Chapter 22
“Enough is enough, for God’s sake! Stella snapped; she hated when her father spoke about her mother like that. I’ll find a way to get that money. Leave it to me!”
“Find a way?” Jorge laughed at her statement. “Stella, it’s not a thousand or ten thousand that I’m asking for. So, where exactly are you going to get that money? Sit down with Nathan again and discuss”
He didn’t even finish his sentence because Stella simply hung up the phone. She really didn’t want to hear another word from him. The more she listened, the angrier she became.
After leaving the bank, she sat in her car but didn’t start it immediately. Instead, she opened the glove compartment. From there, she took out a folder containing the house deed.
The house had been inherited from her grandparents. Even Fernanda her mother, didn’t know it existed. At the time, her grandparents kept it a secret because they knew Fernanda was determined to stay with Jorge. They feared she would hand the property over to him without hesitation.
Stella leaned forward, resting her upper body on the steering wheel. Her heart ached deeply. Now, unexpectedly, she also had to use this house… but she didn’t want to sell it, only use it as collateral for a loan.
She spent the entire day dealing with the banks, trying to secure the loan, but such processes weren’t simple. She ran from place to place and still had to wait for the bank’s appraisal.
By the time she returned to the Collins‘ home, the sky had turned dark. Everyone was already at dinner, even Nathan, who, for the
first time, had arrived home on time.
“Where were you? How could you come home this late? Don’t you know everyone’s waiting for you?” Carla scolded her.
“I was at the studio for a while,” Stella replied. She couldn’t mention it was related to Jorge.
“With everything going on, you still feel like going to work?”
“That’s enough, Carla!” Anna intervened. “Ella, come here and eat your dinner. Next time, don’t be so late, okay?”
“Okay, Grandma.”
In the Collins family, Anna was the only one genuinely kind to her. Stella sat next to Nathan, who gave her a cold glance.
She ignored him, bowing her head to eat her dinner. But his intense gaze on her made her increasingly uneasy.
She finally finished eating, though not without difficulty. Still, Stella didn’t want to head straight to her room and face Nathan, so
she went to Liam’s room first, staying until he fell asleep.
When she returned to her room, she accidentally saw Nathan on a call with Olivia. Judging by his expression, they seemed to be arguing.
Grabbing her pajamas, she went straight to the bathroom, filled the tub, and sank into the warm water. She calculated how much she could gather with the house and her savings.
Lost in thought, she intentionally fell asleep. She wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but she was awakened by a noise.
“Stella.”
Nathan called her name, knocking on the door. Suddenly, Stella became fully alert, realizing she had fallen asleep in the tub. Her
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Chapter 22
entire body was now cold,
Hastily, she stood up, trembling as she grabbed the robe she’d hung arlier. Meanwhile, Nathan kept knocking on the door.
When she finally opened the door, Nathan looked pale and slightly rious.
“What were you doing in there?”
“Taking a bath.”
“A bath? For over an hour?!“.
Stella was startled. Although she knew she’d taken too long, she hadn’t realized it was over an hour.
Was Nathan actually worried about her?
But facing his furious demeanor, she didn’t know what to say. The atmosphere felt strangely charged.
Nathan stared at her for a moment, then turned and lay down on the bed without another word.
Stella sighed, dried herself off, and changed clothes. In the dark, they remained silent. The quiet was so profound they could hear
each other’s breathing.
In the following days, Stella worked tirelessly to secure the loan using her inherited house. She ran herself ragged, leaving early and returning late each day.
Carla, noticing her behavior, grew even more displeased. Yet Stella could do nothing, especially since Jorge continued to hound her with incessant calls.
The house was finally appraised at 300,000. It was far less than Jorge demanded, but it was the best she could manage. She had no idea how she would repay it.
After receiving the appraisal, she left the bank and called Jorge. Exhausted from days of running around, she felt unwell but didn’t
have time to care.
When the call connected, she coughed, but Jorge ignored her condition entirely.
“Did you get the money, Ella?” he asked eagerly.
“Dad, I could only secure 300,000…”
Before Stella could finish, Jorge’s sharp voice interrupted her.
“300,000? What am I supposed to do with that? I need at least half a million!”
Jorge continued ranting. His voice was so harsh it made her headache worse. She massaged her temples in frustration.
“I don’t care how you get the rest. Otherwise, come here and tell your mother it’s because of you that we’ll separate!”
“Dad…”
Stella tried to suppress her unease, but it didn’t seem to work. Her vision blurred, and before losing consciousness, she faintly heard someone calling her name in alarm
