Chapter 3

When Stella woke up, the smell of disinfectant reached her nose first.

She slowly opened her eyes. The first thing she saw was the stark white ceiling.

The hospital room was quiet. It was so quiet that she could hear the drops from the IV.

She turned toward the bedside. No one was there.

She was not surprised. Julian would not come. Neither would anyone from the Wallace family.

For the next few days, she stayed in the hospital by herself.

News alerts popped up on her phone every day. They were all about Julian and Yara.

Julian had taken Yara to see a private doctor. He had bought her an entire row of limited-edition handbags. He had taken her to the beach to cheer her up…

In the past, whenever she saw news like that, she would drop everything and rush over to find him. She would pull him away from Yara and take him home.

But this time, she simply dismissed the notifications. She quietly changed her bandages, ate her meals, and went to sleep.

Once she had almost fully recovered, she completed the discharge paperwork. Then, she took a cab back to the villa where she had lived for several years.

Their families had forced Julian and Stella to live together in the villa so they could develop a relationship.

Stella had been overjoyed at the time. She had spent three whole months designing and decorating the place herself. She had arranged every corner to look like the home she had always imagined.

She had chosen the pale blue curtains in the living room. She had designed the bookshelves in the study. She had brought every piece of tableware in the kitchen back from overseas herself.

None of it belonged to her anymore.

She went upstairs and began packing the things she planned to take with her.

She had only sorted through half the clothes in her closet when her phone rang.

It was Julian’s friend, Colin Lawrence.

“Stella, this is bad!” Colin sounded frantic.

“That idiot Julian is going horse racing just to win Yara some stupid necklace! He still hasn’t had the metal plate in his leg removed after he broke it street racing last time! If he falls again, he could lose his leg entirely!”

Stella was silent for a moment. Then, she said calmly, “So? What does that have to do with me?”

“What does that have to do with you?!” Colin was stunned. Then, his voice rose. “Of course it has everything to do with you! We need you to come stop him! After all these years, you’re the only person he listens to!”

“He’s not going to listen to me,” Stella said. “I’m not going to worry about him anymore. He can do whatever he wants. It has nothing to do with me.”

“What are you talking about?! Stella, have you lost your mind? You—”

Stella did not wait for him to finish. She hung up and went back to folding her clothes.

But her phone rang again soon after. It was Colin again.

This time, she turned off her phone without answering.

That evening, she turned on the TV and saw a local news report.

[The Quinn Heir Julian Quinn Thrown from Horse During Race, Rushed to Hospital]

She was not surprised. She did not give the report another glance. She turned off the TV and went to bed.

Not long after, hurried footsteps sounded downstairs.

She ignored them and lay down. The next second, her bedroom door flew open.

Julian stood in the doorway in hospital pajamas. His left arm was in a sling, and his face was pale from blood loss. But his eyes were still as sharp as a hawk’s as he scanned the room.

Stella froze for a moment. She pushed herself upright with one hand. “Why are you back?”

Julian stared at her cold, indifferent face. His eyes widened. Then, he gave a cold laugh, like an angry animal that had been provoked.

“Why am I back? I came back because I was worried you’d make a scene over my horse racing again and smash every car I have left in the garage!”

Stella remembered what he was talking about.

The last time he had gotten into a car accident while street racing for Yara, Stella had been terrified that he would die somewhere out there.

In a fit of anger, she had ordered someone to smash all the luxury cars in his garage. There had been more than ten of them.

Afterward, he pointed at her and called her controlling and crazy.

The memory was painfully clear.

She took a deep breath and pushed down the faint ache in her chest. She kept her voice as calm as possible.

“You’re imagining things. I didn’t touch your cars. From now on, you can do whatever you want. I’m not going to stop you.”

As soon as she said it, Stella felt a strange sense of relief.

Julian froze.

This was the freedom he had wanted for years! Yet when he heard those words from her, an inexplicable irritation began to spread through him.