Shadows Between Us (Stella and Sebastian) novel Chapter 76

Chapter 76

Chapter 76

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Allan turned his head slowly, like his neck was rusted shut. He stared at Sebastian. Even with a crying child in his arms, Sebastian still looked cold as ice.

Allan couldn’t wrap his head around it. There was no way Sebastian just agreed to that request. The room went dead silent.

Snowball slithered in, belly full and happy, but paused. It looked left, then right. The vibes in the room were weird enough to spook even a snake.

Allan decided his ears must be playing tricks on him. He cleared his throat. “Sebastian,” he asked, trying to keep his voice steady. “You just said ‘No way,’ right?”

Sebastian didn’t even blink. “I said okay.”

Allan kept a stiff smile on his face. He turned to John. “What did Sebastian just say? I didn’t catch it.”

John stayed quiet, so Allan turned his smile toward Jake. Jake didn’t waste breath on words. He just hauled off and slapped Allan across the face. The sound was loud and sharp.

“Hurt?” Jake asked flatly.

Allan clutched his cheek, wincing. “Yeah, it hurts…”

“Good,” Jake said. “Then you are not dreaming. You heard him right.”

Allan cursed Jake in his mind. Lucas was the only one happy about this. He looked at Stella with big, wet eyes, trying to look as pitiful as possible.

Sebastian glanced at her, too. He acted like he didn’t care, but he was watching. Then Allan, John, and Jake all turned their heads at the same time. Everyone was staring right at Stella.

Stella was baffled. ‘The logic of a five-year-old is a mystery,’ she thought. ‘How in the world did he jump from ‘don’t kick me out’ to ‘marry Sebastian’?’

Lucas tapped the screen of his watch. Big Ben’s voice filled the silence. “Stella…”

He tapped it again. Big Ben said, “Stella… Stella…”

Stella shrugged. Her voice was casual, like she was discussing the weather. “I’m not marrying Mr. Gray. That’s not happening.”

The mood in the room crashed instantly. Allan felt his stomach drop. He was terrified to even look at Lucas or Sebastian.

It happened instantly. Lucas’s eyes filled up with fresh tears, ready to flood. Sebastian’s face went dark. The temperature in the room felt like it dropped ten degrees in a second.

John and Jake shrank back, trying to make themselves invisible. In the corner, Snowball was a trembling ball

18:54 Mon, Jan 19

Chapter 76

of scales. Allan tried to break the awkward silence. “So…”

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He never finished the thought. Stella was already crouching down, eye-level with the boy. “Lucas, you know,” she said gently. “I’m only eighteen. The law in Clusia says I’m way too young to get married.”

Lucas froze. After a second, he tapped his watch screen. Big Ben asked, “Not even to anyone else?”

Stella shook her head. “Nope. Nobody.”

Lucas let out a long breath. The tears stopped, and his shoulders dropped. He looked like a huge weight had been taken off him. He tapped his watch screen. Big Ben spoke up. “Then I’m safe.”

Lucas closed his eyes. Seconds later, soft snores filled the room. The adults stood there, stunned by the instant power-down.

Allan felt a little emotional. ‘He’s an angel,’ he thought, ‘but only when he’s asleep.

Then the smell hit him. He looked down at the vomit on his shirt, gagged. “I’m gonna go take a shower,” he muttered, heading for the door.

John and Jake followed him, leaving the room quiet. Sebastian sat there, rigid as a board. He was terrified to move and wake Lucas. His eyes just tracked Stella as she walked around the room.

“Feeling better, Mr. Gray?” Stella leaned back against the wall, a teasing smile playing on her lips. “What happened to, ‘I don’t care if he’s scared of me. As long as he’s alive’?”

She was throwing his own tough-guy speech right back in his face. Sebastian kept his face blank. “Stella…” he said quietly.

Even with a sleeping kid in his lap, he still looked dangerous. But his voice gave him away. He sounded beaten. It was a tone nobody had ever heard from him before.

Stella felt a little thump in her chest, but she ignored it. She pushed off the wall and leaned right into his personal space.

Planting a hand on his armrest to trap him, she looked down and said, “Next time you want to know what Lucas is thinking, don’t be a stone. Just ask him.”

Sebastian held her gaze, silent. Stella chuckled softly. She straightened up and gently lifted the sleeping boy from his frozen arms.

*****

Allan could not sleep that night. He tossed and turned in bed. Something about the evening just felt wrong to him. Finally, he got up and walked down the hall. He knocked on Sebastian’s door.

Sebastian opened it. He looked like hell. He sat in his wheelchair, wrapped in something dark and heavy, looking like a dark king on a throne. He had tried to sleep without his pills and failed. He was in a nasty mood.

Allan swallowed hard and asked the question burning a hole in his brain. “So, be honest. What kind of ‘Dad’ are you trying to be to Stella?”

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Chapter 76

Sebastian didn’t say a word. He just stared with those cold eyes. Allan pushed his luck. “Are we talking a father figure… or Daddy?”

Allan thought about how Sebastian had agreed to the marriage idea earlier. He looked at Sebastian with pure judgment. “You are a sicko,” Allan said. “You know that, right? A total pervert.”

Sebastian’s hand tightened on the wheel. He had been about to take his sleeping meds, but now his patience snapped. His face turned thunderous. Allan realized he had poked the bear one too many times. His knees turned to jelly.

“Get out,” Sebastian growled, slamming the door shut.

“You got it,” Allan said, already backing away.

*****

The next morning, a bomb dropped on Haliville. The city government slammed the brakes on a massive Gray Group project.

That project was a goldmine. It was going to print tens of billions in pure profit. But at dawn, everything stopped. The workers dug up an ancient graveyard right under the site.

The news hit the market like a wrecking ball. The Gray Group’s stock crashed so hard that it triggered the circuit breaker instantly. This project was Richard’s baby. He wanted to use it to prove himself after he kicked Sebastian out.

Penelope burst into the CEO’s office at the Pierce Group. She looked pale and frantic. “Dad,” she shouted, closing the door behind her. “What are we going to do?”

Kendrick frowned. He shot a look at his lawyer, signaling him to step back. “Calm down,” Kendrick snapped. “Stop acting like a child.”

Penelope’s voice was high and shrill. “Dad, it’s Gray Group. How did nobody see those tombs before? Why did they find them today? It makes no sense.”

“Use your brain,” Kendrick said coldly. “Someone’s pulling the strings here.”

Penelope’s lip trembled. All she could think about was her money. She had put 15 million dollars into that project.

Her husband’s family threw in hundreds of millions because she told them it was a sure thing. Now, everyone was freaking out, and the target was on her back.

“I…” Penelope stuttered.

Her eyes darted to the desk. A document sat there. She caught the words “Last Will” at the top before the lawyer quickly covered it with a folder.

A dark look appeared on Penelope’s face. She wondered if her dad was changing his will again.

*****

18:55 Mon, Jan 19

Chapter 76

Allan stared at everything that had arrived at Sandridge Island from Nova Mall, utterly stunned. Boxes were piled up everywhere. He thought, ‘Did Sebastian buy all this for Stella?’

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18:55 Mon, Jan 19