Chapter 271

“Whispering Bay. I live here. Chris is really useless, huh? Couldn’t even figure that out before telling you?” Stephanie said casually.

Hearing that Stephanie was actually living in Whispering Bay, Olivia felt her lungs seize up. It was like a knife had been plunged straight into her chest. Not long ago, she had boasted to everyone that Chris was buying Whispering Bay for her recovery. She had flaunted it shamelessly, rubbing it in Stephanie’s face at every opportunity. But now, everything changed.

“You’ve been living there ever since you moved out of Cloudridge Valley?” Olivia asked.

“Yeah. Now don’t forget my 300 thousand dollars,” Stephanie replied.

In just a few sentences, Stephanie had already mentioned the 300 thousand dollars twice, intensifying Olivia’s distress. And that wasn’t even the worst part. Stephanie then added, “When are you going to pay me? We agreed. No backing out on this.”

Olivia had just turned to Catlin with a pitiful look in her eyes when Stephanie suddenly hit her with that remark. It was like driving another knife straight into her chest. Olivia trembled as she spoke. “I don’t have that much money.”

She really didn’t. That murderer had been pestering her for money every other day, and she was already at her limit. On the other end of the line, Stephanie casually picked up a piece of tangerine and popped it into her mouth. “Oh? No money? That’s not what you said when you made the bet.”

Olivia froze. Back when she made the bet, she had been so sure of her victory. She had overestimated Chris’s abilities. She had thought she could get a cut from the more than two million dollars Stephanie had made last year. But after multiple failed attempts, she had only ended up losing more and more. Just thinking about it made Olivia furious. Her stomach twisted in anger.

Stephanie smirked. “What? Thinking about skipping out on your debt?”

Sebastian walked in just in time to see Stephanie lying on the bed, hugging a fruit platter while eating tangerines. He had been the one to send them over. He had once overheard a doctor mention that eating fruits rich in vitamin C helped people recover faster from fevers. Stephanie saw him enter and was about to hang up the phone. But before she could, Olivia’s desperate voice came through. “Stefi, I was wrong before. I’m sorry. Please, just let me go, okay?”

Stephanie paused, momentarily stunned by Olivia’s words. “Are you seriously trying to get out of paying?”

Olivia really was something. She could be shameless when she needed to be. All this groveling, just so she could cough up the money. Stephanie was done messing with her. She had gotten enough amusement out of this.

Just as she was about to hang up, Olivia choked out, “Stefi, I really know I was wrong.” Her voice was strained. "Mom and Dad... I'll leave the Hart family. Please, just don't mess with my access to hope. I'm begging you."

Now that her life was completely in Stephanie’s hands, Olivia was truly terrified. But when Stephanie heard her mention giving those people back, her temper flared instantly. “Oh, hell no. You can keep that bunch of parasites for yourself.” With that, Stephanie hung up without hesitation.

“The Hart family is full of selfish bastards. No way in hell am I going to be like Olivia, clinging to them like they’re some kind of treasure, afraid someone might take them away,” she thought.

Sebastian sat down on the edge of Stephanie’s bed. He reached over and took the fruit platter away. “Too much eating; that’s bad for your stomach.”

Stephanie pouted. “You’re seriously micromanaging me now?”

Sebastian raised a brow. “Huh?”

Stephanie sighed. “Fine, I got it.”

‘He nags more than Mom does,’ she grumbled inwardly.

Sebastian asked, “Who were you on the phone with just now?”

“Olivia. She made a bet with me, saying if she couldn’t move into Whispering Bay, she’d pay me 200 thousand dollars,” Stephanie said.

Sebastian arched a brow. “Do you even need 300 thousand dollars?”

“I don’t. But I won, so I’m collecting,” Stephanie replied.

Whether she needed the money or not was beside the point. What mattered was making Olivia suffer. Olivia had been unbearably arrogant before, so Stephanie had to knock her down a few pegs.

Sebastian chuckled. “She doesn’t have 300 thousand dollars to give you right now.”

Stephanie blinked. “Huh? How do you know?”

“The guy who hit you with his car? He’s been demanding money from her constantly. Just today, he asked for 300 thousand dollars,” Sebastian said.

Stephanie’s lips twitched at the news. “And how exactly do you know that?”

She was beginning to suspect that he had someone keeping tabs on Olivia. At that moment, Stephanie was absolutely sure that Sebastian was seriously furious about her car accident. But something about that murderer asking Olivia for money felt off.

Stephanie leaned in closer, studying Sebastian. “Sebastian, are you hiding something from me?”