Chapter 6 An Apology
828 Words
Stella was knocked completely to the floor, her ears ringing, her brain entirely short-circuiting.
Jace's words were like a dull, rusty blade, hacking away at her eardrums.
Nearby, the doors to the operating room swung open. A doctor and several nurses wheeled out a hospital bed.
She looked up and locked eyes with Chloe on the bed.
Chloe tilted her head, glaring down at her with undisguised contempt, a smug, victorious smirk playing on her lips.
In an instant, everything clicked for Stella.
The Uber never came, the empty taxis refused to stop, and now, Jace accused her of calling the cops on Chloe for p**********n. It was all Chloe's masterful handiwork.
What a brilliant, psychotic self-directed show. Chloe really went all out.
Stella let out a chilling laugh. She tilted her chin up, staring dead into Jace's condescending eyes. "If I say it wasn't me, would you even believe it?"
Jace's brow furrowed aggressively, his tone dripping with exhausted impatience. "I already checked the police report. The informant used your exact ID. Stella, our wedding is right around the corner. You seriously didn't need to make things this difficult for her just out of petty jealousy over me."
Stella laughed, enraged. "I made things difficult for her? So, are you admitting she was actually out soliciting while with you?"
Jace delivered another brutal slap to the other side of her face.
"Stella! What the f**k are you spewing? The second Chloe broke up with me years ago, she and I were completely over! The evidence is staring right at you. It's one thing to refuse to admit you're wrong, but to viciously slander Chloe's reputation like this? You are so f*****g disappointing!"
Hearing those words, Stella felt her heart violently shattering all over again.
In that moment, she had ten thousand things screaming to be said, but when she finally opened her mouth, only one sentence managed to scrape its way out.
"Jace, after three years together, what the hell do you actually take me for? Even if I did call the cops on her, do you really think I'm stupid enough to leave my real name and ID for you to easily find?"
Jace's frown deepened further. "Enough. Cut the crap. Apologize. Just apologize to Chloe, and we'll pretend this whole ugly mess never happened."
Stella instantly regretted it. She regretted wasting her breath on a pointless explanation.
Explanations are only for people who actually want to listen.
Even if she laid out all the facts on a silver platter, what difference would it make?
Once trust completely collapses, all that remains is ugly suspicion and paranoia.
She couldn't help but remember once upon a time she and Jace had shared an unbreakable, unconditional trust.
On Jace's twenty-eighth birthday, someone had played a sick prank by sending him a complex, homemade bomb.
The timer indicated that only the correct passcode could disarm it, and the Sudoku puzzle hinted at an anniversary date. She and Jace had to choose the right date from a list of milestones.
Her answer and Jace's answer had been entirely different.
Surrounded by terrified friends and family screaming at him to pick his own date, Jace had unflinchingly chosen to trust her. He input the random, obscure date she had picked, even though it wasn't an "official" anniversary.
In the end, her choice was right. She hadn't betrayed his trust.
That life-or-death gamble hadn't just deepened their love; it had forged a bridge of unshakeable trust between them.
From that day on, Jace trusted her implicitly with everything in his life. He even let her make the final calls on multi-million-dollar investment portfolios without batting an eye.
But now, everything changed.
Stella slowly shook her head, a self-mocking smirk pulling at the corners of her mouth. "And what if I don't? Does that mean the wedding is off?"
At those words, a flash of genuine panic streaked across Jace's eyes. His expression hardened. "What the hell does that mean? I'm just looking at the facts here. What exactly are you throwing a tantrum over?"
Stella was completely exhausted and had zero desire to keep arguing. "Nothing. Just following your logic. You want me to apologize? How exactly do you want me to do it?"
Jace pinched the bridge of his nose. "Even a toddler knows that when you do something wrong, you say you're sorry."
Just then, Chloe, who was being wheeled closer on her bed, finally spoke up in a sickeningly pitiful voice.
"Forget it, Jace. I'm sure Stella didn't mean it. Maybe it really was just a big misunderstanding. She doesn't have to apologize. It's just..."
Her gaze swept rapidly over Stella's bleeding, bare feet, a venomous glint hiding beneath her innocent eyes.
"It's just that the doctor said I'll need to stay hospitalized for a few days. Do you think I could trouble Stella to run down to the convenience store outside and grab some basic toiletries for me?"
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