Chapter 79

Charles reached out and stopped Stella in her tracks. "You can't go now." Stella frowned, clearly annoyed. "Why not?" He caught the way she looked at him and calmly explained, "You said it yourself—if you keep digging, he might hurt Grandma. She's still not awake. If you act rashly now, it could put her in danger." Neither of them had expected this risk before. But now that he knew, he'd do whatever it took to protect his grandma. For him, that wasn't hard. But more than that, he didn't want Stella running off like this, all alone, in her current state. Stella froze. He had a point, and biting her lip, she hesitated. "But..." "No buts," Charles cut her off flatly, his tone firm. "Until Grandma wakes up, you're staying put." She looked up at him, catching a flicker of something in his normally unreadable eyes—was it worry? Concern? No way. She must've imagined it. "You..." She wanted to say something but couldn't quite find the words. Forget it. There's no way Charles said all this out