Three Years After They Abandoned Me novel Chapter 205

Chapter 205

Jordan studied Stella for a long moment. “Maybe you should stay home today. If there’s nothing urgent at the office, just take it e rej

Stella laughed. “Jordan, are you not sleeping well? Or is work getting to you? You’re being paranoid.”

“I don’t know. I feel better when here with you. But when you’re out there alone… Just skip work today, okay?”

“You’re overthinking this,” she said, shakin

her head. “I’ll be fine. Come on, let’s go together.”

Jordan exhaled, relenting. “Fine. But

go together, and

come

back together. No leaving alone.”

“Deal.” She looped her arm through hi

with a playful grin.

As they walked out, Mary watched them with an amused shake of her head. At least some things never changed.

Jordan made sure Stella entered the Hayes Group building safely, but before leaving, he called her one last time. “Any chance you’ll be leaving the office today?”

“Not sure,” Stella replied. “Probably not unless something comes up..

Why?”

“Just… try to stay inside if you can.”

Stella sighed in amused exasperation. “Alright, alright. If there’s no reason to go out, I won’t. Promise.”

Only then did Jordan seem to relax.

As she walked through the lobby, Stella couldn’t suppress a small, private smile. ‘No one has ever cared about me this much. Is this what it felt like to be truly loved?‘

But the moment she stepped off the elevator, her instincts prickled. Her grip tightened on her purse, eyes scanning the office.

S

The employees seemed normal, typing away at their desks and chatting by the coffee machine. Stella told herself maybe she was just paranoid after Jordan’s warnings.

Then she noticed Nola’s empty desk. Her assistant was never late. Stella was about to ask someone when her phone buzzed. It was an unfamiliar number with a vaguely familiar area code.

“Hello?” she answered cautiously.

“Stella.” The voice was unmistakable: Hasan, Lionel’s father. Her stomach dropped.

“What do you want?”

“Listen carefully.”

A strained voice crackled through the line. “Ms. Hayes, don’t! I’m fine, don’t come-

“Nola?!” Stella’s blood turned to ice. ‘They’d taken her?” “Hasan, you bastard. What the hell are you playing at?”

Hasan let out a dark chuckle. “Oh, you’ll see.”

Stella’s nails bit into her palm. Jordan’s paranoia hadn’t been unfounded after all.

Hasan’s voice dripped with smug malice through the phone. “You know why I didn’t come for you directly. You’re too clever. You’d never have

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mu, 14 Aug

Chapter 205

followed me willingly. But your secretary? Well, 1 doubt you’ll abandon her.”

In the background, Nola’s frantic protests were cut short by the sharp crack of a slap. Stella’s grip tightened on her phone.

“I’ll come,” Stella said coldly. “But if a single hair on her head is harmed, whatever you want from me? You’ll get nothing

“Now that’s more like it.” Hasan chuckled. “Play nice, and your little friend suffers less. Oh, and ditch Jordan’s new security detall I know they’re shadowing you. Come alone, or you’ll be identifying her corpse.”

Stella exhaled slowly. She wasn’t afraid for herself. If the Quinns wanted to drag her back, so be it. ‘But Hola? An innocent caught in the crossfire? Classic Quinn family move.’

After agreeing to Hasan’s terms, Stella sat motionless in her office, calculating. Within the hour, she’d acquired a janitor’s uniform and slipped past Jordan’s guards unnoticed, her face hidden beneath a cap.

The taxi she hailed barely came to a stop before she slid into the backseat. “Take me to a chemical supply store first,” she ordered.

The driver glanced at her in the rearview mirror. “Kid, you’re not… look, whatever you’re planning-”

Steel glinted as Stella pressed a blade to his throat. His hands froze on the wheel.

“Listen carefully,” she murmured. “You don’t know me. You didn’t see me. I’m not a bad person. Play hero, and you’ll regret it. Nod if you

understand.”

The man swallowed hard. “Y–yeah.”

Stella lowered the knife and stepped into the chemical supply store. She quickly found what she needed and returned to the cab.

“Now, you’ll drive where I tell you,” she instructed, her voice icy. “When I say stop, you leave. No looking back. No cops. If you disobey, your family pays the price. Understood?”

The driver swallowed hard. “Y–yes, ma’am.” He didn’t dare say another word.

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