Abby had a sinking feeling that even though Stella and Joshua were completely separated, the ghost of him would haunt her forever. You could pack away every physical reminder of a man, but some imprints were simply too deep to erase. Stella was living in a world built on Joshua's lingering influence-could she ever truly move on?

Shaking off the thought, Abby leaned forward. "This intelligence changes everything for us right now. What's their endgame? Are they trying to sabotage our operations to undermine our standing in the company? Is this payback for Aurora?"

"I doubt it's that straightforward," Stella murmured.

Abby couldn't wrap her head around what the Burton family was plotting. "Star, should we just stonewall their demands so we don't walk into a trap?"

Stella shook her head, a calculated edge to her voice. "No. Give them what they want. Let's see exactly how much rope they need to hang themselves."

Despite her confusion, Abby trusted Stella implicitly and followed the order.

The very next day, Stella's phone rang. It was Haynes O'Brien. She had explicitly told him to report any sudden movements from Queenie.

"Star, Queenie just reached out again," Haynes said. "She claims she has some massive, earth-shattering secret about you, and she's begging me to meet her."

Stella arched a brow. "Did she give you a time?"

"Not yet. She said I could pick the schedule."

Stella rapidly pieced the puzzle together in her mind. A faint smirk touched her lips. "Agree to it."

If it weren't for Stella, Haynes wouldn't give a woman like Queenie the time of day. "Alright," he replied smoothly. "Consider it done."

Half an hour later, Haynes texted her the details. The meeting was set for three days from now at an exclusive, high-end club in Solmaris.

Right on cue, the partners who had mysteriously swapped their managers reached out to Abby again.

"They want to renegotiate the deposit ratios," Abby reported. "They're asking for an in-person meeting. What's your call, Star?"

Stella let out a soft laugh. "It's such a sloppy, amateur move. This doesn't reek of Jonathan or Aurora's usual finesse. It looks like Queenie is going all out just to get her claws into Haynes."

She tapped her pen thoughtfully against the desk. "How are things progressing on Jonathan's end?"

"He strung Miss Hayser along for a few days but finally met up with her yesterday," Abby grinned. "He's probably playing the hot-and-cold game right now, making her thoroughly obsessed and anxious.

"It's rare to see Jonathan put so much effort into romancing a woman," Stella noted.

"He's clearly dead set on locking her down."

Abby smirked. "If he actually manages to marry into all that old money, his little humiliating comeback tour will have been worth it."

Stella leaned back in her chair. "I have a pretty good idea of what Queenie is planning. Honestly, when a woman decides to get vicious, the men don't even stand a chance. Jonathan's trap needs a little more time to ripen Have Haynes stall

Queenie for now I'm going

to take

them both off the board in one

sweeping move."

FindNovel.net

Catching on immediately, Abby asked, "Queenie was psychotic enough to target

Keen. Isn't this letting her off too easy?"

"Haynes has been incredibly helpful

to me lately, and he's terrible at navigating toxic women. Consider this a favor to him," Stella replied coolly This kind of warfare gets difty fast, so let's keep the innocent bystanders out of it. Jonathan and Queenie are cut from the same rotten cloth. Let's toss them in a cage together and watch them tear each other apart. With any luck, they'll destroy their own alliance from the inside out."

Stella met Abby's eyes, her gaze sharp. "It's time to pull Miss Hayser's socialite

friends and her worst enemy-into the fray."