Chapter 273
Stella glanced at the calendar and marked the date in her planner.
There were still twenty-five days left in the mandatory divorce waiting period.
It felt endless each day dragging on longer than the last.
While she was lost in thought, her phone rang.
Stella checked the caller ID and answered.
On the other end, Haynes’s voice came through, sharp and irritated.
“Stella, didn’t you promise me Rachel would take a full course of her medication? She went to pick it up today-why didn’t you give it to her?”
Whether Rachel wanted to take the medicine was one thing.
But Stella refusing to hand it over was another.
She knew Rachel would run straight to Haynes to complain.
After all, that would give Rachel more “evidence” that Stella wished her ill.
Stella kept her voice cool. “I’ve already signed the settlement papers and provided the medicine. Yet, Mr. O’Brien, aside from filing for divorce, you haven’t given anything in return.”
Haynes caught her implication immediately; his tone grew colder.
“Are you trying to negotiate with me again?”
Stella’s voice took on a hint of amusement. “I keep my promises, but I don’t intend
to work for nothing while someone else reaps the reward. Why don’t you wire me
a million as a deposit? Then I’ll hand over the rest of the medication to Rachel.”
Haynes’s reply was icy. “Stella, ever heard the saying ‘biting off more than you can chew’? Greed will get you nowhere.”
She shot back without missing a beat, “Even when you put something on hold at a store, you leave a deposit. These are life-saving medicines, made from rare and expensive ingredients. If Mr. O’Brien suddenly backs out, I’m left holding the bag. You can buy Rachel a mansion without blinking, but when I ask for a million as a deposit, suddenly I’m the greedy one? Double standards much, Haynes?”
He went silent for a few seconds before responding, “Give Rachel the medicine now, and I’ll transfer the money.”
Stella glanced at Rachel, who sat nearby, sulking as she ground up medication. “Money first, then Rachel gets her medicine. That’s the deal, Mr. O’Brien.”
Lately, Rachel’s antics had already set things back by days. Instead of speeding things up, she dragged her feet-barely managing to sort through a single bag of herbs in a whole day. Mr. Burton had no choice but to assign her to grinding them instead.
But she was even worse at that ruining batch after batch and wasting precious ingredients. Mr. Burton had seen a lot in his lifetime; he’d seen right through Rachel’s little tricks. She was clearly trying to do a poor job, hoping he’d get fed up and let her off the hook.
But he wasn’t about to play into her hands.
He set a strict daily quota: finish today’s work, or make it up tomorrow-and so on, until she finally finished. He had all the time in the world.
Grinding herbs was even more tiring than sorting them, and Rachel’s hands were covered in blisters.
She glanced over at Mr. Burton, busy consulting with a patient, and a flash of malice flickered in her eyes.
Silently, she picked up a small porcelain vial.
Inside was a toxin Mr. Burton had recently extracted from a venomous snake.
If anything went wrong with the medicine Mr. Burton prescribed, his reputation would be destroyed-he’d be ruined, disgraced, finished.
Today was Rachel’s last day here. She hated how Mr. Burton had made her life miserable, and she wanted to return the favor.