Chapter 26
Stephanie had planned to take Sebastian to the hotel, but instead, he had her pinned against his side. She couldn’t figure out how to tell Elliot where to drive.
By the time Sebastian finally let go of her, they were already pulling into the parking garage at Cloudridge Valley.
She was caught off guard. “You know I live here?” she asked, glancing at him.
She’d used his card yesterday, which must’ve given away her details, and now here he was.
Stephanie figured he’d probably done some digging into her life over the last three years.
Elliot, still behind the wheel, spoke up. “It’s easy for him to find out anything. It’s just that you’ve kept it so well hidden all this time. We never knew you’d move to another country.”
Stephanie’s nerves flared, and she didn’t know how to respond.
Elliot added, “You even found your real family… Well… anyway, he’s really pissed!”
The last part, “really pissed,” made her stomach drop.
She quickly glanced at Sebastian, who was already standing outside the car. Without wasting a second, she jumped out.
The elevator ride was silent, tension thick in the air. They headed straight for her place.
As she was about to grab slippers for Sebastian, she opened the shoe cabinet. There, among her own slippers, was a pair of men’s slippers that clearly had been worn.
A cold shiver ran down her spine. She hurriedly grabbed a brand–new pair she hadn’t worn yet, offering them to Sebastian.
“Why don’t you wear these for now?” she said, holding out a pair of pink slippers with little rabbit designs.
Sebastian’s eyes narrowed slightly, his cold energy intensifying.
“Already learned how to serve others?” he teased, his voice dark.
Stephanie was taken aback. She froze, bitterness suddenly filling her chest.
She stood up straight and gave him a pitiful look. “You already know?”
Sebastian chuckled softly, slipping the slippers on. They were too small for him, but he said nothing.
Instead, he walked into the apartment and looked around, his gaze growing darker with each passing second.
Finally, he turned back to her. “The Hart family is pretty well–known in Long Harbor. This is where they’ve put you?”
Just hearing the mention of the Hart family made Stephanie tense up. She pouted, avoiding his eyes.
“This isn’t from the Hart family,” she muttered.
Sebastian froze and stared at her.
Stephanie shrugged, then admitted, “I bought it with your money.”
His expression twitched. Things were worse than he’d thought.
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But when she said “with your money, something in his icy demeanor seemed to soften–just a little.
He walked over to the couch, tossed his coat over the back.
Then he removed his scarf, still scanning the room. Then he asked, “Why didn’t you buy something bigger?”
“It’s big enough. It’s 1,500 square feet. Enough for me,” she answered.
Sebastian looked around, unimpressed. To him, it was tiny. Back in Fiorenza, even her smallest house had been over 5,000 square feet.
When she lived with the Giovanni family, their manor was so big she couldn’t finish walking around it in an hour.
Sebastian paused, his eyes narrowing. “Come here.”
His voice had a sharp edge to it.
Stephanie hesitated, but she stepped forward, stopping about a meter away from him, careful not to get too close.
But Sebastian reached out with a long arm and pulled her into his embrace, just like he had in the car.
“Sebastian!” she gasped, her voice shaky.
His voice was low, almost a growl, as he spoke from above her head. “You’ve got five minutes.”
Stephanie’s breath caught, panic flashing in her eyes. Her heart skipped a beat.
Five minutes. She knew exactly what that meant.
Three years ago, she had walked out without a word, right in the middle of the chaos within the Giovanni family.
Even though she physically left, there was a saying circulating in Fiorenza’s high society: An adopted daughter’s never truly of the soil.
And that was Stephanie they were talking about.
Rumor had it that when everything fell apart for Mr. Giovanni, and Sebastian was at his lowest, she had abandoned the family.
Instead of answering, Stephanie turned the question back on him. “The Casalini family, how are they doing?”
For the past three years, she had kept a close watch on everything happening in Fiorenza.
The Casalini family had once held her fate in their hands.
However, for the last year, there hadn’t been a single word about them.
She’d tried to dig up information through her contacts, but every lead had been a dead end.
Now, she directly asked Sebastian. But the moment the words left her mouth, she saw the coldness in his eyes. His grip on her chin tightened just slightly.
With their faces so close now, she could feel the heat of his breath on her cheek–warm, but with an undeniable edge of danger.
Stephanie swallowed hard. “Sebastian…”
He tilted his head slightly and asked, “Are you asking about the Casalini family, or about Richard Casalini?”
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The moment she heard Richard, a sharp tremor ran through her chest. She muttered, “1…”
Noticing her body stiffen, Sebastian’s gaze sharpened.
Stephanie forced herself to steady her breath and replied, “I don’t care about him.”
That seemed to satisfy him, and he replied, “The Casalini family’s been gone for a year now. Is that answer good enough for you?”
Stephanie froze.
Gone–that meant Sebastian had completely dismantled the Casalini family.
The weight that had been pressing on her chest since she’d first asked about them lifted in that instant.
She hesitated, then asked quietly, “What about the people from the Casalini family now?”
“Do you really want to know?” Sebastian’s voice had grown even colder, more dangerous.
Stephanie shook her head. “No. As long as they can’t post threats on you anymore, that’s all that matters.
With those words, the burden that had hung over her for the last three years finally disappeared.
