bChapter /bb37 /b

Ste pushed Lionel bback /b“Lionel, voir’re engaged. Keep your dietanen?

Lionel looked at her. “Ste, E

She cut him off with a re and started to leave. But Lionel grabbed her arm, his eyes locked on hert.

These eyes had pulled her out of the dumps a million times. But then, they turned on her, crushing herst hope.

“Ste, are you really gonna marry Henry?” Lionel asked.

Ste stepped back and saw bAnna /bstaring at them from the window. “So what?” she said.

“You can’t marry him,” Lionel said, his voice still soft.

Steughed. “Dude, I almost forgot. bWhy /bget hitched when you’re right here? You’re with Anna now. You’re not just gonna let the Hayes Group go down the drain, are you?”

“I talked to Dad. He said we’re struggling. And Ste, be real. You made this mess. You need to fix it yourself”

Ste stood there. Het cold stare made Lionel feel like he bwas /bpushing her away.

“Ste, I ain’t trying to hurt you. But Henry… you gotta think twice. Even after everything, if only…” His words died out.

Ste waited forever. Nothing. “It only what? if I still love you, I marry you, and you dump Anna? Or you wanna make me your side piece!”

Panic shed across Lionel’s face. “Ste, you got it all wrong, I just

She cut him off. “Shut it. Don’t care. Who I marry is my bbusiness/b. You ain’t helping? Then stay out bof /bit–you lost that right.”

As Ste walked off, Lionel spun around and yelled, “We bcan /bfix this! Don’t marry Henry, I mean it!”

She snorted. “Who the hell do you think byou /bare? Know your ceb, /bLionel

He just staredb, /bface falling like she’d kicked his dog

Ste bolted upstairs. No bway /bE

cause more stress.

Eleanor would see her like this–Mal didn’t even need to

bIto /bwarn her. With Eleanor finally getting better, Ste refused to

Mary spotted her in the hallway, opening her mouth to bsay /bsomething, but Ste ducked back into her room.

Dinnertime rolled around. Ste was heading out when a bknock /bcame. She opened the door to ba /bbmaid /bshoving ba /bfood tray at her. “Mr. Max Hayes bsays /bstay in your room till that face clears up,” the maid said.

Ste btried /bcraning her neck to see the dining room below. The maid stepped in front of her. “Oh, and Mr. Max Hayes says shut the door fast once you’ve got byour /bfood. Don’t worry about dirty dishes–F’ll grab themter.”

Ste eyed the maid–cold–shouldered and in disrespectful. Then the te slid from Ste’s hands, shattering on the floor. “Oh no!” she yelped.

The maid gaped. “Ms. Ste bHayes/b…”“”

Max came running from the dining room and spotted blood on Ste’s finger, He grabbed her hand. “Stel bWhat /bhappened?”

Ste stared straight at the maid. “Nothing She just messed up. But I’m not ming her.”

Max shot the maid a death re.

“Wasn’t me!” the maid blurted.

“You saying Stells cut herself to frame you?” Max trappeil

The maid nodded like crazy.

WHACKI Max pped her hard. “Bullshit! Ste ain’t like that, he growled.

The maid opened her mouth again–then froze. She’d caught Ste’s smirk.

“Out. Now,” Maxjabbed a finger toward the door. “You’re fired

The maid

I got it. Head down, she slumped out without another word

Max wrapped a bandage around Ste’s finger, “There. Feeling better?”

“Way better,” Ste said, sounding a lot nicer than usual.

bMax /blooked at her, bd /bto see she bwas /bdoing bettertely. He bwas /babout to say something. bBut /bthen Fiona screamed, “Max, get over here Anna passed

“Coming!” He blew Ste off and bolted btoward /bAnna.

Again. Every damn time Ste got attention, Anna would pull this stunt. And it always worked,

As for that maid? Ever bsince /bSte got home, she’d been bbing Ste’s secrets to Anna. Ste never called her out, but she hadn’t forgotten. Today, the

maid walked right into the trap.

Plus, Ste figured Anna was faking it to take the heat off the maid–probably scared Ste would dig up dirt on the maid.

While the chaos blew up, Ste sneaked over to the fired maid’s room.

The maid was packing her stuff when Ste showed up. Tears streaming down her face, she blurted, “Ms. Ste Hayes, what’d I do to piss you off? why you gotta mess with me like thisb?/bb” /b

Ste leaned against the doorframe. “Don’t you bknow /bwhy?”

The maid’s eyes darted away. “N–no, I don’t,” she stammered.

Ste straightened up and stepped closer. The maid lost it.

Ste snatched the phone right out of her hand. The maid lunged to grab it back. “Ms. Ste bHayes/b, you can’t just take my phone.”

Ste pointed the phone at the maid’s face. It unlocked instantly. She tapped a few times, fast.

The maid had no idea what Ste was doing, but it hit her: bSte /bknew things they had no clue about.

Minutester, Ste handed the phone back. The maid frantically checked everything but found nothing wrong. She finally looked up, throwing Ste a

look

he just walked out. The maid stood there, he confused

Ste didn’t say a wordb. /bbShe /b

Ste hauled herself back to her room. One te left–good enough for her. She never wanted to eat with those fakers anyway. stic smiles, stic

family.

Now with them all out, bshe /bfelt only peace.

She fired up herptop, digging for dit on Henry, Nothing.

Ste leaned back. If can’t find anything, maylie the guy’s actually clean? she thought.

Ste heard noises outside probably Anna, Max, and Fionaing back. She didn’t move; it wasn’t her problem, so she didn’t care.

A few minutester, voices came from the living room. Ste heard Eleanor talking and got worried. She thought something might be wrong with Eleanor, so she rushed out.

E