Chapter 131

Chapter 131
NAYA'S POV 

Stella’s screams still clung to the walls of the hospital corridor, echoing inside my chest long after the nurses had rushed her mother away. I could feel my pulse hammering as I tried to steady her, my arms wrapped around her trembling frame while she sobbed into my shoulder. My words came out softer than I meant them to, like I was afraid of breaking something fragile. “It’s okay, Stella… we’ll figure this out… we’re here with you.”

But the moment the tears slowed, the moment her breathing started to even just a little, she lifted her head and wiped at her face with the back of her sleeve. There was a desperate kind of fire in her eyes, the kind that burned brighter when grief and fear tangled together. “I have to go back,” she whispered, almost too quiet for me to hear at first. Then her voice cracked as she said it louder, firmer, as though she was daring us to argue with her. “I have to go back home. My siblings—if I don’t, he’ll do it. He’ll burn the house down with them inside.”

My heart lurched so violently that I had to press a hand against my chest. For a moment, all I could do was stare at her, words caught like stones in my throat. The thought of her siblings trapped under the mercy of a man like that made my stomach twist. But at the same time, everything inside me screamed that her running into that situation alone would only add to the tragedy.

I reached for her hands, gripping them tightly, trying to anchor her. “Stella, listen to me,” I said, forcing my voice to stay steady even though I felt anything but. “You can’t just run back there. What if it’s a trap? What if he’s waiting for you, counting on you to come?”

Her eyes locked onto mine, wide and glassy with tears, but her expression carried a frightening determination. “He’s not bluffing. He never bluffs, Naya. You don’t know him like I do. If he said he’ll do it, then he’ll do it. My siblings don’t have anyone else. I can’t sit here while they—” Her words broke off as her voice cracked again, and she yanked her hands from mine, trying to stand as though her body was already moving before her mind caught up.

I pushed myself up and blocked her path, hands on her shoulders now, my heart racing to keep up with hers. “Stella, please—you have to think. Rushing into danger won’t save them. You could get yourself killed and then who will they have? You have us, you have me and Arthur. We’re not going to let anything happen to them, but you can’t do this on your own.” My voice was pleading now, nearly begging, but I could see she was hardly hearing me.

Arthur stepped forward then, his presence solid and unyielding as always, though I could see his jaw tightening as he watched Stella’s unraveling resolve. He moved closer, his voice deep and firm, carrying a finality mine didn’t. “Stella,” he said, cutting through her sobs and frantic breathing. “It’s dangerous for you to go back. No matter how urgent it feels, walking into your uncle’s hands right now will only make things worse—for you and for your siblings. If you go, he wins. And if he wins, none of us can help your family.”

Stella shook her head violently, tears flying off her cheeks, her whole body trembling under the weight of the choice clawing at her. “You don’t understand,” she cried, her words almost a scream. “If I stay here, they’ll die. He won’t wait. He doesn’t wait. Every second I’m here, I’m gambling with their lives.”

Her desperation hit me like a blow, and I felt my throat tightening, my own tears threatening to spill because I could see how much she was breaking apart. I grabbed her face between my hands, forcing her to look at me even though her eyes darted everywhere else. “And if you go, Stella? What if he uses you against them? What if he hurts you in front of them? Then they’ll lose you and themselves. Please—just stop and breathe. Let us think this through. Let us protect you.”

Arthur’s hand came down gently but firmly on Stella’s shoulder, grounding her in a way I couldn’t. His gaze bore into her with a steady calmness that contrasted the chaos of the moment. “You’ve been strong for so long,” he said lowly, his voice almost gentler now. “But strength isn’t always about running into the fire alone. Sometimes it’s about trusting others to stand with you. You don’t have to face him like this. Not now. Not this way.”

Her lips trembled, her eyes flicking between us, torn and broken. I could see the war inside her—fear for her siblings, fear for herself, the unshakable grip her uncle had over her mind. And as I watched her shoulders sag under the weight of it all, my own chest ached with helplessness. I wanted so badly to take that burden from her, to carry it myself if I could.

Still, even as she slumped against Arthur’s steadying hand, I could feel the tension humming beneath her skin. She hadn’t given up the fight. She was still ready to run at any moment. And I knew, deep in my gut, this battle to keep her safe wasn’t over—not by a long shot.

The sound of Stella’s phone buzzing cut through the heavy silence like a sharp blade. My eyes went straight to her hands as she fumbled with the device, her trembling fingers almost dropping it before she managed to steady herself. I could see the way her face shifted in a single heartbeat—from fear to something else. Hope. A fragile, flickering hope that almost looked foreign on her expression, as though she hadn’t felt it in so long that it startled even her.

Her eyes lifted and found Arthur, and I watched as she clung to that hope like it was the only thing keeping her upright.

“My uncle says that if I get him the documents he demanded from you, that he would spare them.” Her voice cracked at the edges, desperate, torn between belief and fear. Then she asked the question that made my chest tighten, “What documents is he talking about?”

Arthur froze. I saw the hesitation before he even spoke. His jaw worked, his shoulders tensed, and then his gaze flicked to me briefly, almost like he was weighing something unspoken in my eyes, before returning to Stella. His silence alone was answer enough—that whatever this was, it carried weight.

Finally, his voice came, low and steady, though I could hear the reluctant frustration in it. “It’s the documents of one of the estates that belonged to my father before he passed years ago. I believe he and my father had an unfinished business, and in his greedy sense of compensation, your uncle is laying claim on it.”

The words hung in the air, thick and heavy, settling over all of us. Stella bit down hard on her lower lip until the skin whitened under the pressure, as if holding herself together through sheer force.

“Oh… God,” she whispered, her whole frame trembling. “And he said that if he doesn’t get it, he will carry out his threats.”

I felt the knot in my stomach twist tighter. My instinct screamed that this was wrong, that her uncle was pulling her deeper into a web designed to strangle her with fear and desperation. I shook my head, firm, grounding myself even though I could feel the weight of Stella’s panic pressing against me.

“But I believe it’s also a trap,” I said, my voice quieter than I intended but steady. “People like him… they dangle what we love most in front of us because they know it blinds us. You running into this—it’s exactly what he wants.”

Stella’s face crumpled, and a fresh wave of sobs shook her small frame. She pressed her hand to her mouth as though she could hide the sound, but it came out raw and aching. “Oh my… I’m so sorry for all of this…”

I moved closer, instinct guiding me, and pulled her into my arms even though she felt rigid, caught between breaking apart and clinging to the last shred of hope her uncle dangled before her. She smelled of salt tears and faint antiseptic from the hospital, her cheek damp against my shoulder.

My mind spun as I held her. I wanted to shake her uncle, scream at him, demand to know what kind of monster uses his own blood as bargaining chips. I wanted to promise Stella that everything would be okay, that we’d keep her siblings safe and tear down whatever twisted game her uncle was playing. But promises felt fragile in that moment, and I knew she had been dealt too many false ones already.

Arthur stood close, silent now, his expression unreadable but heavy. He carried his own weight in this—his father’s estate, old debts and unfinished business now twisted into a weapon against an innocent family. I caught his eyes for just a second, and there was something there—a flicker of guilt, maybe, or anger at the cruelty of it all.

But all I could do in that moment was keep my arms around Stella, my voice quiet in her ear as she cried, “This isn’t your fault. None of this is your fault.”

And still, beneath my words, my heart whispered its own fear: what if we couldn’t stop him in time?
Then Stella looked up at Arthur. "so what are we going to do?"

Arthur looked lost in thought for a moment. 

The moment Arthur’s words left his lips, I could almost feel the weight of them settle in the room. His tone carried a kind of steel resolve, but beneath it, I knew there was a current of recklessness. “I’m going to reverse the threats. If he doesn’t release your siblings, he won’t get the documents he wants.” And then—just like that—he turned and left. No further discussion, no pause to see the shock written on Stella’s face, no space for me to say what burned on the tip of my tongue.

I stood there for a heartbeat too long, the sound of his footsteps fading down the sterile hallway of the hospital, until silence swallowed up the last trace of him. My chest felt tight. I wanted to run after him, to beg him not to throw himself headlong into something this dangerous, but Stella was trembling in front of me, her nails digging into her palms as though holding herself together by sheer force of will.

I reached out and wrapped my hands around her arms, grounding her. “Stella, breathe,” I whispered. “Just breathe.” She sagged against me, her whole body a trembling mess, and for a second I thought she might collapse. I rubbed her back gently, trying to pour some stability into her even though inside me, I was a storm.

That’s when my phone buzzed in my pocket. The sound startled me—I had forgotten the world outside existed. Stella looked up, wide-eyed, as if the sound alone might mean more bad news. I gave her a small nod and fished the phone out. My heart sank when I saw the name glowing on the screen: Aunt Nina. I glanced at Stella again and gently squeezed her shoulders. “Give me a second,” I said softly. She nodded weakly, her lips trembling as she turned her gaze toward the ground.

I stepped aside into a quieter corner, pressing the phone to my ear. “Hello?”

Nina’s voice came through almost immediately, sharp with worry. “Naya, what’s happening? You didn’t call back.”

I exhaled heavily, leaning against the cool wall, closing my eyes for strength. “Aunt Nina, it’s… complicated. Stella’s uncle is making threats. He’s demanding documents from Arthur—something tied to his father’s estate. He’s holding Stella’s siblings as leverage.” My voice wavered, and I swallowed hard, forcing steadiness into it. “Arthur’s gone off to try and turn the threats back on him, but I don’t know what’s going to happen.”

There was silence on the other end for a second, and then Nina sighed, her voice softer but carrying the weight of fear. “This is dangerous, Naya. Be careful. Don’t let yourself get pulled into his games.”

I nodded, though she couldn’t see it. My throat felt tight, but I managed to ask, “How’s Elijah?”

“He’s sleeping,” Nina replied, and I could hear the faint sound of her moving around in the background, her voice gentler now. “He’s resting peacefully.”

Relief washed over me like a wave, and I hadn’t realized how tightly I had been holding my breath until that moment. My shoulders sagged, and I whispered, “Thank God.” I pressed my forehead against the wall, eyes stinging. At least that was one thing, one person, who was safe in this chaos. “Thank you, Aunt Nina. I’ll call you back later, I promise.”

We ended the call, and for a brief moment I allowed myself to linger there, to hold onto the small comfort of Elijah being safe and alive. But the world didn’t wait for me to steady myself. It never did.

I tucked the phone away and made my way back to Stella, preparing to pick up where I had left off—ready to calm her down again, ready to be her anchor. But the sight that met me when I stepped closer stopped me dead in my tracks.

She was standing in front of a nurse, her face drained of all color. She looked like the very air had been sucked out of her. The nurse’s lips were moving, words spilling into the fragile space, and I didn’t need to hear every syllable to understand. Stella’s eyes were wide, shimmering with tears that refused to fall.

“My mother is dead…” she whispered, her voice small, broken, like a child admitting something she didn’t yet understand.

The world tilted under my feet. I moved toward her quickly, my hands reaching out before I even realized it, steadying her shoulders once more. Her body was shaking so violently it was as though her soul itself was unraveling.

“Oh, Stella…” I breathed, my chest aching as if her grief were mine too.

The nurse glanced at me, sympathy etched in her face, before quietly stepping away, leaving us in the hollow echo of the words she had delivered.

I pulled Stella into my arms, and she didn’t resist this time. She just collapsed into me, sobbing uncontrollably. Her tears soaked into my shirt, her body trembling like she was coming apart at the seams. I held her tighter, resting my chin on her head, whispering useless things—“I’m here. It’s okay. Let it out.”—knowing they could never patch the wound but hoping they might keep her from falling completely.

Inside me, a storm of anger and helplessness raged. Arthur was walking straight into a trap, Stella’s uncle was holding children hostage, and now her mother—her last tether—was gone. The cruelty of it all felt suffocating. And yet, all I could do was hold her, whispering in the quiet, as though if I kept repeating that she wasn’t alone, maybe, just maybe, she would believe it.