Left Them Loved Myself (Stella Spencer) novel Chapter 163

Chapter 163

Jeremy stopped dead in his tracks and called Erica again, his voice a desperate roar. “Erica! Do you have anything? Anything

at all?”

Her usual bubbly tone was gone, replaced by a grim seriousness. “Harvey said Stella never made it home. Jeremy, it’s bad. I just got off the phone with Captain Lance. They pulled the surveillance footage and…”

She took a shaky breath, her voice heavy. “The feeds from the last few roads her car was on were all hacked, all at the same time. Captain Lance says it was no accident. It was a planned kidnapping. Stella… she’s in serious danger

Jeremy’s blood ran cold.

Kidnapping.

A targeted attack.

orced himself to stay calm, his voice tight. “Okay. At least… at least we know what happened. Have they made a move?

ation data?”

on it. The tech team is working around the clock to restore the hacked feeds. I’ll call you the second I hear ng, Erica said urgently.

“Good. Keep me posted.”

Jeremy hung up and slammed his fist into the wall, splitting his knuckles. He forced himself to take a breath, his mind racing, cycling through every possible lead and contact.

At the Lloyd Manor, in Sebastian’s bedroom.

The shrill ringing of a phone shattered the late–night silence, jolting the lightly sleeping Sebastian awake.

“Sir,” his butler, Keith, entered quietly, a worried look on his face. “It’s Mrs. Lloyd. It’s so late…

Sebastian was instantly alert, a sense of foreboding washing over him. Stella had always been considerate; she would never call at this hour unless it was an emergency.

“Give it to me,” he said, his voice low.

Taking the phone, Sebastian answered, his voice carrying its usual authority, yet laced with concern. “Stella? What is it? What’s happened?”

There was a moment of silence, then came Stella’s voice, trembling despite her best efforts to control it. She spoke quickly, an unusual strain in her words.

“Sebastian… can you… can you have Ernest… call me back? Right now… it’s very… very important.”

Sebastian’s brow furrowed.

‘Something’s wrong with her tone!’

He instantly picked up on the fear and urgency in her voice, and the clipped, careful way she spoke, as if afraid to say more.

“Where is that damn fool, Ernest? He’s not with you? Sebastian’s voice dropped, anger flaring in his chest

Has that disgrace abandoned his wife and child for that woman again?

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Chapter 163.

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“Sebastian… please… just have him… call me…” Stella’s voice was thick with tears, a desperate plea that spoke of immense

pressure.

“Alright. It’s alright, child, don’t be afraid. I’ll find him now, right now.”

Sebastian promised, his tone firm and reassuring. “I’ll make him call you back immediately. You just wait.”

Realizing the gravity of the situation, he didn’t even bother to hang up on Stella. He barked at Keith, “Get that fool on the line for me, now! Immediately!”

“Captain Lance has already cordoned off the relevant roads and is conducting a thorough search. The tech team is doing everything they can to counter the hack and restore the surveillance data. The moment we lock down Stella’s location, the rescue team will move in,” Erica’s voice came through the phone, a sliver of hope in her otherwise grave tone.

Jeremy’s heart was in his throat, his fists clenched so tight his knuckles turned white. “Alright! Let me know the second you hear anything!”

hospital room.

hung up after a blistering call from Sebastian, a dark, irritable cloud hanging over him.

From the bed, Sylvia looked up with her pale face, her voice barely a whisper. “Was that… the head of the Lloyd family?”

She seemed to find even the word “grandfather” too difficult to say.

“Yeah,” Ernest grunted.

“Ernest…”

Sylvia bit her bloodless lip, managing a fragile, understanding smile. “If you have something important to do, you should go. Don’t worry about me. The nurses will be here. I’ll… I’ll be fine.”

This thoughtful display of “strength” was a stark, irritating contrast to the “demands” he was getting from Stella.

The nameless irritation flared hotter, and he almost turned his phone off completely.

But Sebastian’s final threat–‘These old bones of mine might not be around by the time you show up–stuck in his mind like a thorn. He couldn’t completely ignore it.

“You get some rest.”

He suppressed his annoyance and leaned down to tuck the covers around her, the gesture surprisingly gentle. “I’m just stepping out to make a call. I’ll be right back.”

Sylvia closed her eyes weakly, as if she didn’t even have the strength to nod.

The moment the door clicked shut behind Ernest, her eyes snapped open. All traces of weakness vanished, replaced by a cold, calculating smile.

Ding.

A faint notification sound. Sylvia quickly pulled a second phone from under her pillow. A message from a ghost number was

on the screen.

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[The plan is in motion.]

Her fingertip tapped the screen, and the message was instantly and permanently deleted.

Afterward, she placed a hand gently on her lower abdomen, her face taking on an almost saintly, maternal glow. But her eyes glinted with a bone–chilling coldness.

In the storage room of the abandoned villa.

The seconds ticked by, each one stretching into an eternity under the crushing weight of silence and pressure.

The harsh buzz of the bare bulb overhead did nothing to dispel the gloom, only casting the kidnapper’s brutish face in an even more menacing light.

Thirty minutes of waiting had shredded the last of his patience.

bitch!”

ked the axe up, the cold blade arcing through the air and stopping just inches from Stella’s right shoulder blade. “Are tucking playing me? It’s been over half an hour. Where is he?”

He advanced on her, his heavy boots making dull, sickening thuds on the dusty concrete floor. Each step was a hammer blow against Stella’s ribs, sending her heart into a frantic, painful rhythm.

Stella’s lips were white and bloodless.

Calling Sebastian had been her last hope, but Ernest… that man’s heart was harder than stone.

It was a gamble she couldn’t afford to take.

Her eyes darted to the window, the one he had pried open and she had slammed shut. In a voice barely above a whisper, she spoke urgently to the trembling girl in her arms. “Irene, wrap your arms around my neck and don’t let go, no matter what. Do you hear me?”