Chapter 342 It's All Adeline's Fault
The room fell silent, thick with tension. Stella's breath caught, the only sound her racing heartbeat.
For a moment, she thought she imagined it all. Jasper should still be out cold from the sleeping pills she slipped into his soup.
No way he could be awake.
She shook her head, trying to shake off the creeping dread, and kept searching frantically.
"Need any help?" Jasper's amused voice cut through her act. He was right behind her.
No denying it now.
Stella's blood ran cold as she turned slowly, stiff and mechanical.
There he was, leaning casually against the doorframe in smoke-gray pajamas. His eyes were cold, calculating, with a hint of mockery.
Stella's heart pounded, her throat tight, unable to speak.
"Jasper," she whispered.
He straightened, a humorless smile on his lips as he approached, towering over her with quiet dominance.
"What are you so desperate to find?" he asked, voice smooth but sharp. "Why not tell me, and I'll help?"
Stella's mind raced, thoughts jumbled.
Impossible.
She'd put enough sleeping pills in his soup to knock out a horse. The doctor assured her it would just induce deep sleep.
She crushed the pills into a fine powder and stirred them into the chicken soup herself. He even had two bowls.
He shouldn't be awake.
"Let me guess," Jasper said, picking up his shirt from where she dropped it and placing it neatly on the coffee table. He settled onto the sofa with casual elegance, eyes fixed on her.
"You're looking for the divorce papers, right?"
He suspected something was up when she tried to drug him earlier, searching for something. He had Ryan discreetly check her activities at Radiance Springs.
The housekeeper confirmed his suspicions. Stella had been frantically searching the study, leaving no stone unturned.
Same scene at his office.
So he sent the divorce papers to David for safekeeping.
He hoped she'd back off after her earlier stunt.
Clearly, he overestimated her.
Stella shook her head, voice panicked. "No, I wasn't."
"You weren't looking for the divorce papers?" Jasper arched an eyebrow, eyes on the clothes clutched in her hand. "Were you savoring my scent?"
Stella bit her lip, mind racing. "Jasper, you're misunderstanding," she stammered.
An idea struck her.
"I was... looking for a woman's hair," she blurted out.
"Yes, that's it!" she exclaimed, clinging to the flimsy excuse. "I was looking for a woman's hair."
"A friend from my cooking class told me how to tell if my husband is cheating," she elaborated, gaining confidence. "She said to look for strands of hair... to identify the other woman."
Her attempt amused him.
"Stella," he said, voice dangerously low. "Have you forgotten what I said when we signed those divorce papers?"
Her face paled.
"You said it was my last chance," she stammered, voice trembling. "That if you ever suspected me of..."
She couldn't finish.
"That we'd get a divorce," Jasper completed, his expression unreadable.
He leaned back, legs stretched out. "I'll give you one last chance, Stella. What were you really looking for? Was it truly a stray hair?"
Stella's facade crumbled.
"Jasper, please," she begged, voice cracking. "Can you just pretend you didn't see any of this?"
She couldn't confess.
"If you won't say it, I will," Jasper said, his gaze piercing.
"You've been well-behaved lately," he observed, voice flat. "I almost believed you changed. But you haven't, have you? You're just scared of those divorce papers, afraid of what I might do with them in my hand."
He leaned forward, resting his chin on his hand, eyes boring into her. "While I was in Neon City, you searched my study, my office, but found nothing in Radiance Springs. You assumed I had them on me."
"You followed me here, thinking that once we were back in Radiance Springs, I'd take the papers with me in my study or office, making them harder to find."
"But now that I'm here, with limited movement, you're convinced I have them with me."
"So, you flew all the way here, drugged me twice, all for those papers."
"Am I right?"
By the time he finished, Stella's face was ashen.
She hadn't anticipated that her every move, every desperate attempt, would be laid bare after just one day in Neon City.
She closed her eyes, despair washing over her.
The money she offered must not have been enough to buy his staff's silence. Otherwise, he wouldn't have found out so quickly.
Despair wrapped around her like a suffocating shroud.
This time, she knew, there might not be another chance. She had experienced his ruthlessness firsthand.
Still, she clung to a sliver of hope. "That's not true! It wasn't like that!" she cried, grabbing his pant leg. "Jasper, please, you have to believe me!"
"Stella," he sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose, patience wearing thin. "Let's just get a divorce."
He couldn't keep doing this, subjecting himself to this toxic cycle.
He had given her countless chances before, driven by lingering love for the woman she once was, the mother of his children.
But this... this was a new low.
She had resorted to drugging him, all for a misplaced sense of control.
What would she do next?
If he was just a pawn in her jealous games, what did that make him?
When she was still Adeline Cullins, she had never been like this. Her love had boundaries, respect.
But now... her love was possessive, suffocating.
He couldn't keep lying to himself.
"The children will stay with me," he stated, voice firm. "If you have any needs, let me know, and I'll do my best to accommodate them."
He looked at her, his gaze softening slightly at her pale, distraught face. "We can still be friends, Stella."
"You're really doing this?" she whispered, voice choked with disbelief. "For Adeline? You're divorcing me for her?"
"I knew it! She followed you here to seduce you!" she spat, eyes blazing with hatred. "This is all her fault! Everything was fine until she showed up!"
"Every time you see her, you change!"
Jasper's brow furrowed.
'How does she know I haven't seen Adelinelately?' he thought.
"Stella," he asked, voice dangerously quiet. "You've been having me followed, right?"
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