The Returned Heiress Who Never Fit In novel Chapter 558

Chapter 558 No Credit, No Mercy

Too bad Tessa was too stunned to catch the implication.

“You… you want compensation?”

Wait, hold on…

Didn’t she ask Stella for help?

Stella probably went to Abraham, and Abraham must’ve passed it down to Victor.

So if Victor was demanding payment now, didn’t that mean he was… pocketing a side deal?

Tessa’s brain started spinning at top speed.

“Does Abraham know you’re doing this?” she mumbled.

This wasn’t exactly an honorable move. If Abraham found out, Victor might really be in trouble.

He actually dares to pull this?

Victor let out a dry laugh. “Is that a threat?”

“Ah? No, no, not at all!” Tessa shook her head quickly.

What a joke. Threaten him? Did she have a death wish?

If he decided to pin the spy charge on her out of spite, even Stella wouldn’t be able to save her.

“I’m not, I just… I just…” She trailed off, lowering her head miserably.

This is what helplessness looks like.

Victor glanced at her curled–up posture and smirked. “You just what?”

“I just… don’t have any money…”

The words “don’t have money” were practically a whisper.

But it was true–she really didn’t have any.

She’d left Rivermount with nothing. When she finally made it to Falvaria, she’d been chased down, lost her bag… everything had gone wrong.

This whole stretch of time had been nothing but bad luck.

When Victor heard her say “no money,” the smile on his lips stiffened for just a second.

Then he said, with pointed calm, “Looks like you owe me quite a bit already.”

Quite a bit?

Wait–what if I can’t ever pay it back?

Given how things were going, there was no guarantee her mother would even survive whatever was

Chapter 558 No Credit. No Mercy

happening with Ashen Pact.

If things kept spiraling, then when she returned to Rivermount.. she might very well becomes second. generation debtor.

She’d already ruined Victor’s reputation, and now she needed his help too.

No matter how you looked at it-

Victor didn’t seem to notice her racing thoughts. His tone deepened. “Not all debts have to be paid in cash

That unexpected line snapped her out of it.

Tessa’s head jerked up. “Huh? Then what do I pay with? I don’t have anything at all!”

Victor leaned his head against one hand, his eyes locked on hers.

She felt like his entire expression was soaked in amusement, but there was something else in it too- something she couldn’t read clearly.

Victor narrowed his eyes. “Think about what you do have that’s worth paying with. Once you’ve figured it out, that’s when you’ll see your mother. Deal?”

“What? Can’t I just see her first?”

How am I supposed to guess what he wants and also wait to see my

mom? That’s too much!

Right now, her whole mind was focused on her mother.

Victor looked her way and smiled faintly. “I don’t accept IOUS.”

Meanwhile, back with Stella-

She was just about to drift off when a call came through, half waking her. It was Ethan.

“Stella, I’m in Falvaria. Can we meet?”

Hearing his voice, Stella froze.

She’d thought that once she returned to Falvaria, she’d never cross paths with Ethan again.

Now this?

“What did you say?” Falvaria?

Ethan replied, “I landed about an hour ago. I want to see you.”

Those words–I want to see you–even through the phone, carried the kind of soft sentiment Ethan had never shown her in Rivermount.

But that kind of affection, when misplaced, didn’t feel romantic.

It just made her skin crawl.

09:26

Chapter 558 No Credit No Mercy

Just like now–Stella sat bolt upright, fully awake, every trace of drowsiness gone.

She even broke out in goosebumps.

With a cold little laugh, she said into the phone, “You here for my wedding?”

Silence.

Ethan, standing inside his Falvaria estate, had wanted to reach out to her ever since he arrived.

But now that he was here, he felt completely unsure of himself.

He’d seen all the coverage of her wedding in Falvaria–not posted by Abraham, but by Evelyn.

The woman who raised her, who was practically a mother in every way that counted.

That kind of announcement wouldn’t have flown back in Rivermount.

But Evelyn had declared that the daughter–in–law she’d worked so hard to raise had finally grown up.

Not daughter. Daughter–in–law.

The Luke family had always treated Stella as family, and Ethan… had never imagined she’d hold that kind of place in their world.

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