Free Web NovelChapter 108: Chapter 108: Showdown: Love Can’t Be Forced
"It’s not really appropriate for me to be here, is it?"
The more Stella Yarrow thought about it, the less right it felt. After a moment of hesitation, she sat back down in the car.
"It’s better if I wait for you here."
Jaden was here to have a showdown with Nina Halloway. There was no need for her to show her face; it would just make her a target. What if Nina decided to get revenge on her later?
Everyone in the Blackwood Family was a force to be reckoned with. She couldn’t afford to get on their bad side.
Not wanting to invite unnecessary trouble, she grabbed Jaden’s hand and shook it playfully. "You go on. I’ll wait for you."
"Stella, you have to come with me."
"Why?"
"Nina and I have known each other since we were children. I know what she’s like. She’ll only let go and give us her blessing if she sees you standing firmly by my side. Otherwise, she’ll probably just think I picked up some random girl at a bar and am just messing around."
Stella Yarrow felt a knot of fear in her stomach. "But I’m afraid she’ll hold a grudge against me."
"What are you afraid of when I’m here? I’ll protect you."
After a moment of internal conflict, Stella Yarrow hugged Jaden’s arm tightly. "Then you have to promise you’ll protect me. Don’t let me get hurt in any way—I can’t even handle being yelled at, let alone hit."
While she wasn’t the heiress of some major conglomerate, her parents did run an electronics company. She had never had to worry about a thing growing up—a little princess who had been utterly spoiled. She was precious, unable to be hit or scolded, and couldn’t bear the slightest bit of mistreatment.
Jaden nodded emphatically. "Okay. I promise."
He led Stella Yarrow out of the car, and the two were so engrossed in their conversation that they didn’t see Sophie Shaw. As they walked toward the elevators, they only caught a fleeting glimpse of a woman stepping into one.
They were still too far away to make it and could only wait for the next one.
The Metropolis was a standard one-unit-per-floor building with a private elevator for each residence. All the units were duplexes with five-meter-high ceilings. Sophie Shaw took the elevator to the tenth floor and rang the doorbell.
Soon, Nina Halloway came to open the door.
Sophie Shaw extended a hand in a polite greeting. "Nina, I’m Sophie Shaw. It’s a pleasure to formally meet you."
Nina Halloway looked at her outstretched hand but didn’t take it. Instead, she stepped forward and gave Sophie Shaw a big hug.
"We’re practically family. No need to be so formal."
Nina Halloway smiled, patting her on the back as she led her inside.
To Nina Halloway, Sophie Shaw was no stranger. She’d known of her ever since Alaric Blackwood started secretly taking photographs of Sophie, often locking himself in the darkroom to develop the prints.
Whenever she snuck into the darkroom and found Alaric Blackwood developing photos, she would ruffle her little brother’s hair and say, "Look at you, being so timid. If you like her, why don’t you just go after her?"
The first time she said this to Alaric Blackwood, he was fifteen.
His eyes went wide as he stared at her. "Are you really my sister? You’re actually encouraging me to date so young."
Back then, she had thought, ’My brother is so innocent.’
However, during Sophie Shaw’s sophomore year of college, someone confessed their feelings to her, and she started dating. Alaric Blackwood took the news hard. He holed up in his room for a week, utterly dejected. After that, he became a completely different person, frequenting bars and hitting on girls. Before long, he even took matters into his own hands and arranged to study abroad.
He didn’t settle down while he was abroad, either; salacious rumors about his playboy antics were everywhere.
"Didn’t Alaric come with you?"
Sophie Shaw nodded. "He had plans with a friend."
Nina Halloway smiled and invited her into the living room, gesturing for her to sit wherever she liked and not to be reserved. Then she went to the kitchen and brought back a glass of juice.
Sophie Shaw sat down on the sofa, took the juice from Nina, and studied her carefully.
She was even more beautiful in person than on screen. She had a slender, tall figure, and Sophie guessed her height was similar to her own, at least five-foot-seven. Her skin was very fair, and she wasn’t wearing any makeup, yet her complexion was naturally flawless, without a single blemish.
Compared to the "versatile goddess" of the silver screen, Nina Halloway, stripped of her celebrity aura and makeup, seemed much more approachable.
"I’m so sorry I couldn’t attend your and Alaric’s wedding."
Nina Halloway sat down beside her and explained, "Your wedding was planned in such a hurry. If it hadn’t been so rushed, say, if it had been on a cruise ship or a private island, I would’ve been there for sure."
Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough time to prepare. She also didn’t want to steal her brother’s thunder, knowing her appearance in a crowd would inevitably cause a commotion. All she could do was offer her blessings from afar.
Sophie Shaw seemed to understand what she meant and gave her a slight smile. "It’s alright. I received your wedding gifts."
There had been a huge pile of gift boxes, and over a dozen of them were from Nina alone.
The gifts included, but were not limited to, limited-edition handbags, gold chains, and jade bracelets. What surprised Sophie the most, however, was a set of very sexy leather lingerie, which came with a matching set of toys, a small whip, and a pair of silver handcuffs...
Her face had flushed red the moment she opened the box. Terrified Alaric Blackwood might see it, she had quickly shoved the gift box into a corner of her bedroom closet.
Just thinking about it now made her cheeks feel warm again.
Nina Halloway noticed her shyness and eagerly asked, "So that lingerie set... have you used it yet?"
She quickly waved her hands. "I couldn’t possibly."
"Why not?"
"I... I wouldn’t dare whip your brother."
"Then let him whip you."
"..."
Sophie flinched, her face turning beet red. She was so mortified she felt like steam was about to come out of her ears.
She was wearing a turtleneck sweater and wished she could shrink her entire face down into the collar.
Nina Halloway chuckled at her mortified expression and patted her on the head. "Sophie, you’re so cute when you blush. I was just teasing you."
"..."
’They really are siblings. Cut from the same cloth when it comes to teasing people.’
Just as she took a deep breath, ready to steer the conversation toward more serious matters, the doorbell rang at the most inopportune time.
Nina Halloway got up, walked to the entryway, and looked through the peephole.
A face she knew all too well was pressed against the peephole. "Nina, it’s me."
She glanced at Sophie Shaw on the sofa and hesitated for a moment, but opened the door anyway.
She had expected Jaden to be alone, but a young woman was standing beside him. She was petite, with an innocent-looking face, and she was hugging Jaden’s arm tightly. When she saw Nina, she looked nervous and frightened, as if Nina were some kind of monster.
She stared at the woman’s face and recognized her at once as the person who had been kissing Jaden in the booth at the bar.
"Nina, we need to talk."
Jaden led Stella Yarrow inside, closing the door behind them.
"Who is she?" Nina Halloway asked.
Jaden swallowed hard. Feeling Stella Yarrow’s grip on his arm tighten, he quickly patted the back of her hand reassuringly.
"This is Stella. My girlfriend."
A sharp pain shot through Nina Halloway’s chest. "Girlfriend?"
"Yes. I’m in love with Stella. I have been since the moment I first saw her."
Jaden said, holding nothing back.
His words were blunt, but his eyes couldn’t meet Nina Halloway’s, betraying his guilt. freewēbnoveℓ.com
"Jaden, you’re engaged. You have a fiancée, remember?"
"I know. And I’m sorry. But you can’t force matters of the heart."
"So you never loved me at all?"
As she asked this, Nina Halloway fought back tears, enduring the feeling of her heart being ripped in two.
