Cross My Tigress Face the Wrath

Chapter 256

"I tripped."

That excuse was far from believable.

But given Stella's current state of mind, she was completely out of the mental bandwidth to concoct any other excuse.

Please don't ask anymore. If he kept pressing, she truly might crack and spill everything. Then what? Would they even be able to stay siblings? No, she couldn't bear the thought. She couldn't take that risk!

Ronald frowned. "Tripped? Star, do you really think that excuse holds any water?"

Stella froze.

He's still asking?

Oh, come on! Could someone just arrest her already?

"Star."

His voice, low and magnetic, drilled into her frayed nerves like a persistent drumbeat.

Stella couldn't take it anymore.

Fine, forget being siblings. Maybe it was time to throw caution to the wind and pursue him instead.

Stella steeled herself, heart pounding, ready to take the plunge.

But just as she opened her mouth to speak, Ronald's phone buzzed sharply, cutting through the tension and halting their conversation.

Stella, already stiff with tension, latched onto the ringing phone like it was a lifeline. "Your phone's ringing."

gaze lingered on her for a moment before he finally relented, turning to pick it up. It was a call

away, answering with a cold

the balcony. Her instinct screamed that this wasn't over. Barely a minute passed before Ronald returned, his face grim. "Aren't you tired? Why aren't you sleeping?" "Sleeping! Right now! Sleeping!" Stella blurted, her

But what about tomorrow?

bruises around her neck wouldn't fade for a

had a frosty expression, now showed a trace of

approached, picked

flat. "How

told

not to sleep like that?

bad for your heart."

belongs

help but think,"

now my head in

flip

and I'll

603

right?"

couldn't bring

over her, and just as he was about to stand, his fingers brushed against the bruises

already unsettled, raced

this many,

really a

did that

feeling

stand, Stella, in a panic, grabbed the lapel

across his chest, leaving marks that