Chapter 4

In the driver's seat, Vincent perked up his ears and grew excited. He cursed inwardly, "Damn it, Mr. Mansfield, just open your mouth already! This is your chance at romance!"

Rowan's gaze uncontrollably fell on Stella's lips. His throat bobbed. Should he open his mouth and let her kiss him? The word "yes" was on the tip of his tongue, but he parted his lips and spat through gritted teeth, "Hell no!"

The hope in Stella's eyes fractured as she pouted unhappily.

Rowan took a deep breath, refusing to let Stella pull one over him. Did she think she could play the victim just because she batted her eyelashes and feigned innocence?

He pushed her forehead with his fingertips, putting some distance between them as he snapped stiffly, "Who taught you these tricks? Randy? Are you so incompetent that this is all you learned from him after sticking with him for over a decade?"

Stella frowned. "I told you I don't know who Randy is. Why do you keep bringing him up? Who is he?"

Besides, she learned all her tricks from Rowan. It wasn't as if Randy ever liked her.

Rowan's patience was running out. His brows furrowed as he demanded icily, "How long are you planning to keep up the act?"

Dejection filled Stella. "I'm telling the truth, Rowan. You're the only one I love and want to love. Why won't you believe me?"

Rowan was harder to persuade than she expected. She thought he'd accept her the moment she confessed her feelings for him. Could it be that he still hadn't fallen in love with her at this point?

Rowan eyed her evenly. "You don't know who Randy is?"

"No," Stella answered with a firm shake of her head.

A smile curved Rowan's lips. He asked breezily, "And I'm the only one you love and want to love?"

"Yes," Stella said with a solemn nod this time.

"Fine, then." A cold chuckle escaped Rowan as he seemingly thought of something. "I'll believe you, but only if you can prove your words."

"How shall I prove them?" Stella blinked, her ears growing hot as she asked teasingly, "Is kissing not enough for you, Rowan? Shall we take this to the bedroom?"

Shit! Vincent nearly lost his grip on the steering wheel. Stella was more forward than he expected! How would the pure-hearted Rowan handle such boldness?

Sure enough, Rowan's ears turned redder than Stella's. He was lucky he could still put on a cool, collected front as he clenched his jaw and growled, "Stella!"

She stared at him with wide, innocent eyes. He resisted the urge to throw her out of the car and prodded her head with the cold underside of his fingers. "Get your mind out of the gutter right now!"

Stella's head was pushed to the side. She frowned as she held her head and muttered, "Okay." In her defense, Rowan was the one whose mind was in the gutter!

Rowan took a deep breath and ordered Vincent in a low, deep voice, "To the Astoria."

The Astoria was a hotel owned by the Mansfield family and the host of the award ceremony that evening. There would be an after-party at the hotel once the award ceremony ended, and Rowan agreed to attend the ceremony because his family organized it.

Naturally, and most importantly, he agreed to attend the ceremony because he knew Stella would be there. He didn't want her to get picked on and chose to look out for her.

But he received no thanks for his good intentions. He should have known the silly woman didn't deserve his kindness! He gritted his teeth.

Vincent smiled wryly as he turned the car around and headed for the Astoria.

Baffled, Stella asked, "Why are we going back?"

Rowan closed his eyes and leaned into his seat. He crossed his arms, looking like his nonchalant self again. But when he spoke, his tone was cold and filled with wicked amusement, "So you can prove how much you love me, of course."

Stella frowned. She remembered being drugged in her previous life when she attended the after-party at the Astoria. She later woke up in Rowan's bed with his arms wrapped around her, the expensive, couture gown she'd splurged on, and his suit and trousers lying in a tangled heap on the ground.

At the time, she was so distressed that the first thing she did after her mind cleared was to slap Rowan across the face. He had stared at her calmly and promised to marry her, but she only wept as she told him to get out of the room.

Randy had been the one to hand her the spiked wine.

Stella lifted her gaze and glanced at Rowan under the dim lighting. He'd closed his eyes and leaned into his seat, his side profile a portrait of fine angles and indifference. In the silence of the car, he seemed unapproachable.

In the past, courtesy of Randy's influence, she always thought Rowan was aloof and intimidating. It wasn't until later that she realized it wasn't that she didn't want to get close to him, but that she was afraid to.

And the reproach she harbored for him was nothing but resentment.

The award ceremony was still ongoing when Stella and Rowan returned to the Astoria. Those who couldn't be bothered to watch the ceremony had gathered in the hall where the after-party was, and many heirs and heiresses were among those present.

Those heirs and heiresses hadn't come to applaud the actors who won awards but to join the party. While there were a few of them who dabbled in entertainment, nameless actors were simply playthings they could use for their pleasure.

However, the atmosphere in the hall seemed off, for everyone kept shooting subtle looks at Randy.

It was no secret that Stella was like Randy's shadow growing up. She stuck to him like glue for over a decade. Randy, on the other hand, hated Rowan the most. After all, Rowan was the only one in all of Londale who could keep him in check.

For this reason, Stella treated Rowan like he was the enemy as well.

But that was before she kissed Rowan on the red carpet under the watchful gaze of the nationwide audience. After that, she fled the scene with him in his car!

Although Randy never liked Stella and had called off their engagement, her feat on the red carpet might have inevitably rubbed him the wrong way. As such, all the heirs and heiresses treaded carefully around him to not set him off.

Indeed, Randy seemed pissed as he leaned into the armchair and loosened his tie. He'd undone the top two buttons of his shirt, too, as he scrolled through the news on his phone.

He watched the trending footage of Stella kissing Rowan multiple times. The more he watched it, the more he wanted to kill Stella.

After scrolling through the trending topics for a while, he tossed his phone on the coffee table and snapped at the person beside him, "Have someone take down all these trending articles!"

The man beside him was his childhood friend, Warren Menzie. Warren had also been scrolling through the trending topics when he heard Randy's order. Surprised, he asked, "Why? Don't tell me it's because you don't bear to see Stella getting all the backlash."

Randy frowned. "Her getting backlash won't do me any favors."

Warren clicked his tongue. "Yes, but it'll work out in Celina's favor! The worse Stella's reputation becomes, the better Celina's will be. Why concern yourself with Stella's problems when Celina's the woman you're into?"

The crease between Randy's brows deepened. He kicked Warren. "Have you lost your damn mind?"

Warren froze and heard Randy ask, "When did I ever say I was into Celina?"

Warren gaped at him in shock. "Hold up, what do you mean by that, Randy? Are you suggesting that you're into Stella instead?"

Randy made no reply, but the problem lay in his silence.

Warren swore inwardly and lowered his voice. "Randy, you and Celina have been getting close these years, and I've never seen you be nice to Stella. You can ask any of our friends if there's anyone who thinks you don't like Celina.

"Everyone sees her as your future wife! And now you're telling me you're into Stella?" He couldn't help asking incredulously, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"You don't know anything." Randy shot him a warning look, then angled his head to the side. "Stella has always had a short fuse. I only did this so she'd understand that just because she's the heiress of the Fairchild family, it doesn't mean she gets to lose her temper around me!"

Randy pulled a cigarette from the box and continued, "She needs to know her place and learn to please me."

Slipping the cigarette between his lips and lighting it, he narrowed his eyes and took a drag. "The more indifferent I am to her, the more she'll cling to me like a lapdog. Besides, now that her family's kicked her out, she has no choice but to turn to me for help.

"I doubt she'd throw hissy fits around me anymore. She'll have to listen to me and do as I say. I'm simply teaching her how to behave. What do you know about it?"

Warren was so stunned by Randy's explanation that his eyes nearly bugged out of his head. "So you've been nice to Celina all these years and cold and distant to Stella because you wanted to teach Stella how to become more obedient?"

What a cruel douchebag!

Gulping, Warren asked, "But aren't you proposing to Celina tomorrow?"

Randy bit his cigarette and said nonchalantly, "The only woman I'll take for a wife is Stella."

Warren fell speechless upon hearing this. After a long pause, he pointed out, "But it seems Stella has decided to go to Rowan instead of crawling back to you." Would Randy end up being the loser? He'd taught Stella to behave, but it seemed Rowan would reap the benefit of it.

Randy narrowed his eyes and sneered. "Like I said, she still needs to be taught. She isn't obedient enough yet. She probably heard I was proposing to Celina tomorrow and decided to use Rowan to rile me up."

A smirk curved his lips as he scoffed. "She should know Rowan wouldn't give her the time of day because she's mine. She's just asking for trouble at this point."

He tossed the cigarette butt away and drawled, "She'll come crawling back to me soon enough and beg me to take her back."

And when she did return, he'd ruin that mouth of hers that Rowan had kissed.

Seconds later, the heavy doors to the hall opened slowly. The guests in the hall glanced at the entryway, only to go still with shock when they beheld the couple who had arrived.

The towering silhouette of a man in a silver-gray suit strolled into the hall. He had one hand casually shoved into his pocket, looking perfectly at ease, if not indifferent.

His presence alone was intimidating, and he looked so untouchable that those in the hall fell silent. Even their breathing grew quiet.

Then, everyone noticed the young lady walking alongside him. She wasn't short, but she reached only the man's shoulders and looked petite beside him. With her pink tulle dress and delicate features, she looked like a princess from a fairytale.

Randy suddenly bolted upright and stared at Stella.

Rowan smirked. Under Randy's mutinous gaze, he reached for Stella's soft and slender hand. He curled his fingers around hers and held her hand, then led her to an empty couch. There was no telling if he'd chosen the seat on purpose, for Randy was sitting a few feet across from them.

A pin-drop silence filled the hall. Randy gritted his teeth and snapped, "Get over here, Stella!"

Rowan's lips curled as he leaned into the couch and asked casually, "Want to go over?"

As he said this, he set his and Stella's intertwined hands on his thigh and gently squeezed her fingers. He found it curious that she was soft everywhere, even her hands.

Stella lowered her gaze. His fingers were curled around hers. Shaking her head, she replied quietly, "No, I don't want to. I don't know him."

Everyone heard this, including Randy. He clenched his jaw as his expression hardened. "Stella, this is your last chance. Get over here right now!"

Rowan narrowed his eyes and inched close to Stella, putting his lips close to her ear. "Stella, you said you loved me and wanted to kiss me, right?"

His breath felt hot against her ear, the tips of which turned red. Her heartbeat grew wild. Just then, she heard him chuckle as he purred, "In that case, do you dare to kiss me in front of Randy?"