جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 80

Very quickly, Marianne brought out another bowl and set it in front of Stella.Evan took it without a word. He scooped up a spoonful and lifted it to her lips again.“Do you have any idea how weak you’ve gotten?” His voice softened slightly, almost coaxing. His dark eyes held hers. “Open your mouth.”Stella knew.If she didn’t drink it, he wouldn’t drop it.Annoyed beyond measure, she snatched the bowl from his hand and drank it in one go.Evan’s expression eased.“That’s better.”With a sharp ‘bang’, she slammed the empty bowl down onto the table.The bite mark on his neck was impossible to ignore. She refused to look at it again.The rest of breakfast passed in silence.Thick.Suffocating.---After breakfast, Stella stood and headed for the door.Evan’s voice cut across the room.“I told you. You’re not leaving.”“And if I insist?”Neither of them backed down.Evan’s gaze hardened, something dangerous flickering beneath it.Stella felt a tightness in her chest.

Stella sat on the sofa, feeling the blood still flowing beneath her.It wouldn’t stop.She dialed 911 herself.Evan wasn’t answering.Marianne was panicking. She tried calling him again.On the fifth attempt—He finally picked up.“What is it?”His voice was cold.“Sir, please come back,” Marianne said urgently. “Ma’am—she’s bleeding. There’s a lot of blood.”As she spoke, she glanced at the spot where Stella had been standing earlier.There was blood on the floor.A pause on the other end.Then Evan’s voice came back, even colder.“She told you to say that?”Marianne froze.Stella, who could hear the call on speaker, went silent.Marianne stammered, “No, Sir—you’re misunderstanding her, she—”Click.He hung up.Marianne stared at the phone in disbelief.She immediately tried to call again.“Enough,” Stella said weakly. “Don’t.”“He’s on his way to see his sister-in-law.”“Ma’am, Sir actually—”“Stop talking. Just let me be quiet for a minute.”Marianne wanted

At Inkwood Gardens.Ruby had blocked the ambulance from entering. She even had Marianne restrained.Standing over Stella, who lay bleeding on the sofa, Ruby’s eyes were nothing but cold malice.She radiated dominance. Control. Danger.As she walked toward Marianne, she spoke casually to Stella.“Tell me,” Ruby said softly, “how much blood does it take for someone to die?”Stella narrowed her eyes faintly.“You won’t get to see it.”Ruby smiled thinly.“Oh, I will.”Without warning, she stepped down hard on Marianne’s back.Marianne, already elderly, gasped in pain.Stella’s gaze sharpened instantly.Ruby pressed harder.“That old fool has called Evan how many times now?” she sneered. “And has he come back?“If you can’t even tell who the real lady of this house is, what use are you?”Marianne trembled under her weight, unable to get up.Ruby applied more pressure, then looked back at Stella.“Even if you bleed out right here, he’s not coming.”“Let her go.”Stella’s

By the time Stella was wheeled out of emergency, Jennifer had already rushed over after hearing the news.On the first floor—She ran into Evan first.He was holding Summer’s baby in his arms, walking alongside a full medical team. She had no idea where they were headed.Then she saw Ruby.Ruby was lying on a mobile stretcher, covered in blood. Jennifer had no idea who had hurt her, but she was being rushed off for treatment.And then—Jennifer finally saw Stella.Pale. Fragile. Lying motionless on the hospital bed.Her heart clenched.“What happened? Why were you bleeding? Was it because you’ve been overworking these past few days?”The doctor, adjusting the IV line, answered calmly.“She just had a miscarriage. She wasn’t stable enough for something that potent. It likely aggravated the bleeding.”Jennifer blinked.“Over-supplementing? We didn’t. We just made some chicken soup.”Even chicken soup wasn’t allowed now?She instinctively opened her mouth to question the d

At the mention of Evan…Lucas hesitated.He didn’t dare tell Felix that when he went to pay the hospital fees, he had actually run into Evan.They’d barely exchanged a few words before Evan was pulled away because something had happened with Summer’s baby.So instead, Lucas said evenly,“No. I called Patrick. He couldn’t reach him at the office either.”What a mess.His own wife miscarries and he’s nowhere to be found.Now this happens, and he’s still not here.At this point, Lucas was almost certain—The divorce was inevitable.After something like this, there was no coming back.Stella wouldn’t forgive him. Not with her temperament.The cracks between them had already been deep these past six months because of Summer.But the past few days?They hadn’t just widened the gap.They’d obliterated whatever tenderness they once had.Felix said nothing.Lucas glanced at him.“Felix… you don’t actually have feelings for Stella, do you?”He didn’t finish the sentence.But