Chapter 7

Stella finally heaved a sigh of relief. After that, she withstood the discomfort surging through her fatigued body until she reached the hospital. Only then did she let consciousness fade away. She ended up spending almost two days recuperating in the hospital before returning to the hospital to pack her things. It was at that moment that Stella finally noticed that she had forgotten to take Ethan's personal effects with her. After all, she had left Chapman Manor in a hurry that night. It was a rose that Ethan had personally carved out of a slab of rose quartz. That rose represented his love for her. When Stella rushed back into her old room in Chapman Manor, she saw Ariana playing with the crystal rose with interest gleaming in her eyes. Stella exclaimed nervously, "That's mine! Give it back to me!" She could only watch anxiously as Ariana dangled the rose before her eyes with a smile on her face, as though she was toying with a pet. "Give it back!" Stella tried to snatch the rose back, but her nerves instantly went taut the moment Ariana pretended to break it by hurling it to the floor. She dared not approach Ariana after that. Knowing that she had leverage over Stella, Ariana finally spoke up casually. "What's with the anxiety? I'm not going to keep this thing away from you. As long as you obey my orders and bear witness to my and Jules' engagement ceremony tomorrow, I'll return it to you." "Fine. I'll agree to your conditions." Although Stella had no idea what Ariana was up to, she was willing to do anything just to get the rose back. Meanwhile, Ariana wanted to test Stella's obedience and get petty revenge on her because she saw Julian's split lip after he returned from the hotel that night. She picked up a small blade before gripping Stella's chin tightly and carving a big "X" on her lips. The sight of the pallid Stella trembling from the pain satisfied Ariana to no end. She laughed merrily while increasing the force of the blade. Tears began rolling down Stella's cheeks. Still, she gritted her teeth and endured the pain, her gaze forever pinned on the rose. "Time's almost up, Ethan," she thought. "Tomorrow, I'll be able to retrieve your rose. Tomorrow, I'll be able to leave Chapman Group for good and take care of Anthony for you. Tomorrow, I'll be able to hear your heartbeat again." … The next day, Chapman Group announced that they'd give all the employees the day off so that they could attend Ariana and Julian's engagement banquet. Everyone attended the banquet excitedly. Not only was the cuisine loaded with fancy ingredients that regular people would never see in their daily lives, but the gifts that were distributed to everyone were also products from luxury brands. Because of this, everyone began looking forward to Julian and Ariana's actual wedding. They were certain that the wedding would be grander and more lavish than the engagement banquet. When Stella showed up at the venue with a mask on her face, everyone just shot her odd looks. "So, that's Mr. Chapman's secretary, huh? Her figure sure is smoking hot… Hehe!" "That's just a slut who can't marry into the Chapman family. How can she be compared to Ms. Fairwood? Honestly, just how shameless is she to attend the engagement banquet?" "I heard that she has a dead ex-lover. The moment that her ex died, she eagerly climbed into Mr. Chapman's bed. That sort of woman has no shame whatsoever!" Rumors about Stella kept circulating among the crowd. Malicious gazes lingered on her form at the same time. But Stella no longer cared about them. She just wanted to get the engagement banquet over with while hoping that her offboarding process would end as soon as possible. That way, she'd be able to leave this place. It didn't matter what the others said about her—she would never care about them. After that, Stella was forced to ascend the stage under everyone's gaze. She filled the couple's glasses with champagne and even delivered a speech to seal their engagement. Julian kept staring at her the whole time, as though he wanted to see the truth hidden behind her mask. "Now, I announce that Mr. Julian Chapman and Ms. Ariana Fairwood are officially engaged." Suddenly, everyone's phones began ringing nonstop. Of course, the trio's phones did the same thing, too, while they remained on the stage. A curious guest turned on his phone. After checking the latest notification out, his face cycled through various expressions. But he was quick to urge his friends to check their phones out. Whatever the news was, it spread faster than one could ever imagine. Stella felt that everyone was acting pretty weird. Just as she was about to check her own phone, she heard a woman shrieking desperately. "No! That's not me! I'm not the one in the video!" Ariana was trembling violently as she stared at her phone. After screaming into the microphone randomly, she turned on her heel and fled toward the rooftop. "Aria!" Julian chased after her instantly. In fact, everyone did the same thing. Only then did Stella have time to turn on her phone. To her horror, she found out that her account actually posted a video on the group chat featuring everyone in the company. "For 9 dollars and 90 cents, you can get your hands on this sex tape featuring Julian Chapman and the mystery woman!" No! She wasn't the one behind this! Stella was on the stage just now, and she didn't touch her phone the whole time! Someone had hacked into her account! With trembling hands, Stella tapped on the video that was supposedly going to be sold to the employees in the group chat. All color was drained from her face instantly. She could feel her limbs going cold. Julian's broad back and handsome side profile could be seen in the video. The face of the woman beneath him was censored, but one could tell that she had a nice figure. Obviously, this wasn't Stella. She didn't have two moles on her chest. Only Ariana had those moles.