Stella

Seventy-one

society's problem

"Everyone's so mysterious lately," Stella murmured. 

Alastair raised a brow. "How so?" 

"Well, Lexi is... suspicious. Gina is tense. Lucas is a little bit brooding, not that I blame him. I haven't seen much of Robert, and Casper is always coming and going." She sighed. "I don't know much of anything at the moment. It's frustrating and a little... lonely. I suppose I keep reading too much into everyone's comings and goings." 

Alastair wrapped an arm around her shoulders, and she leaned her head on him. "You know more than I do," he offered. "I think everything will work out. You and I just need to sit back and let them do all the work." A grin made its way to his face. "If I tried knowing what they all know, I'll probably get myself killed." 

"I could imagine that." 

Alastair rolled his eyes. He sighed and picked up his teacup. "I don't know what's going to happen, Stella. I'm sure it's frustrating, but they know what they're doing. If you and I get involved, it would make things messy, and we would most likely be in more danger and find ourselves more paranoid."  

"I know. I just feel restless. Every day it's worse. My gut is unsettled." She blew out a breath and sipped her tea. "On the bright side, at least I can just about cover my bruises with makeup. It doesn't hurt either." 

"Oh good." Alastair smiled. He knew how much they bothered her. She could barely look at her own reflection.

Stella nodded. "Oh, are you and Edward going to the Palmer's charity banquet?"

"We're planning on it." He nodded and perked up. "Oh, Victoria's working on something. Perhaps she'll do a dramatic unveiling then." 

Stella raised her brows. "Really?" 

"Yes, I don't know what it is, so don't ask. Daniel is pretty tight lipped too." He hummed and squinted. "He just grimaces and shakes his head." 

A chuckle came from Stella. "Well, this will be interesting. It must be something evil."

"She'll be having fun then." Alastair laughed. 

A presence came behind them and had Stella turning her head. Her lips were captured the moment she did. She smiled and looked up at Casper who was stroking her hair. 

"Did you just get home?" 

"I just spoke with your grandmother and father for a moment." 

"All is well, I hope." 

Casper smiled. She could see it was genuine and not lined with stress like a few days prior. It eased her mind. He must have made some headway.

"Everything is good." He pecked her forehead and stood up straight. "Alastair, good evening." 

"Hello, Casper." Alastair smiled. "We were just discussing some trouble Victoria seems to be brewing."

Cas raised a brow. "Oh?"

"It will be fun, I think." 

Casper sat down beside Stella and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. They chatted a while before Gina came in. Her face was lined with worry and brows drawn together. 

"Have you heard from Lexi? She's not home yet." 

"I haven't." Stella checked the time on Casper's watch. "It's not too late, she's likely finishing something up for college." 

Gina hummed and gnawed on her lip. "She should be home by now." 

Stella's brows pulled together as she watched Gina mutter to herself and walk away. 

"Is she okay?" Alastair asked.

Stella pursed her lips. "I don't think so." 

✦

Victoria smirked at the documents spread over the table. Lexi stared at it with a pale face and dry eyes. 

"How did you get all of this?"

"I know some very talented people." Victoria shrugged.

"What are you going to do with it?" 

"Release it to the masses before she can do any harm to Stella." 

"But what would stop her from releasing the news about Stella then?" 

"You're getting better at this," Victoria commented and Lexi flushed a little. "She'll be on damage control. No doubt on her knees before her grandparents the moment all of these hit." She placed her teacup down. "Besides, I'm not going to stop Stella's news."

"What?" Lexi's eyes widened. "Why?" 

"I will release it myself. It will expose everything wrong with Vera and just how low she's willing to stoop for a man and a position." She sighed. "A person's sex life is taboo in this society. People who are indiscriminate are disdained." Her face became sullen. "People who were met with such vile incidents are both pitied and ostracised. No one wants to marry their son to a woman who was violated, no matter how outstanding she is. There are a lot of outdated beliefs and suspicions.

Impure men and women could carry diseases, perhaps they had to rid themselves of a child, or they can't reproduce as a result of their experience, or they're left with trauma that some may perceive as high maintenance. Hence why the scandals are such a disaster and sex before marriage is discouraged." Victoria's lips pressed together. "Usually, I agree with a lot of our rules in this society, but the way we approach sex, mental health and other things are unbecoming and leaves a lot to be desired. Compassion is simply lacking." Her eyes became cold. "Vera understands all of this well. She even embellished the story of assault. According to her texts, instead of one man, it's multiple. Having people even guess about it will effect Stella's reputation, and the Van der Meer patriarch is a difficult man to read."  

Lexi paled. "So, you want to control how it gets out?" 

"Precisely. Unless I'm able to get my hands on the materials, I have no choice." 

"But you managed to get all of this," she gestured to the photographs, screenshots, and receipts. 

"Unfortunately, Vera is not entirely stupid. She would have backed it up. Hacking a twenty-three-year-old's phone is one thing, breaking into a well-guarded house is another and I would rather not get myself into such hot water." She chuckled. "My darling Daniel would have a heart attack and I don't wish to be a widow." 

"When are you going to do it?" 

"The moment I get confirmation of the Orlevs' attendance at the upcoming banquet."

Lexi's brows pulled together. "Why then?" 

"Because they won't be able to rescind their RSVP." Victoria chuckled. "If they don't go all of a sudden it looks bad, and people will gossip further about the future of the Orlev family." 

"Why do you want them to go though?"

"Why, to mock Vera, of course." 

Lexi's brows pulled up and she chuckled at Victoria. She checked her phone and saw the time. "I better get going. Mom's going to worry if I'm too late." She sighed.

Victoria's brow raised and she hummed. "Is she paranoid?" 

"Yeah." Lexi sighed. "She's freaked out. Richard hasn't been around much either, so he hasn't been able to do much with her." 

"You better run along then."

The two said goodbye and Victoria watched Lexi exit the room. Her gaze slid back to the documents on the table before lips hooked up and her eyes glittered.