"Mom, please, calm down. I think Star might have felt that the allowance we gave her wasn''t enough, but she could''ve just told us, you know? We..." Urs''s voice trailed off, leaving the words unsaid. Yet, even without hearing the rest, everyone now seemed to think Ste was irresponsible. They even went as far as to suspect the money she earned was dirty. Now, they were all scheming on how to shut down her studio.


    After leaving Urs''s hospital room, ise had his assistant reach out to Ste. It took a couple of phone calls before they finally got through to her. Ste was about to kick back with a video game.


    On the phone, ise''s assistant said, "Ms. Quinn, Mr. Larkin is currently at the coffee shop across from Silk-River Residences. Could you pleasee by?" Ste raised an eyebrow. "And if I don''t?"


    "If you don''t, well, you might not be able to keep your studio open much longer."


    The assistant''s tone was particrly firm.


    More threats?


    Ste chuckled, "Well, then let him try and shut it down if he can."


    Enough with the empty threats. They''d been ying this game for days now, stopping her cards and throwing threats around. With that, she hung up the phone directly.


    The assistant, taken aback by the abrupt end of the call, looked towards ise, who frowned in response. "What happened?" "She said you should try shutting down the studio yourself because she won''t being."


    ise''s face turned steely at the words.


    "That defiant girl. Did you tell her I was at the coffee shop right at the entrance?"


    "I did. She''s noting!"


    "Then go knock on her door and drag her out here."


    ise was visibly upset.


    "Forget it. I''ll go myself."


    Due tock of updates from Jaxon, he was oblivious of Ste''s not even residing at Silk-River Residences.


    So there he was, storming off to knock on her door, pounding away for over ten minutes with no response.


    "Ste, open the door."


    Silence.


    Still silence.


    The knocking was so loud that it eventually drewints from the neighbors and even summoned the property management. Descending the stairs in a huff, ise looked up to see the lights off from Ste''s apartment windows.


    "She''s not home? What time is it now?"


    The assistant nced at his phone, "It''s past ten."


    "A girl, out alone at this hour. I knew I should''ve never agreed to let her move out of the Larkin family house."


    Sure enough, once she moved out, there was no one to keep tabs on her. And she was just running wild. "Call her now. Find out where she is."


    "I had to borrow a phone at the coffee shop to call herst time. She''s cklisted my number too."


    The word "cklisted" was enough


    toocking everyone, not!


    ise over the edge. Nowet


    she was


    sparing even her father.


    Fuming, ise returned to the hospital only to unleash a torrent of usations at Cloudia for not


    disciplining Ste properly over the years!


    Cloudia, equally enraged, retorted, "What do you mean I haven''t disciplined her properly? Who could control her? You?!"


    Did she not want to discipline her?


    All these years, Ste had been


    fixated on Urs, refusing to


    Larkin family even after Urs was sent away.


    She wanted to step in, but Ste never gave her the chance.


    "Mom, Dad, please stop fighting."


    Seeing her parents arguing agitated Urs, causing her to convulse in a frightening seizure. Both ise and Cloudia were startled at her state.


    Cloudia screamed, "Urs, Urs, what''s wrong? Don''t scare me like this, call the doctor, quick!"