Chapter 26
Lionel
My mother’s words hit me like a punch to the gut. But I know she doesn’t understand, she can’t possibly comprehend what I’ve been through.
She has no idea who Stella truly is, but I do.
I take a deep breath and try to calm my racing heart before meeting her. I have a plan, carefully crafted, to free her from the impostor’s grip and claim her for myself. My rightful place is by her side, as her husband.
I want to see her in a white dress walking towards me down the aisle. From the moment I first saw her, with those piercing blue eyes filled with happiness at my awakening, I knew she was meant to be mine.
No one could ever replace her in my memories, even when they were hazy and unclear. Stella is an unforgettable woman.
And in the short time we’ve known each other, she has become my entire world. She is my lifeline.
I can’t wait to share my future with her.
But first, we have to clear the air between us. She deserves to know the truth about everything that’s happened. From the very beginning, she took care of me without hesitation or doubt.
And I’ll never forget that indescribable feeling when our hands first touched. It was then that I knew she was meant to be mine, forever and always.
Ethan didn’t have to insist too much that I keep her close to me. Instead of doing it because it was suggested to me, I decided to take the opportunity to woo the woman of my dreams.
It was a tough decision, but I knew it was the right one. Stella had been hurt by the lies she believed about me, yet she still showed her love in every moment.
Her unwavering devotion.
I saw the fierce pride in her eyes when she spoke of her family or business.
And despite my attempts to shower her with gifts and take care of her, she remained stubborn and independent. That’s what I admired about her—her drive, her ambition. She was smart, capable, and I was proud to have her by my side as we conquered the world together. There was nothing she couldn’t achieve.
Day by day, step by step, Stella earned my trust.
I knew deep down there had to be a reasonable explanation for those mysterious bank deposits. If she wanted money, I could have easily given it to her with a swipe of my unlimited credit card. But that’s not what this was about. It was never about money with Stella.
She turned my empty house into a home, filling each room with her warmth and light.
Ethan Conrad may have been onto something—Stella was the key to all of this. I had to protect her at all costs because just like myself, she was now in harm’s way. And annulling our marriage on grounds of fraud? That was out of the question—it would only bring undeserved consequences upon her.
The memories from the day of the attack flood my mind at lightning speed. There was someone else there, someone who looked eerily similar to me and claimed that I had stolen his life before knocking me unconscious.
I glance at my watch and curse under my breath—I’m running late. My wife must be wondering why I haven’t come home yet. She’s always been too good for me, too caring and understanding.
I quickly throw on my jacket from behind my desk chair, adjust my cuff links, and make my way out to meet her.
In the refrigerator, I left a bottle of champagne chilling. I want to toast before leaving.
“Stella, baby,” I call out to her when I realize she hasn’t come down yet.
My woman, still fussing with all that shit… the makeup, the hair. But I know she doesn’t need it. She’s naturally beautiful, she’s my Stella. My Hvězda , shining with her own light.
“Stella!” I call again, this time with impatience. The house is quiet and almost dark on the first floor. We don’t spend much time down there, so the lights are off except for the lamps on the breakfast bar.
I shout her name as I climb the stairs, senses on high alert. Something’s not right.
The tattered sofa where we usually cuddle up to watch movies at night is empty, as is our room.
Shit.
“Stella?” One more attempt before I reach for my phone from my jacket pocket and dial her number.
No answer, but I can hear her ringtone somewhere in the house. With phone against my ear, I follow the sound, searching frantically. Where could she have gone? How? And why?
Just the thought of someone taking her makes me see red. That’s what those security men Ethan sent are here for—he promised they were the best in the business.
I find Stella’s iPhone in the kitchen with a photo of us on the screen, taken on our trip to the beach.
We look so damn happy. The image is a reminder of the memories we created together and the future awaiting for us.
Where could she have disappeared to? Whatever game she’s playing, I’m not finding it amusing. Not one bit.
Next thing I do is to call the man I know is on call. “Sanders,” I blurt out on the phone as he answers. “I can’t find my wife.”
“See you in the kitchen in two,” he replies, we need to get organized immediately. Check the cameras, whatever it takes.
A realization strikes me like a bullet to the chest. Did she somehow overhear my conversation with my mother? The thought alone sends shivers down my spine. But there’s something else that terrifies me even more—how did she manage to run away from this fortress of a house?
Our security measures are top-notch. If she had taken one of our cars, we would have noticed immediately. As I pour myself a stiff glass of whiskey in the kitchen, Sanders shows me the security footage on his iPad. My regret pierces me like a knife - why didn’t I install more cameras inside the house? In my foolish attempt to protect our privacy, I put her safety at risk.
How stupid can I be?
“The only person who left the house tonight was your mother, Mr. Kral,” Sanders informs me. Of course I know that, but somehow she managed to slip away too. “I’ve dispatched the boys to search every corner of this place.”
But deep down, I know she’s not here. The mere thought of her being wounded or scared makes my blood boil and my heart pound dangerously fast. If bullets couldn’t kill me, this sure will.
Without another word, I storm off to her room where I know she kept the dress she planned to wear tonight - carefully protected in a garment bag. Despite wanting to see it as soon as she returned from her shopping trip, I held back when I saw how excited she was to surprise me. No, she wouldn’t leave without telling me.
Not unless she found a compelling enough reason to do so.
Yeah, dickhead, like listening to you yelling at your mom that you never married her, that it was all a lie. That she was just a piece in a complicated game of chess.
The vacant hanger hanging in the corner of the dressing room confirms my suspicions - she was preparing for our date tonight. My gut churns with fear and anticipation.
“Josh is on his way,” Sanders announces, running up the stairs to join me.
Josh, co-owner of Oracle Security, and his wife Mathilda are experts in their field of intelligence. With their help, we will get to the bottom of what’s happening.
“We’ve got two patrols scouring the neighborhood,” Sanders explains, detailing the measures we’re taking. But I know it’s all in vain. Stella is not here.
I grab her phone from my pocket and unlock it, frantically searching for any clues. Did she request a ride or call a taxi? Nothing.
The last thing I find is a message sent to Valerie forty minutes ago, with a photo of Stella ready to go out.
My heart pounds against my chest as two realizations hit me. First, she looked even more stunning than I could ever imagine. And secondly, we’ve wasted too much time.
Stella could be anywhere by now.
Fuck.
My mother. She was the only one who left the house tonight, but she despises my wife. I can’t imagine them working together. Especially after our argument earlier.
Josh arrives at my office as I pace back and forth, having shed my jacket and loosened my bow tie. Images from tonight replay on my computer screen as I desperately search for any clue or escape route.
I see the taillights of my mother’s car driving away, and in the house not a single movement.
“We have her,” says Josh as soon as he enters my office in his penguin suit. He was obviously preparing to attend the ARC event with his wife before receiving the call from Sanders. “She just boarded a flight to Miami, her final destination is San Juan.” How the hell did she get out of the house?
Couldn’t she choose somewhere closer?
Of course, Stella doesn’t do anything half-ass, she had to go to the other side of the country.
I already have the phone to my ear, ready to ask Hadley—my assistant—to rent me a private plane to get out of here as soon as possible.
“She’s ahead of us,” Josh announces as he reads the train of my thoughts. “Right now I’m sending one of my men from Virginia Beach to intercept her as soon as she disembarks in Miami.”
That’s true, it’s a long flight from here, around five hours. Considering I can take off within the next two, I wouldn’t be on time.
My entire body is consumed with a rage I have never felt before. My mind is fixated on one thing and one thing only. Stella. She’s alone, on a plane heading to a city she’s never been to, and it’s driving me insane.
I want to cause destruction. To make someone pay for taking her away from me.
“My plane is ready whenever we are,” Josh says calmly, but I can see the fire in his eyes. “We have a few minutes to change before we head out.”
But clothes mean nothing to me. All I want is to get to Stella, to beg for just one chance to talk to her.
If she had stayed, we would have solved this by now. We would be celebrating at the party or tangled up in our bed sheets.
If only she had given me that chance.
Frustration builds within me as Josh efficiently arranges our trip. The moment we arrive at the airport, our private jet is ready for takeoff. But even as we soar through the sky, tensions high and exhaustion weighing on our bodies, I cannot sleep.
It’s been four hours since we’ve been in the air when Josh’s phone pings with a message.
“Shit,” he mutters under his breath.
“Is she there?” I demand, my heart racing with fear. “Have they found her?”
“Simba,” he uses my ridiculous nickname from The Lion King, a translation of my name. “Stella did not board the plane.”
The knot in my chest tightens even more. “B-but you said she got on!”
He makes a frustrated gesture and looks up at the ceiling of the aircraft before answering. “I don’t know what happened. As soon as we land in Miami, I’ll have more information.” There’s a hint of desperation in his voice as he continues, “But Mathilda is already taking over. There’s no one better than my wife.”
I hope he’s right, because all I want is to find Stella and bring her back to me. Nothing else matters in this moment.
And if I know her as well as I think I do, she must be on her way to Carrollton. Seeking refuge in what is known to her.
“Let’s go to Kentucky,” I order.
Josh lets out a heavy sigh before answering. “Listen, Lionel, I know that you think you’re right, but right now she can be anywhere. Even in Los Angeles, she might have left the airport or taken another flight to Europe, Cancun. To Timbuktu.”
No, none of those sounds like Stella.
“Don’t be ridiculous, she doesn’t have a passport.”
“You don’t know that,” he replies, and I realize it’s true. I don’t know for sure.
Miami even at dawn is just as I remembered it, warm and humid.
Stella’s absence gnaws at my insides like a persistent fire, fueled by the ache of missing her and the burning need to protect her from any harm. The thought of her dancing along the shoreline, her laughter ringing through the salty air, makes my heart clench with longing. She should be here, getting ready to live the best night of her life. But instead, she’s caught up in a dangerous web spun by lies.
I vow to myself that I will bring her back as soon as possible. Or better yet, find a secluded island where we can have the entire beach to ourselves. I just need an opportunity, a way to escape this suffocating sense of helplessness that consumes me.
“Either you get this damn plane off the ground right now and take me to Carrollton, or I’m getting on a commercial flight,” I demand, my patience worn thin.
I can’t bear another minute of waiting, doing nothing while Stella could be in danger. The mere thought ignites a fierce determination within me, one that can only be sated once I have her safely by my side again.
And when she is, I’ll make sure she never leaves my sight again.
But first, I have to find her before someone else does. “I have news,” Josh announces, his voice heavy with resignation.
My heart drops at his words. Please let it be good news.
“We found out who bought Stella’s ticket… and it’s not good,” he reveals grimly.
“What the fuck?” I growl in frustration. “Who was it?”
“It was your mother,” he answers reluctantly. “And she also got another ticket for someone named Carolina Lafayette… Stella must be on her way to her hometown.”
Damn it all. How could I have been so foolish? All those wasted hours when I knew deep down that Stella would run back to the only place she knows as home.
But it’s not her home anymore. She belongs with me, and I swear I will do whatever it takes to bring her back to where her real home is.
Stella is mine, just as much as I am hers. And once we find our way back to each other, I’ll make sure my mother never threatens our happiness again.
It’s my life, it’s been a long time since I stopped being that small child who needs to be led by the hand.
The plane landed at Louisville in the hot afternoon sun, but we had wasted precious hours sorting out the logistics of our flight. As if that wasn’t bad enough, there was a major crash on Route 71—the highway connecting Louisville to Carrollton. We were stuck for hours, making our already delayed arrival even later. By the time we finally reached town, the sun had long since set and hunger gnawed at my stomach. I could only imagine what kind of hellish day she must have been having.
When the driver pulled up to a rundown cottage that looked like it hadn’t been touched in fifty years, I knew this was the place. The darkness cloaking everything made it seem abandoned - no lights, no movement. But I didn’t care about safety risks anymore. They had promised me an operative to safely rescue her.
Impatiently, I leapt out of the SUV before Josh could even open the door, ignoring his hand on my arm trying to stop me. “Wait, Simba,” he warned. “She could be in danger and acting recklessly is only going to make things worse. Let us handle this our way.”
Our way. Those words grated on my nerves as I had been following their damn instructions for hours with nothing to show for it. Speaking through gadgets attached to their sleeves and ears like some goddamn secret service agents, they slowly approached the house - two entering through the front while two others flanked around back.
“Everything’s clear,” Josh reported back to me. “We can go in.”
Stepping foot into the home they once shared together was like a punch to the gut. The lights were on now and I could see that someone had definitely been here. On the coffee table sat a notebook filled with her familiar handwriting. As I read through her notes from the past few months, regret and guilt washed over me. My smart girl had documented every event, leaving me with the realization that I should have listened to her and trusted her from the beginning. If only I had reached out to her sooner, maybe this mess could have been resolved by now. But there was no time for what-ifs now. She needed me and I would do whatever it takes to make things right again.
My eyes continue to scan the space. The house is old and urgently needs maintenance, but it is very clean. Other than the photo from a shattered frame that is on the floor.
It can ’ t be, someone else was here. Someone got to her first before we did.
Cold sweat runs down my back. Stella is in danger.
“Fuck,” I hear Josh yell. “Lionel, do you know what this means?” he asks me as soon as I’m by his side. He points to a note written on a piece of paper taped to the room’s front door.
You stole my life, but she will always be mine.
Very soon we will settle this, little brother.
What the fuck is this all about. I don’t have a brother. Or do I?