chapter1882

On the drive back, Stella debated it for a moment before she finally gave in and asked, "Joshua, do you know where Sellers is?"

Joshua's hands barely flinched on the steering wheel. He kept his tone completely casual. "No idea."

"Do you have any idea who might have taken him, then?" Stella pressed.

"He's crossed a lot of people," Joshua noted smoothly. "It could be anyone."

Stella lowered her gaze, letting the conversation drift into a heavy silence.

...

The Williams residence.

When Aurora got the call from Sherman detailing Sellers's disappearance, all the remaining color completely drained from her face.

Sellers was missing.

The head of the family just gone, vanished into thin air.

Aurora's mind immediately went straight to Joshua.

"Joshua has to be behind this!"

Sherman took a steadying breath and recounted every single detail of the confrontation that had just gone down at Mr. Burton's estate.

Aurora listened in absolute, stunned silence.

A bone-deep chill settled over her chest.

She had just handed Sellers the dirt she'd dug up on Joshua, and now Sellers was mysteriously missing. It was impossible to view it as a mere coincidence.

Joshua was bold enough to kidnap a family head.

Who was next?

Was he coming for her?

No. She couldn't just sit around and wait for the axe to fall.

If Joshua targeted her, there was zero chance Sherman could protect her. Right now, her only potential lifeline... was another family head: McCoy Chapman. Even though the Chapman family had canceled the engagement after the disaster at the party, Aurora knew that McCoy was genuinely head-over-heels for her.

She still had a play to make.

Not to mention...

She glanced down, her hand resting gently against her stomach. A toxic, triumphant smirk pulled at the corners of her mouth.

This trump card couldn't have come at a better time. Whether the Chapman family wanted her or not, they were going to have to marry her.

A week later, Stella received a phone call from Skyler Williams.

"Star, are you free this weekend for dinner?"

"What's the occasion, Dad?" Stella asked.

"Aurora and McCoy officially got their marriage license," Skyler explained. "They aren't doing a big wedding right now, so our two families are just going to have

-private dinner to cel keep

things simple."

Stella was completely blindsided. "Their license? Aurora and McCoy are actually married?"

"Yes," Skyler confirmed. "If you don't have other plans, make sure you're on time."

He sounded like he wanted to get off the phone as quickly as possible, tossing out a few more instructions before hanging up.

Stella stared at the dead screen, her brow furrowed in utter confusion.

The Chapman family had definitively called off the engagement. Why on earth would they suddenly agree to the marriage?

Skipping the wedding, going straight for the legal paperwork, and just hosting a small family dinner? It was a classic move to keep the marriage entirely under the radar.

Needing answers, Stella dialed Lauretta Chapman.

"Lauretta, did you know that Aurora and McCoy just got their marriage license?" "Yeah," Lauretta said quietly. "I just heard my parents talking about it, actually."

She paused for a beat before dropping a massive bombshell.

"Aurora is pregnant."

Stella was stunned. "Are you sure?"

"My parents and McCoy took her to the doctor themselves to confirm it. It's real," Lauretta said.

Stella knew she probably shouldn't ask, but she couldn't bite her tongue. "Are they... absolutely sure the baby is McCoy's?"

"My parents were extremely skeptical at first, too," Lauretta admitted. "But McCoy swore up and down that the baby is his.

"As for

night happened that day at

the party... even though it was a RR nightmare, McCoy still firmly. believes that Aurora was the victim.

"He thinks that whatever she did, she was just trying to survive.

"As a man, it's definitely a hard pill for him to swallow, but he genuinely doesn't hold any malicious resentment against her.