Left Them Loved Myself (Stella Spencer) novel Chapter 121

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With a bang, the door flew open out of nowhere, leaving Erica totally stunned. She didn’t get a chance to pull back–her bat landed squarely on Louisa’s head, with a sound so crisp one’d think she’d been practicing.

Louisa cried out, seeing stars swirling in her vision, and almost face–planted right then and there.

Good thing Erica hadn’t swung that hard, or Louisa would definitely be heading to the ER.

“Mrs. Jansen, seriously, what were you thinking just opening the door like that?” Erica flashed a cheeky grin, not an ounce of guilt showing after smacking Louisa.

Considering all the times that old witch bullied Stella, Erica thought to herself, ‘Just one hit? She should count herself lucky!‘

“Wait, so now it’s somehow my fault?” Louisa clutched her head, looking at Erica like she couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

Erica nodded coolly. “Who else am I supposed to blame? If you hadn’t opened the door so suddenly, I wouldn’t have hit you. Obviously, it’s on you.”

“Then why were you banging on my door?” Louisa demanded.

“Because you wouldn’t open up,” Erica answered, as if it were the most obvious thing ever.

She had an answer for everything, and every word just made Louisa want to scream.

Louisa realized she couldn’t out–argue Erica, so she turned to Stella, standing quietly at the side. “Did you bring her along just to piss me off?”

“Whoa, don’t flatter yourself,” Erica cut in immediately. “Trust me, you’re not important enough for me to go out of my way just to mess with you.”

Stella nodded as well. “I’m just here to see Theodore.”

“He’s your dad,” Louisa snapped, finally jumping on the chance to lecture. “Stella, I know I’m just the stepmom here, and I don’t expect you to treat me like your mother. But Theodore is still your father–how can you just call him by his name? Do you seriously not have any respect for him at all?”

‘When people say something so ridiculous you can’t even respond, all you can do is laugh.‘ Stella thought, deadpan.

Stella scoffed, her voice icy. “Oh, so now he’s my dad? Where was all that family talk when you were egging him on to throw me and my mom out of the Jansen house? Now you want to play the respect card—give me a break.”

Erica jumped in, her tone dripping with sarcasm. “Oh, please, don’t pretend you’re doing this out of some deep devotion. If the Jansen family went bankrupt tonight, you’d be gone with every penny before sunrise.”

“Trust me, you’re nothing special. I’ve seen women like you more times than I can count,” Erica added, shaking her head, her expression pure ‘I’m onto you,‘ completely unimpressed. Louisa was about to lose her

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Chapter 121

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composure right then and there.

Louisa clenched her jaw, holding it together by a thread. “Your dad’s out. If you’ve got business with him, save it till he gets back.”

With that, Louisa tried to slam the door shut, but Erica jammed her foot in the gap before she could.

“Come on, Mrs. Jansen, didn’t you just say Stella’s his daughter? So even if he’s not here, there’s no way you can justify kicking her out of the house, right?” Erica fired back, her words dripping with attitude.

‘Nice. The old man’s out–makes it way easier for us to snoop around,‘ Erica thought to herself, a sly smile creeping onto her face.

Louisa didn’t stop them, just gave Stella a sly look and a half–smirk. “Doesn’t bother me. After all, this is technically your home, Stella. If you don’t want to come in, well, that’s on you, not me.”

Back when Elaine’s marriage with Theodore started crumbling–even before Stella got booted from the Jansen family–Louisa knew exactly just how much Stella despised this place.

Stella hadn’t crossed this threshold even once in all those years away. That alone made it crystal clear she wanted nothing to do with this house.

Of course, Louisa couldn’t deny she’d played her part in all that.

She believed that even if she gave Stella the green light, Stella probably wouldn’t ever want to set foot inside again.

“Move aside,” Stella said, her voice calm and steady.

Louisa stared at her, confused. “You really want to come in?”

Then Louisa smirked, throwing in a snide comment, “That room of yours? I never touched it—not a thing’s changed. You sure you want to go see it?”

“My old room…” Stella murmured, almost to herself.

Her eyes flickered for a split second at the memory of those creepy drawings, but the fear was gone just as fast. Locking eyes with Louisa, Stella smiled, totally unfazed. “Yeah, I actually want to see if the stuff that used to keep me up at night can still scare me now.”

‘She’s changed. She’s really changed,‘ Louisa mused, feeling genuinely taken aback inside.

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“I heard you talking to Mom on the phone just now,” Irene said. She hadn’t really heard what was said, but figured that maybe Sylvia was hurt and needed Stella’s care.

It was just like Irene used to be–even the tiniest bump or scrape meant she had to be hugged and comforted by Stella to feel better.

Thinking about that, Irene suddenly felt a little down. Come to think of it, it had been ages since Stella had held her.

“Yeah, I guess I do miss home a bit,” Sylvia replied, going along with Irene’s words.

Hearing that, Irene dropped her own worries about Stella–she instantly shifted into comforting mode, all focused on Sylvia.

“Ms. Jansen, if you want to go home, let’s go right now! I’ll get my dad to drive us, and I’ll stick with you the

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Chapter 121

whole time,” Irene said, her big eyes shining with concern.

“Well…” Sylvia hesitated, her eyes flickering with a hint of longing.

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She looked troubled, glancing at Ernest. “Would it be troublesome for you?”

Since Stella and Erica had both gone to the Jansen house, no one had thought to arrange a ride for Irene. As a result, Ernest had to rearrange his schedule just to pick her up.

“Not at all,” Ernest replied, his tone calm and steady. “If you want to go, we can leave right now.”

“Alright.” Sylvia nodded happily.

“I really don’t feel okay right now,” Erica whispered, her voice trembling.

Inside Stella’s old room at the Jansen house, Erica clutched her chest, her heartbeat stumbling and painful- her throat felt painfully dry, and for a moment, all she wanted was to just break down and cry.

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