Chapter 604 The Setup


    Ste went quiet.


    She and Marie locked eyes, and for a second, Ste struggled to keep a straight face..


    Marie let out a sharp breath and hung up the call, then turned to Ste. “Didn’t we agree this had to be someone familiar?”


    Ste looked surprised.


    <i>Wait</i>… it <i>wasn’tMorris</i>?


    “Whoever did this clearly knew something about you. Everyone in Falvaria knows who you are. You think any random guy would daree after you?”


    Marie shook her head. “Not a chance.”


    “Exactly,” Ste said. “So it’s either Morris trying to get back at you for marrying Derrick, or someone’s out to screw you over–on purpose.”


    Marie fell silent. <i>Revenge</i>? A <i>setup</i><i>? </i>


    “But didn’t Morris’s guys just say he was with them the whole night?” she asked.


    <i>So </i><i>that </i><i>means</i>… it <i>wasn’t </i>Morris <ist </i><i>night</i>? <i>Shit</i>. That made things a whole lot worse.


    Ste nodded. “Which only leaves one option–someone’s deliberately targeting you.”


    Marie sat still.


    <i>Targeting </i><i>her</i>? <i>In </i><i>Falvaria</i>? <i>Who’d </i><i>even </i><i>dare</i>?


    Ste looked at her seriously. “Whoever it was had to hate you enough to risk everything. They knew what they were doing.”


    No doubt. In Ste’s eyes, only someone with a death wish woulde after Marie. If someone really did, it meant they wanted to destroy herpletely.


    “Hate me?” Marie muttered, her mind suddenly fuzzy.


    “Can you think of another reason?”


    Marie muttered, “If we’re talking about people in Falvaria who hate me, that list is actually kind of long.”


    She wasn’t wrong. There were plenty who didn’t like her.


    Ste waved that off. “Those people are just jealous. That’s not the same as hate.”


    Marie blinked, caught off guard. Right. That was true. Most of those people didn’t hate her–they were just petty, bitter, or threatened.


    <b>5 </b>


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    * Finished


    Chapter 604 The Setup


    Which meant…


    “So what you’re saying is, if it wasn’t Morris, then it was someone who seriously wants to destroy me?”


    Ste nodded. “Back when I lived in Rivermount, Lillian used to pull stunts like this all the time. Sweet on the surface, but always scheming underneath.”


    So all <i>that </i><i>stuff </i><i>in </i><i>Rivermount </i>was <i>just </i><i>some </i><i>carefully </i><i>nned </i><i>act</i><i>? </i>


    Marie murmured, “Someone who hates me… really, truly hates me…”


    She repeated it softly, mind racing, flipping through every possible enemy.


    And not once did she feel even slightly guilty for beating Morris earlier.


    Nope. All her energy was focused on figuring out who had tried to ruin her.


    Then, suddenly, a name popped into her head.


    “Wait–I’ve got it.”


    “Who?” Ste asked quickly.


    Marie raised her hand, snapping her fingers. “What’s her name again… the one who’s always around Morris… E?<b>” </b>


    Ste raised a brow. “E?<b>” </b>


    Marie nodded firmly. “Yeah. Morris has been all over metely, and E’s his fiancée. No doubt she hates


    my guts.”


    <i>Unbelievable</i>. <i>Her </i><i>man </i><i>betrays </i><i>her</i><i>, </i><i>and </i><i>she </i><ies </i><i>after </i><i>me </i><i>instead </i><i>of </i><i>yelling </i><i>at </i><i>Morris</i><i>? </i>


    Thinking about it now… Morris’s beatdown this morning didn’t even seem that unfair anymore.


    He was still part of the reason she got dragged into this mess.


    “That actually makes a lot of sense,” Ste said.


    Marie shot to her feet, sending the dining chair crashing to the floor behind her with a loud thud.


    Just the thought that E might’ve been the one who set her up made her blood boil.


    “I’m going to kill her.”


    She meant it. She wasn’t the type to let something like this slide. Not even for a second.


    Before Ste could react, Marie grabbed her jacket on instinct.


    Her hands shook, the gun slipped, and it hit the ground–but she recovered instantly, grabbed it, and stormed out without a word.


    213


    Chapter 604 The Setup


    Ste blinked. “Uh…”


    D


    X


    –


    Finished


    m. The door mmed shut behind her.


    The door mmed shut behind her. Marie was gone–charging out with such force, no one even thought about stopping her.


    Abraham and Derrick came downstairs just as Ste was staring nkly at the entryway.


    A


    She still had a spoon in her hand. The soup inside had spilled all over the table. She didn’t even notice.


    She lookedpletely stunned.


    Abraham strode into the dining room. “What are you staring at?”


    Ste blinked and turned to him. “Um… Marie just left. I think she’s going after E.”


    She was still trying to catch up.


    <i>God</i><i>, </i>with how <i>fast </i><i>and </i><i>fiery </i><i>Marie </i><i>is</i>, no <i>one </i><i>ever </i><i>really </i><i>has </i><i>time </i><i>to </i><i>react</i>.


    Ste added, “It turns out what happenedst night… it wasn’t Morris.”


    <i>Oh </i>no. <i>If </i><i>it </i><i>wasn’t </i><i>Morris</i>, <i>then </i>who <i>the </i><i>hell </i>was it? Did <i>E </i><i>just </i><i>find </i><i>some </i><i>random </i><i>guy </i><i>to </i><i>do </i><i>this</i>? <i>That </i><i>would </i><i>make </i><i>things </i><i>even </i>worse. With Marie’s <i>temper</i><i>, </i><i>she’d </i><i>destroy </i><i>E </i><i>without </i><i>a </i><i>second </i><i>thought</i>.


    Abraham narrowed his eyes. “It wasn’t Morris?”


    He instinctively nced over at Derrick.


    But Derrick’s face… was hard to read. Confused, off, and a little too quiet.


    “Yeah,” Ste said. “Morris was with his men all night. He never went to see Marie.”


    Abraham frowned. “So she’s going after E now?”


    “She must be,” Ste said quickly. “E’s probably pissed over how Morris has been acting around Marietely. So yeah… it makes sense she’d try to set Marie up.


    Abraham and Derrick stayed silent.


    Ste kept talking, but Derrick’s expression only got moreplicated by the second.


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