Mr. Quinn's anger flared as he thought about the rumors he'd heard this afternoon.
In Mirefall, he, Marcus Sterling, was a man of status. Yet his own daughter had to have someone else pay for her meal. If word of this got out, where would the Sterling Family put its face?
"Besides, is it because we don't give you enough to eat and drink at home that you have to..." Mr. Quinn's angry words trailed off as Stella Sterling stared at him fixedly, his voice growing smaller and smaller...
He remembered that he hadn't actually given her any spending money, but—
Stella Sterling looked straight at him, a mocking smile on her face. "Lacking? Of course I'm lacking. How could I not be? After all, with just over two thousand a month, I can't even cover my utilities and property fees. I need money now. Are you going to give me some?"
The three members of the Sterling family were stunned by Stella Sterling's words. Yara Sterling was even more flabbergasted. 'What's gotten into Stella?'
Mrs. Sterling looked heartbroken. "Stella, how could you speak like that? It's true, Mother was inconsiderate before, but why didn't you talk to us? Why go to an outsider for money? What will people think of you? If word spreads, it'll be bad for your reputation. The Cheney Family has a good relationship with us, so they didn't spread it any further, but..."
Stella Sterling cut her off. "Yes, yes, yes, you're right, Mom. I do need money. How much are you planning to give me?"
She raised her eyebrows in surprise. 'Since they've said as much,' she thought, 'I won't be polite about it.'
As for their words, she didn't refute them. There was no need. After today, she would have nothing more to do with them.
As for Yara Sterling, she would save her to be dealt with slowly. In her past life, she had let Yara die too easily. In this life, she would make her suffer the full bitterness of the apocalypse before letting her die.
Mrs. Sterling was left speechless by Stella Sterling's bluntness, her chest heaving with anger. 'This girl... All she talks about is money, money, money. She didn't listen to a single thing I said.'
Mr. Quinn's fury boiled over. He threw a card at her. "There's fifty million in here. The PIN is XXX. Take the money and go. I don't want to see you right now. As long as you don't go around embarrassing me, the Sterling Family will no longer meddle in your affairs!"
Stella Sterling's eyes lit up. 'Fifty million! Another huge sum.'
She thanked him and turned to leave. "Well, thank you, Dad. Don't worry, I won't show my face around you again unless I have to!"
Mrs. Sterling called her name from behind, but Stella Sterling didn't even look back.
Yara Sterling was ecstatic. 'I can't believe Stella Sterling is so stupid,' she thought. 'She's completely offended Mom and Dad. How is she going to compete with me now?'
'Also, it seems what happened yesterday had nothing to do with Stella Sterling. Otherwise, why wouldn't she have said anything?'
Breathing a sigh of relief, she turned and began comforting Mr. Quinn and Mrs. Sterling in a soft, gentle voice. Her thoughtfulness and maturity were a stark contrast to Stella Sterling, which made the two of them feel very gratified.
Just as Yara Sterling was gloating inwardly, Stella Sterling suddenly turned back, her gaze fixed on Yara. "In one month, I'll have a big gift for you. I hope you like it!"
After saying this, Stella Sterling's figure vanished completely from the Sterling Family home.
Mr. Quinn and Mrs. Sterling's expressions softened. "She still knows to maintain a good relationship with her sister. It seems she isn't such a brat after all!"
Only Yara Sterling's expression was strange, the anxiety she'd just put aside rising once more.
'What... does she mean by that...?'
Standing before the Sterling Family's main gate, Stella Sterling looked back one last time with a complex expression. The image that surfaced in her mind was from her past life: Mrs. Sterling—Wanda Larkin—stabbing her with a knife for Yara Sterling's sake.
In the past, thinking of this scene would still make her sad, but now that she had been reborn, she had let it all go.
She shrugged, smiled, and strode toward her beat-up little car.
Some people are just fated to have weak family ties. Perhaps she was one of them.
There was no point wasting feelings and time on people who weren't worth it. Her priority now was to prepare supplies for the apocalypse as quickly as possible.
How to survive the apocalypse—and live well—was what she should be focusing on now.
"It's a little chilly!" A gust of wind blew past, and Stella Sterling rolled up her car window before driving away from the villa district.
On the road, she called Ethan Cheney. "Ethan Cheney, you really are a great guy!"
Without waiting for a response, she hung up. 'How could she not thank him? It was because of him that she'd managed to get her hands on fifty million.'
On the other end of the line, Ethan Cheney was dumbfounded. He rubbed his ears, wondering if he'd heard wrong. 'Word of what happened yesterday has already reached the Sterling Family. Stella Sterling should have gotten an earful!'
'But she was thanking me. Could she have been yelled at so much she went crazy?'
...
Through a friend, Stella Sterling quickly contacted a buyer and sold off the items she had taken from the Sterling Family home, earning over twenty million. Adding the fifty million from Mr. Quinn, she now had over seventy million in cash. After settling the final payment for today's shipment with Mr. Cheney, she would still have more than seventy-three million left!