Chapter 864

Chapter 864:
A sly, almost predatory smile curved Harlow’s lips as she leaned in, letting her breath brush Nina’s ear. “Exactly. William’s career always comes first. I’ve heard he’s planning a deal with Moonlight Corporation. If we set up a fake meeting for him, it’ll take him away for hours. That’s our window! Our chance to handle Stella without him interfering.”
Harlow’s voice dropped lower, tinged with venom. “And Stella… I know a few people who handle… delicate situations. Quiet, professional. We can lure her somewhere without cameras, let an ‘accident’ happen, and by the time William shows up, it’ll be too late. Perfect timing.”
Nina’s heart raced at the thought. She couldn’t deny that it was cunning. Stella would take the hit, William wouldn’t be there to intervene, and, of course, Stella would blame him. Tears, protests, overreactions—William would see her as irrational. And that, exactly that, would plant the seed of doubt between them.
Nina’s eyes brightened with hope as she listened, but a moment of doubt crossed her face. “Is this safe? What if someone finds out it came from us?” It wasn’t Stella she worried about—seeing her out of the picture would be ideal. No, Nina feared William’s wrath. She remembered his warning all too clearly: hurt Stella again, and he wouldn’t hold back. That threat still made her shiver.
“Relax,” Harlow said, her lips curving into a deceptively sweet smile. “They’re pros. Paid handsomely, they do their job without questions. Even if anyone suspects, it won’t come near us. Stella will be knocked down, scared, and maybe even disappear on her own. And William? Well, guilt makes men weak. That’s when you step in, gentle and understanding. Men are so easy to manipulate when they feel responsible.”
Harlow had always known how to read men, predict their moves, and bend them to her will. If she said second place was best, no man would dare disagree. After all, she had mastered their hearts over the years.
And so, during their conversation, a wicked plan began to take shape. Nina, fueled by jealousy and anger, was completely taken in, convinced that Harlow’s idea was clever and would work perfectly.
𝕄ØЯE 𝕌PĐΛTΞŞ IИ GΛŁИØVΞŁŞ.ᑕØᗰ
Stella had become more cautious after the data sabotage and her ugly clash with Nina. She now triple-checked every backup, her guard always up, knowing Nina wasn’t the type to let grudges die.
Still, she couldn’t dwell on it. The priority was recreating the lost experiment results. Thanks to her sharp memory, she managed to restore almost ninety percent on her own. The rest would take long hours of meticulous work with Sandra and the team. That afternoon, Stella needed to collect a custom reagent from a supplier across town.
Sandra would’ve handled the errand, but that particular chemical required strict cold storage, and Sandra didn’t want the responsibility, so Stella went herself.
Before heading out, she checked her phone battery, sent her schedule to Sandra and Elbert, and told Paul where she was going.
William wasn’t at the institute that day—off somewhere he hadn’t mentioned—but she didn’t dwell on it.
The company was tucked inside an aging industrial park on the east side. The streets around it were messy, littered with stacked crates and old machinery. After signing the paperwork, Stella secured the reagent inside a cold box on the back seat of her car.
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