Chapter 3
Watching my dad's agonized reaction, Stella grinned wickedly and gestured with her hand.
She said, "Get it all on camera, every bit of his suffering. Make sure he really feels it. When I've had enough fun, feed him to the sharks in the open sea. Out here, nobody cares if I kill someone."
"What's going on? Why aren't you following my orders?" Stella demanded, her eyes wide with disbelief as the bodyguards who had obeyed her every word just moments ago now stood motionless.
Just as she was about to lose her temper, the one-eyed bodyguard stepped forward and showed her his phone screen.
He said, "Ms. Summers, Mr. Sterling just called and said he won't pay us the rest of our money. No money, no deal. We're done here, and we're not laying a finger on that guy for you anymore."
Stella's face turned red with rage. "Bullshit! My darling was just talking to me."
But the bodyguard didn't budge. These guys were mercenaries. No money, no action.
Stella immediately dialed Victor.
The first call went unanswered.
The second call was met with silence.
The third didn't go through either.
Each unanswered call felt like a slap to Stella's face and a punch to her gut.
The crowd watching was full of big shots.
Plenty of them thought Stella was out of line, but nobody wanted to get dragged into her mess.
Then the jeers started.
"Isn't she the finance queen? She can't even pay her own bodyguards and has to beg her man to foot the bill," someone sneered.
"Looks like she's just a dumped mistress," another person scoffed.
"I don't believe the famous finance queen is actually this vicious," someone else said.
"Shut up, all of you!" Stella shouted furiously at the crowd. "If you don't know what you're talking about, keep your mouths shut."
The one-eyed bodyguard dragged over a chair and sat down. "Ms. Summers, we're not here to play games. If there's no money, we're gone."
Stella sneered, "What's the hurry? I've got more than enough money." She clicked her heels across the deck and dialed another number.
Moments later, she swaggered back, radiating confidence. "$1.5 million. Every cent's in your account."
The one-eyed bodyguard checked his account and grinned with satisfaction.
"Ready to serve, ma'am," he replied.
Stella jabbed a finger at my dad, who was huddled in the corner, desperately trying to pick up his shattered phone with the only arm he had left.
"Weird. Why is that arm still perfectly fine?" Stella murmured.
The one-eyed bodyguard flashed a vicious grin. "Just say the word, Ms. Summers. How do you want us to mess with him?"
"Do your worst. Make him suffer," Stella snapped.
Inside the cabin, I glanced at Morris, whose face went pale.
Cold sweat was dripping down his face as he bowed to me.
"Ms. Summers, we've warned Victor Sterling loud and clear. He'd never have the guts to go against you," Morris stammered.
My gaze was piercing. "So there's someone else behind this. Someone you guys haven't even sniffed out yet."
Morris clenched his jaw. "Give me ten minutes, no, five. I'll dig up everything about them, right now."
"What about Lucas?" I asked.
"The Gray family already sent him to save your dad," Morris replied.
"Okay," I said.
I kept my eyes glued to the screen, watching as my dad looked terrified, with the bodyguards closing in on him.
He must've figured I was trying to rescue him, so he tried to appeal to our family bond, hoping to stall for time.
"Stella, have you forgotten who got you out of that orphanage when you were just a kid? If I hadn't gotten you the medical care you needed, you would've died there," my dad shouted.
Back when Stella was a kid, she was always sick. She had this massive, unsightly birthmark on her face. Nobody wanted to take her in.
My parents, devastated after losing their own daughter, saw something in Stella's eyes that reminded them of me, and didn't hesitate to bring her home.
They spent hundreds of thousands just to cure her.
But that became the one thing Stella would never dare mention, the most shameful chapter of her life.
"Old fool, you really think reminding me of your so-called kindness will make me go soft on you?" Stella sneered.
She strode up to my dad, clutching the heirloom he'd always treasured but now couldn't reach.
The bracelet, the Summers family's legacy, was smashed onto the deck right before my dad's desperate eyes.
The fragments were scattered everywhere.
"No!" my dad howled.
He lunged forward, his left hand reaching for the fragments. Then Stella's stiletto slammed down, grinding his hand into the fragments.
"Ah!" he cried out in agony.
Blood seeped from his palm, staining the fragments red.
Stella spat, "You really think this is over?"
She grabbed his hair and flashed a wicked grin straight at the surveillance camera on the yacht.
She said, "I know you're watching, Charlotte. Just wait. Soon, you'll end up just like him. No, you'll wish you were that lucky."
With a single gesture, Stella's bodyguards dragged my dad to the yacht's edge, tied his feet with thick ropes, and suspended him upside down off the side of the deck.
Barrels of animal blood were dumped into the pitch-black sea, and the smell hit everyone like a punch.
Everyone watched in horror as shark fins cut through the waves, speeding straight toward the boat.
Stella was really going to feed a live man to the sharks.
Stella's eyes burned with madness as she stared me down through the screen.
"Charlotte, why did you have to come back? Ever since you came back, you took everything that should've been mine. I'll make you pay for it!" Stella snarled.