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Chapter 141
Chapter 141
And both he and Kevin saw her at Whispering Bay.
There was no question. That was her place now.
Stephanie gave him a slow shrug. “Yeah. What about it?”
Chris’s chest tightened.
Hearing her admit it felt like getting punched in the gut.
The house Olivia wanted more than anything, and Stephanie was just living there like it was nothing.
“Who owns it?”
Right then, Chris's mind was a complete mess, he could barely even hear his own voice.
Stephanie's eyes lit up, pure mischief. “Why ask me? Didn't your amazing investigation already tell you it
belongs to s66-year-old guy?”
There it was again-the sline she always threw back at him. Every damn time.
Chris's temper snapped. “Enough. Just tellthe truth.”
He was one breath away from losing it completely.
Stephanie's smirk sharpened. “What's this? Mr. Ashford admitting he couldn't figure it out?”
Chris saw red.
This woman and her mouth could drive a man straight into cardiac arrest.
Stephanie tapped her chin like she was thinking real hard. “Say you couldn’t dig up the truth, and I'll give you
the answer right now.”
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Chris’s chest tightened.
Having to admit, to her, that he couldn’t do it-that was straight-up humiliation, and she didn’t even try to hide it.
Chris sucked in a deep breath, then another. Didn't help. His chest still felt like it was going to explode.
The way he looked at Stephanie turned colder with every second.
“You're something else, you know that?”
Stephanie turned back to the window, arms still crossed. “I know. Now go ahead, bring whatever you've got. I'm
not going anywhere.”
Before Chris could spit out his usual “Just you wait,” Stephanie beat him to it. “I'm not going anywhere.”
Nobody in Long Harbor had ever dared talk to Chris Ashford like that.
But Stephanie? She didn’t just dare-she practically put out the welcmat.
In the end, Chris stormed out, too pissed to even think up a real threat.
But just before he slammed the door, he barked over his shoulder, “Let's see if you actually marry Jackson
Hodge.”
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15:17 Mon, 10 Mar MO
Chapter 141
“The Hodges aren't skiddie pool you can splash around in. And just because he threw you a ring doesn’t
mean you're
in.”
Every word dripped poison.
The second he was gone, Jennifer popped her head in. “Boss?”
Stephanie put down her water. “He gone?”
Jennifer grinned. “Stormed out like his hair was on fire.”
‘He was nothing like the man who once carried the boss out like a hero. The man treated the boss well, and even
managed to be nice to us.
Take away the Ashford name, and what was left?
Living with someone that moody? It's a one-way ticket to burnout.
Stephanie snorted. “His face hasn't looked decent a single day I've known him.”
Jennifer shook her head, half amused, half horrified.
‘How the hell did you survive two whole years of that?"
She dropped the files and headed out.
A few minutes later, Stephanie’s phone rang. Sebastian, “The Hart family’s money, you want it or not?”
Stephanie raised a brow.
‘What's this about?”
“That little stash...”
Truth be told, ever since she reconnected with the Harts, Olivia had been acting like a reality show villain-
fighting her over every last crumb.
What Olivia never figured out was-Stephanie never cared.
Every tCatlin bought Olivia soverpriced purse or jewelry, Olivia would show it off like she won the
lottery.
Meanwhile, Stephanie had closets full of better stuff back in Fiorenza.
Sebastian's voice stayed light, but there was a sharp edge underneath. “For you, it's pocket change. But for
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them? It's their whole damn life.”
People like that couldn’t survive without their precious ‘status symbols."
Take it away, and they'd lose their minds.
And sure, they were blood-but after everything they pulled, Sebastian wasn’t about to let that slide.
Stephanie got the message loud and clear. “So if you say take it, | take it?”
She honestly didn’t care either way.
Before Sebastian cback, she was used to handling things herself.
But now? If her brother wanted her to take something, she'd take it. No questions asked.
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Chapter 141
“If | put it in your hands, you take it,”
Sebastian's voice dropped lower-smooth, warm, but with that signature Giovanni edge.
“Then I'll take it,” Stephanie said, smiling sweetly like the perfect little sister.
Honestly, even if she passed, Sebastian was still going to make sure the Harts paid for every last bit of it.
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Just as she thought he was about to hang up, his voice softened into something that made her heart skip. “Miss
Stephanie's breath caught in her throat, her cheeks heating up before she could even think of a comeback.
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