When I got home that evening, Harvey was already sitting at the dining table waiting for me. I was sure his bodyguards had already given him a detailed report of my movements.

"Where did you go today?"

I deliberately let a crack show. He caught my panic immediately.

"Nowhere. I didn't go anywhere. Just did some shopping, bought a few things."

His gaze turned sharp. "Oh? Where are the things you bought?"

Only then did I act like I'd realized how flimsy that excuse was. I stammered, unable to come up with an answer.

After a long silence, he sighed. "If you don't want to tell me, that's fine. I'm just worried about you."

Only then did I relax, as if he had spared me. I stepped forward and clung to his arm playfully. "I just met up with an old friend. Don't worry, I'll keep myself safe."

After rolling around in the sheet that night, I picked up the gun he'd carelessly left on the nightstand.

He seemed used to me playing with it by now. He didn't stop me, just leaned lazily against the headboard. 

"You really like that gun, don't you?" he said.

"You know how it is," I replied. "Ever since that incident, I haven't felt safe."

"Check under your pillow."

Half skeptical, I reached under the pillow and felt something cold and hard. It was a handgun, identical to Harvey's.

I threw myself into his arms, delighted. 

He ruffled my hair. "Happy now? Though yours isn't loaded yet."

"Who keeps a gun under their pillow? That's terrifying."

He pinched my cheek and teased me for being timid.

Everything was falling into place. We'd reached the final piece.

Harvey fell into a deep sleep beside me. I watched the dim morning light outside the window, gripped the gun in my hand, a

After that, Harvey hired several bodyguards for me. They accompanied me everywhere I went, like live surveillance cameras he'd planted by my side.

I knew they reported every move I made back to him. But I didn't particularly care. I just pulled up a number on my phone that I hadn't dialed in a long time.

"Hello? You want money, don't you? Let's meet."

The person on the other end agreed quickly.

"You pick the time and place," I said.

He sent me the location—an abandoned factory.

When I drove there, he seemed to have been waiting for a while. The moment he saw me, he flashed a fawning grin full of yellow teeth.

"Stella, you actually remember you have a father?"

I looked at the cigarette butts littering the ground and covered my nose in disgust. "How much do you want this time?"

"Give me 50 grand for now. If it's not enough, I'll come back for more."

This was how he used to extort

Chapter 19