Chapter 543

Honestly, Stephanie never really understood the whole custom clothes thing. Back when she was at the Giovanni residence, it wasn’t her concern. She wore whatever Sebastian, Lottie, or Sofia picked out for her.

After she left the Giovanni residence, she just bought whatever caught her eye. She had no idea whether someone else had the same outfit.

Sofia raised an eyebrow. “Getting used to living rough out there, huh?”

Stephanie thought, ‘Rough?’

“You think living a normal life is rough? I think it’s fine,” she said, shrugging.

Back at the Giovanni residence, everything—what she wore or ate—was taken care of for her. She just had to pick what she liked from the few options. But when she lived on her own, it was all laid out in front of her—the good and the bad. She had many choices about food and clothing.

Back at the Giovanni residence, dressing up was important. But out there, it was all about comfort.

“You really seem to like it out here. No wonder you can’t remember to go home,” Sofia said with a snort.

Stephanie shook her head. “It’s not like that.” She did want to go home, but what she was trying to say was that life out here wasn’t as bad as they thought, especially with the Hart family.

At the meal earlier, Lottie kept thinking she was being bullied by the Hart family, but that wasn’t the case. The Hart family could be ruthless, but so could she. If they tried anything, she made sure they didn’t have an easy time.

Before Sebastian even got to Long Harbor, Stephanie had already used her connections to make things difficult for Hart Group. ‘Otherwise, how could Sebastian have just stepped in and taken down the Hart family so quickly?’ Stephanie thought.

Sofia huffed, clearly annoyed. “And you still say it’s not true. You didn’t even bother calling me.” She was especially upset about how Stephanie had just disappeared without a word.

Stephanie sighed. “At the time, Richard… Ah, it’s complicated.” Back then, Richard had seemed to be at odds with Sebastian, and Stephanie couldn’t take any risks.

Mentioning Richard made Sofia’s face turn. “That shameless jerk. At first, I thought he actually cared about Valentina.”

Valentina was Richard’s sister. That woman had been obsessed with Sebastian forever, but she wasn’t raised properly by her mother. ‘Someone like her could never marry into the Casalini family,’ Sofia thought.

Stephanie’s eyes flickered when she heard the name Valentina. “So what’s Valentina up to now?” she asked.

“She’s disabled and ended up in prison,” Sofia snorted. “She totally deserves it.”

When Stephanie left, Valentina actually came to tell Sofia that she’d be her sister-in-law one day.

‘Does she even see herself? Trying to be my sister-in-law? Could she even get into the Giovanni family?’ Sofia thought.

She had Stephanie trying on jewelry and outfits for another half hour, and there were still so many pieces left. Stephanie was drained and just sat down. The earrings and necklaces kept coming, one after another. She thought there were only a few boxes Sofia had pulled out at first. But then, Sofia went to the storage room and came back with even more.

Sofia waved her hand. “Come on. There’s more!”

Stephanie quickly said, “I love all of them.”

Sofia grinned. “Try them all on.”

Stephanie shook her head. “How many gems did you steal to get all this stuff?” There were so many options that it was giving her a headache.

Sofia laughed. “I told you I bought all of it, okay? Get it?”

Stephanie just rolled her eyes. Right when Sofia was about to say something else, her phone rang. She glanced at the screen and immediately hit decline. But the next second, the phone rang again.

Stephanie saw the name pop up—it was Theodore, Richard’s cousin.

Sofia groaned, clearly irritated, and she answered the phone. “Hello?”

“Sofia, you need to run. Richard’s coming for you,” Richard warned.

Sofia raised an eyebrow. “What the heck?”

Stephanie froze when she heard that. Wait. What did Theodore say? Richard is coming for Sofia? she thought.

Sofia bit her lips, and she instinctively glanced at Stephanie. “If he’s coming, he should be looking for Stefi, not me. What does he want with me?”

“Shouldn’t you be telling Stefi to run?” Sofia asked Theodore. After all, in Fiorenza, Richard was technically Stephanie’s fiancé. Now that Stephanie was back and in love with Sebastian, Richard was definitely going to get mad.

Sofia remembered how Richard had gone to see Lottie a couple of days ago. After that, Lottie looked really serious. Richard wasn’t planning to let go of his engagement with Stephanie. Everything was such a mess.

So, in Sofia’s mind, if Richard was coming, it was to deal with Stephanie.

“No, Richard’s coming for you,” Theodore said again.

Sofia was confused, thinking, ‘Coming for me?’

“What did I do to him? Because I punched him? He deserved it. Did I somehow mess him up even more than he already was?” Sofia wondered aloud.

It was clear that Sofia still didn’t quite understand what Theodore was trying to say.