My Amnesic Ex Married My Sister, So I Married His Uncle-Chapter 23: I’m Scolding Everyone Here

Tear the place down?

Liam Hawthorne was taken aback. He didn’t know Stella Sterling had this side to her.

According to the investigation report he’d received, Stella Sterling had been the unfavored and harshly treated daughter in the Sterling Family for years. The Sterlings had even gone so far as to never mention her existence in order to hide the truth about Kiana Sterling’s illness.

He’d thought Stella Sterling was a poor little rabbit rescued by Owen Rhodes.

But even a rabbit will bite when cornered.

As he was thinking, he suddenly heard Stella Sterling ask, "Liam, do you think this outfit lacks a certain... presence?"

He pressed his lips together, recalling the recent incident at the jewelry store.

Although Stella Sterling had told him to stay in the car, Owen Rhodes had given him prior orders, so he didn’t dare let her out of his sight.

Shortly after seeing Kiana Sterling and Ethan Rhodes enter the store, he had hurried out of the car and followed them.

Silas Jacobs had gotten there a couple of steps ahead of him.

Seeing Stella Sterling being given a hard time, he had wanted to go in, but Silas Jacobs stopped him.

"Wait. This girl isn’t as easy to push around as you think."

And sure enough, the next second, Stella Sterling said she was going to put Kiana Sterling and Ethan Rhodes on a leash.

Liam Hawthorne didn’t answer yes or no. He said earnestly, "You look very beautiful."

"..."

"But I don’t think that will affect your performance."

Stella Sterling raised an eyebrow and smiled. "Thank you."

Brimming with the intent to raise hell, Stella Sterling got out of the car. As she pushed the door open, her gaze was as firm as a zealot’s, and she pushed open the main door to the Sterling Villa with a valiant, imposing air. But all she was met with was the bewildered, darting eyes of the housekeeper.

"...Second Miss, you’re back! I’ll call Madam right away."

Stella Sterling heard this and paused. ’Something’s not right.’

"Ms. Jennings isn’t home?"

The housekeeper nodded. "Madam went out with Mrs. Rhodes for a spa day. Miss Sterling... uh, went on a date. There’s no one home right now."

’What a shame.’

"Let them be. No need to call. Could you please get me two cardboard boxes? Not too big. And bring them to my room. Thank you."

Stella Sterling was the only one in the entire household who ever said "thank you" to the housekeeper.

The housekeeper hurried off to do as she was asked, and Stella Sterling turned and walked toward her room.

Though she’d been away for three months, all she felt was resistance and revulsion.

’She felt no sense of belonging here—it was just a place she’d lived in for a few years, not a home.’

The housekeeper quickly brought two cardboard boxes. Stella Sterling took a look; they were just the right size.

One was for gifts from her other friends, which she would take to Lanthos Bay. The other was for the "junk" related to Ethan Rhodes.

She packed the clothes from her wardrobe into a suitcase, ready to take them with her.

In the locked drawer of her desk was an exquisite mother-of-pearl lacquer box. Inside were the letters Ethan Rhodes had written back to her over the past ten years.

She and Ethan Rhodes were finished, but seeing these letters again, her heart didn’t feel as resolute as she’d imagined.

She still felt a pang of sadness.

It was hard to imagine that the gentle, mature, and patiently guiding person from the letters was the same man Ethan Rhodes was today.

The disconnect was too jarring.

But this sense of disconnect also brought her clarity.

She reined in her emotions and looked around the room.

She had turned over every possible hiding place in the room, but after a thorough search, there was no sign of the marriage certificate.

’Could I have left it at Grandma’s house?’

Just as she was about to shove the box into the "junk" pile, a thought occurred to her, and she pulled it back.

Just then, the housekeeper came to give her a heads-up. "Second Miss, Madam and Miss Sterling are almost home."

It hadn’t seemed like she had much in her room, but after all that packing, more than an hour had passed without her noticing.

Liam Hawthorne moved all her things to the car.

A short while later, Kiana Sterling and Madeline Jennings arrived as expected.

Stella Sterling went downstairs to the living room, where Kiana Sterling was crying again.

Madeline Jennings held her with a pained expression, cooing softly as she dabbed away her tears with a handkerchief.

A slight sound caught Madeline Jennings’s attention. She looked up, and her expression instantly turned cold. "Kiana said you were back in Jandor, and I didn’t believe her. Is it fun, playing your family for fools? Do you have any idea how much effort your brother put into finding you? If you’re really so grown up now, then have the guts to never come back to this house again!"

Stella Sterling arched an eyebrow. ’That suits me just fine.’

Meanwhile, Kiana Sterling’s tears were flowing freely. Through her blurry, tear-filled eyes, she didn’t forget to tug on Madeline Jennings’s arm, telling her not to be angry.

Stella Sterling watched in amusement. "Oh, my. Has Miss Sterling been wronged again? Don’t have to tell me. I’m sure it’s because of me again."

She deliberately dragged out the word "again."

Madeline Jennings frowned. "What is that tone? Have you no manners at all?"

"I grew up without a doting father or a loving mother, so I never learned any manners," Stella Sterling said, dipping her head in a mock-serious apology. "My apologies, Ms. Jennings."

’Ms. Jennings?’

Madeline Jennings’s brow twitched. After a moment of shock, she pointed a finger at Stella’s face, infuriated. "What did you call me? Stella Sterling, you—"

"Mom, who told you Stella was back in Jandor?"

Chase Sterling said as he strode into the room, unintentionally cutting off Madeline Jennings’s tirade.

He turned his head and saw Stella Sterling standing to the side, arms crossed.

His face instantly darkened. "Where have you been all this time? Don’t have a mouth? Was it so hard to say something to the family?"

Stella Sterling sneered. "Joel Joyce is so capable. Didn’t he tell you?"

The way she said it made it sound as if Joel Joyce had been deliberately hiding her whereabouts for her.

Chase Sterling caught her implication and made a call to summon Joel Joyce.

But Stella Sterling hadn’t expected Gavin Sterling to show up with Joel Joyce.

Now, the whole family was sitting in a row on the sofa. Joel Joyce stood behind the armchair where Chase Sterling sat, while Stella Sterling leaned alone against the staircase banister not far away.

It was as if there was a line drawn between them, and on the other side of it, Stella Sterling stood in opposition to everyone.

’I’ve got all the names straight now.’

’Young President Sterling, Kiana Sterling, President Sterling, Ms. Jennings.’

’The whole family, all neat and tidy.’

"Huh? Why isn’t Ethan Rhodes here?" Stella Sterling asked, feigning sincerity.

His name was a landmine. The moment the two words "Ethan Rhodes" left Stella Sterling’s lips, everyone’s expression changed instantly.

Madeline Jennings was the first to lose her composure.

"What does it matter to you whether Ethan comes or not? You two have already broken up. In the future, Ethan will be your brother-in-law. You’d better learn your place!"

Stella Sterling ignored her, but when she glanced over and saw Kiana Sterling biting her lip with a wronged expression, she felt the urge to fan the flames.

"Looking at this lineup, are you all here to condemn me? And Ethan Rhodes didn’t even come to back Kiana Sterling up? What’s wrong, my dear sister? Don’t tell me he was a little... shocked when he saw what I was buying today?"

Kiana Sterling’s eyes instantly reddened as she held back tears, a picture of heart-rending pity.

Stella Sterling added more fuel to the fire. "Hey, I seem to recall someone bragging to me that Ethan Rhodes was going to propose with a pink diamond ring? I’ve lived this long and I’ve never even seen a pink—"

"That’s enough!" Chase Sterling shouted, cutting her off. "Are you determined to keep making a scene? We are your family. Kiana is your own sister. Are you sure you want to turn this entire house upside down over a man?"

Stella Sterling was silent for a few seconds, the smile on her lips growing even colder.

"Young President Sterling, you’re always the best with those high-and-mighty speeches. But you’ve got the wrong person. The one who’s turning the whole family upside down over a man isn’t me. It’s your precious Kiana."

"Anyone with a brain wouldn’t do something like this."

Her eyes swept silently over the people sitting before her.

"Oh, by the way, I’m talking about all of you."