Yvonne was fuming. "Seriously, Xander, why are you taking the fall for Dan? I just don''t get it!" She was clearly at her wits'' end.


    Xander, for his part, looked utterly exasperated when Yvonne snapped, "Just pretend you were the one who slept there." He had no words for this mess.


    Meanwhile, over at Ferrond Estate-


    After a full night''s sleep, Ste looked a lot better than she had the day before. Lottie couldn''t help but smile with relief. Seeing Ste up so early only made her feel more at ease-if Ronald had tried to fort" Stest night in the wrong way, she definitely wouldn''t be up and about this soon. And, with Ste pregnant, that kind offort was strictly off-limits.


    After breakfast, the butler approached. "Ma''am?"


    "Yes?"


    "Miss Melissa is here. Regina as well."


    Ste paused.


    Lottie nced at her daughter, her voice gentle. "Star, are you done eating?"


    Ste nodded. "Yeah."


    "Thene with me, sweetheart. Let''s go have a little chat with them."


    The two most suspicious people had been brought in. To put Ste''s worries to rest, Lottie wanted her by her side for the questioning. She was confident nothing would go wrong. And even if something did, she wanted Ste to handle it herself —after all, Ste was now thedy of the Quinn family. Sometimes, you have to show you mean business.


    Ste nodded. "Okay."


    Ronald set down his ss of milk. "I''lle too."


    "No, you stay here. This is women''s business," Lottie said firmly. "It''s better if we handle it ourselves."


    Every challenge Ste faced was a


    ?


    chance for her to grow stronger. She was so gentle, so kind—but as the head of the Quinn family she needed a little steen her spine Of course, Lottie had no idea how Ste had handled the Larkin and Quarry families back in Portis City.  s


    Ste looked at Ronald. "I can do this."


    "Star..." Ronald looked worried.


    Lottie rolled her eyes. "Don''t worry-I''ll be with her the whole time. She knew he was anxiou especially with Ste pregnant with triplets, but that was exactly why Lottie was going along.  s


    So off they went together.


    By the koi pond outside the tea room, there was a small gazebo.


    Melissa, who''d been dragged here against her will, looked totally lost as she saw Lottie and Ste approach. Regina wasn''t there, so it looked like they''d be questioned one by one.


    Melissa was barely holding back her anger. She''d been yanked out of bed in the middle of the night-at first, she thought it was a kidnapping, but then she realized she''d been hauled back to Ferrond. She''d been. abroad since that disastrous party, where Ronald''s cold shoulder had turned her whole family against her. Life had been rough, so she''d left the country to escape the drama.


    s


    And now the Quinn family had basically abducted her? What the hell was going on?


    Thinking back on her sleepless, stressful night, Melissa just couldn''t keep her temper in check anymore. "Lottie, seriously, what is the meaning of this?"


    But because it was the Quinn family, she didn''t dare totally lose her cool. Lottie sat down with Ste. She gave Ste a subtle nod. "Go ahead, Star."


    Ste nodded, and a servant handed her a small box. Ste took it, looked straight at Melissa with narrowed eyes, and tossed it at her feet.


    The box popped open, and a pregnancy test—marked with two unmistakable pink linesnded right by Melissa''s shoes.


    Ste''s gaze was icy. "Miss Melissa, care to exin why this is yours?"


    Melissa stared at the positive test at her feet, blinking inplete disbelief, and then looked up at Ste, totally at a loss for words.<fn8128> This content belongs to FιndＮovel</fn8128>