The Larkin family had never been big on calling her, nor had Yorick for that matter. Buttely, their calls had beening in more frequently than all ofst yearbined. It was driving her nuts!
...
On the other side, Cloudia handed the phone back to the nurse, her face a portrait of irritation. At this rate, she mused, the entire hospital''s nursing staff would be on her block list. "Find out where she is now."
Cloudia could barely contain her fury.
Jaxon replied, "She''s on the 26th floor of the Orient Nexus Building 1."
He had managed to track that much, at least. His expression was grim as well; the assistant had called him earlier to say that since word got out they weren''t partnering with Ste,panies had been backing out left and right, as if scared of something. And the details? They wouldn''t be willing to share.
And more so, StarRiver Corp., a powerhouse that had moved into Portis City just a couple of years ago, had been particrly brash.
When his assistant reached out to them, they''d been met with a storm of curses, "What''s it to you who we partner with? Mind your own business!"
Their audacity was staggering, hardly what you''d expect from a neer to Portis City. They even had the gall to badmouth the Quarry family, showing a level of arrogance that was all too reminiscent of Ste. Hearing this, Cloudia could no longer sit still.
"So, thesepanies are refusing to cut ties with her?"
Jaxon''s face darkened further at her question.
Urs, who had been silent up until now, finally spoke up, "How did she even secure those partnerships in the first ce?"
Her question sent a ripple through the room, Cloudia and Jaxon exchanging looks that conveyed their mutual anticipation of an impending storm.
Apparently, with Urs''s words as a catalyst, Cloudia and Jaxon''s mind ran wild.
Could Ste have certain rtionship with those people in charge?
The thought was understandable. Raised in a modest rural family, what could she have possibly done to earn over seven hundred thousand in a year without paying some sort of price? Cloudia refused to believe there wasn''t more to the story.
"I''m going to confront her," Cloudia dered, all steamed up.
Meanwhile, Ste had just finished fielding two more calls - thankfully, neither from Cloudia nor Yorick. She couldn''t have handled that on top of everything else.
...
Just after she hung up, her phone rang again.
It was Susanna, inviting her out for eating hot wings.
"Can''t make it," Ste replied.
"Under lock and key, huh?"
Susanna teased, her concern for
Ste evident, Ronald had only just arrived, and already her diet was being monitored. It was more attention than Ste had ever received from her birth family, though she supposed that wasn''t saying much. After all, wasn''t it natural to feel closer to those you grew up with? Ste had grown up beside Ronald, after all.
But no matter how close she was to her adoptive family, the Larkins'' level of care was rare, especially considering how they treated their biological childpared to their adopted one. en
"Yeah. If I want to eat out, only something nd I could choose."
"But I''m not in the mood for nd food."
At the mention of a light meal, Susanna rejected the idea without a second thought. She couldn''t ept something without much vor. "Then I''ll head back for dinner."
"Alright, let''s n for hot wings when you''re not so tightly monitored."
After agreeing with a nomittal grunt, Ste knew that as long as Ronald was in Portis City, her chances of indulging in that food were slim. Their conversation continued for a bit before they hung up.
It was nearly quitting time, and Ronald called, "About to get off?"
Ste responded gloomily, "Have the driver pick me up and take me back to Mist Bay, will you?"
"No ns with friends?"
Ste ventured, "We all wanted hot wings, is that okay?"
"Not okay!" Ronald shot back
without hesitation. Ste had always been a handful as a child, and she''d been in and out of hospitals more times than he cared to count. The idea of her casually deciding to have hot wings was out of the question.