Chapter 181/I’ll Take Seventy Million

Chapter 181: 181/I’ll Take Seventy Million

Chapter 181

Stephanie’s point of view

Her eyes widened in absolute, paralyzing shock at my raw audacity. Out of the corner of my eye, I caught the sudden, violent twitch in Vincent’s jawline. My words had sliced right through his armor, striking a lethal nerve like pure poison.

"Then if you despise everything about my son so openly, why the living hell are you inside his house at this hour?!" the woman shrieked in absolute outrage. "Have you no goddamn shame?!"

I swallowed down the bitter lump in my throat, forcing a sharp, mocking smile onto my lips as I leaped straight off the cliff. "Don’t misinterpret me, Madam... love is blind, as the saying goes. And I... am completely, blindly in love with him, despite his monstrous flaws."

The older woman knitted her brows, her mind completely short-circuiting as she looked at me in utter confusion. "I don’t understand a single word of your twisted logic! Are you insulting his ass or praising him?! Do you love him, or do you secretly hate his guts?!"

"Madam," I cut her off, my tone turning completely flat and final to end the debate. "What I am telling you is very simple: I don’t give a damn about your son’s fortune, and I am not here for it."

"This ridiculous act of high-and-mighty virtue is exactly what every low-class girl spits out in the beginning just to drive up her price!" she snapped, her hands visibly shaking with fury as she violently unzipped her luxury leather handbag.

"Then what the hell do you want me to say to make you comfortable so you can leave me the fuck alone?" I asked, my patience entirely depleted.

"I want you to tell the unvarnished truth!" she yelled, aggressively pulling out a sleek checkbook. "Say that you want the money to walk away!"

A desperate, utterly defeated smile broke across my lips. I let out a sharp, mocking laugh. "Fine... sure. Let’s save some damn time. I want the money, Madam."

The exact second the word left my mouth, Vincent let out a deep, gravelly laugh that echoed loudly through the high-ceilinged living room. He shook his dark head, thoroughly entertained by my sudden performance. "You are fucking hilarious, Stephanie... Jesus Christ."

His mother ignored him, her eyes flaring with desperate triumph as she unscrewed a gold fountain pen and laid the check flat. "How much exactly, in clear numbers, to get your ass gone for good? Give me the amount and let’s end this disaster!"

I stared down at the blank check with a freezing, absolute detachment, locking my eyes onto her pen with a bold, defiant challenge. "I would walk away from his ass right this second for zero dollars because I utterly loathe the sight of him. But since you are aggressively pushing it... I’ll take seventy million dollars."

Vincent choked on his own dark laugh, his head snapping back as he let out a sharp scoff. He stood up to his full, towering height, shoving his hand into the pocket of his bathrobe as he slammed the brakes on his mother’s stunt. "Mother... enough of this pathetic little theater performance. Close the damn checkbook."

"I will gladly sign this massive amount over to her right now just to purge our family of her presence!" the woman insisted with blind, stubborn fury. "Take it and get the hell out of his life permanently!"

I didn’t wait for her to touch the ink to the paper. My breath was shallow and ragged as I spun around toward the exit. "I’m leaving now. Goodbye."

I burst out of that goddamn house at a hysterical pace, as if a pack of ravenous beasts were tearing at my heels.

I threw myself into my car, slammed the door shut, and aggressively stomped on the gas pedal, driving like a lunatic just to put as much distance as humanly possible between myself and their toxic, poisonous world.

When I finally pulled up to the Volkov mansion a long, agonizing drive later, my limbs were vibrating with a cold sweat. I forced my steps to look slow, steady, and unbothered as I walked past the stone-faced guards at the entrance.

The moment I crossed into the massive, high-ceilinged grand hallway, my heart dropped. Alexander was sitting right there in the expansive lounge area, flanked by his grandfather, Victor. Shrouded in the dim corner nearby sat Valentina, her sharp, fox-like features twisted into a predatory, highly satisfied smirk.

The second my feet hit the threshold, Alexander lifted his piercing, unreadable blue eyes to lock onto my face. His deep, commanding voice sliced right through the dead silence of the hall, sending a violent jolt of pure terror straight down my spine.

"Steph... where the hell have you been?"

I desperately fought to keep my vocal cords from snapping and betraying the sheer panic screaming inside me. I forced a fake, hollow calm into my tone, keeping my eyes completely averted from his grandfather’s heavy gaze. "I was over at Kira’s place... we completely lost track of time talking inside."

Alexander pushed himself up from his chair, his towering, dominant frame radiating his usual dark authority. He walked toward me with slow, calculated strides, before placing his massive palm flat against the small of my back a heavy, protective gesture that screamed absolute possession despite the sharp undercurrent of suspicion rolling off him.

"Fine," he murmured, his voice deadly quiet. "Let’s head upstairs to our room."

We climbed the wide wooden staircase in an absolute, suffocating silence, the heavy thud of our footsteps echoing loudly against the walls. The second we stepped inside our private suite and he firmly clicked the door shut behind us, he turned his entire body to face me.

His sharp eyes cut into my pale, bloodless face like a literal knife before he hurled a sudden, devastating question that caused my heart to stop beating entirely inside my chest.

"I want you to tell me the absolute truth without a single lie, Stephanie... Why the hell did you suddenly rescind your resignation from Vincent’s firm so fast, right after you were so desperately dead-set on leaving?"