face unreadable.

18:53 Mon, Jan 19

Chapter 71

Grace, thinking she’d finally rattled Stella, let out a cold laugh and deliberately messed up her hair even more, trying to make herself look even more pitiful.

“This is a blind spot; no cameras here. You’re just the new girl. Who do you think Mr. Gray’s gonna believe, you or me?” Grace sneered, yanking Stella’s collar and pulling her right up close.

“Look at you, all soft and delicate. Bet you’ve never had it tough,” Grace taunted.

Just as Grace tried to touch Stella’s face, Stella kicked her straight into the pool. Water exploded everywhere, splashing wildly.

“You’d better know your place.” Stella’s eyes were ice-cold. Thinking about how Grace had grabbed her collar, she ripped off her jacket, now just in a black shirt.

She popped open two buttons, revealing a hint of her collarbone and glowing skin.

Just then, Allan wheeled Sebastian over. They arrived just in time to see everything.

Grace was thrashing around in the pool, sputtering, “H-Help…”

Stella sat coolly at the edge of the pool, one leg stretched out, the other bent. She held a teaching stick in her hand, and every time Grace surfaced for air, Stella would smack her right back down.

Allan, John, and Jake were all just stunned into silence.

‘What the heck just happened? Man, that’s savage, they all thought.

Stella propped her chin up with one hand, her gaze icy and full of disdain. Even when Sebastian rolled in, she didn’t flinch. She just raised an eyebrow, calm as ever.

“John, pull her out,” Sebastian said, his voice cold, face emotionless.

John stepped up immediately and dragged Grace out of the pool. Stella just watched, making no move to interfere this time.

Grace was coughing her lungs out, face pale from all the water she’d swallowed. The moment she spotted Sebastian, her eyes welled up, looking all pitiful. “Mr. Gray…” she called out weakly.

Lucas had somehow made his way back to Stella’s side, gripping her shirt.

Stella glanced down, her gaze calm. She ran her fingers over Lucas’s smartwatch, and Big Ben, who’d been weirdly quiet all day, suddenly had his belly glowing with a soft white light. But everyone was too busy staring at Grace to notice.

“It was him! He tried to do something horrible to me. And he even sent Lucas away.” Grace bawled her eyes out, pointing a shaky finger right at Stella.

“Look! These are the marks she left on me.” Grace made a show of pulling down her collar to reveal the fresh scratches, ones she’d just made herself. With no cameras around, she could spin any story she wanted.

‘No way he’s getting out of this one,’ Grace gloated to herself.

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Chapter 71

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Allan, John, and Jake just stared, not sure how to react to the whole scene.

Sebastian sat in his wheelchair, idly twirling his black prayer beads. His face was pale and strikingly handsome, but his expression was icy cold. He didn’t even spare Grace a glance, let alone look at her shoulder.

“So you’re saying… ‘he’ tried to do something inappropriate to you?” Allan cleared his throat, pointing at Stella, deliberately using ‘he’ to echo Grace’s accusation, just to make sure he heard her right.

“Yes. It was him!” Grace shot back, absolutely certain, her eyes burning with dramatic fury, totally lost in her own performance.

Allan, John, and Jake were all just stunned into silence.

‘Well, this is getting interesting,’ the three of them thought at the same time.

“Do you have anything to say for yourself?” Sebastian asked as he looked up at Stella.

Stella, dressed in men’s clothes, radiated danger and rebellion. Her skin glowed even more against the dark fabric. That kind of striking, gender-defying allure was impossible to look away from; even in showbiz, she’d be top of the food chain.

“I do,” Stella answered, her lips curling into a cocky smirk as she met his gaze.

Stella didn’t even hesitate. She just kicked Grace straight back into the pool.

Grace shrieked as she hit the water.

“That’s my answer,” Stella said coolly, tossing a challenging look at Sebastian.

Allan, John, and Jake were frozen, speechless.

For the first time, a flicker of something crossed Sebastian’s flawless face. His lips quirked up slightly, and even his icy eyes seemed to warm with a trace of amusement.

By the time John hauled Grace out of the pool again, she was half-drowned, a total mess.

“Mr. Gray… Don’t let him off…” Grace wheezed, her voice barely above a whisper.

‘Damn it! He actually dared to do this to me right in front of Mr. Gray?’ Grace fumed inwardly.

“Let me ask you again. Are you sure it was ‘him’ who tried to do something inappropriate to you?” Sebastian said, his voice cold and sharp.

For the first time, Sebastian actually looked at Grace, and his icy stare was so intense it made her shiver.

“Yes,” Grace managed to choke out.

‘Did I mess up somewhere? Why does he keep asking me the same thing?’ Grace wondered, suddenly uneasy.

Sebastian glanced at Stella, who was about to raise her hand.

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