Chapter 298
Jasper let out a low whistle. “No way-she’s that talented? Sounds like a real Renaissance woman!”
Foreman sighed, his expression tinged with regret. “She really is a genius when it comes to the arts. It’s just a shame…”
Jasper leaned in, curious. “A shame about what?”
“She got married young. Her husband treats her terribly-keeps other women on the side. And for the sake of her family and kids, she gave up everything she loved.”
Jasper shrugged. “Foreman, come on—there are plenty of fish in the sea. She’s married with children now. She’s not right for you anymore. Maybe it’s time to move on.”
But Foreman cut him off, unusually serious. “You’ve got it wrong. It’s not that she’s not good enough for me it’s that I’m not good enough for her.”
Jasper stared, momentarily speechless. “Wait… Foreman, don’t tell me you’re still hung up on her?”
Foreman’s voice softened. “Back then, I thought if she could just be happy, it didn’t matter if I was part of her life or not. But now, seeing how miserable she is with him-worse off than before she married-I can’t just stand by. If that man can’t give her happiness… maybe I can.”
Jasper gaped at him. “Foreman, I never pegged you for the hopeless romantic type! So what’s your plan, exactly? You’re not thinking about stealing her away, are you?”
“Why not?”
Jasper let out a low chuckle and gave him a thumbs up. “You know what? After all these years, you’re still holding a torch for her. I say go for it—chase what you want. I’ve got your back, man.”
As Jasper and Foreman continued their conversation, Haynes lost interest and tuned them out. Rachel, too, stopped listening the moment she heard the woman in question was married with kids. She certainly didn’t connect Foreman’s mystery woman with Stella-nor did Jasper or Haynes.
After all, to them, Stella had nothing going for her except a pretty face. Hardly the paragon of talent Foreman just described.
Jasper’s voice jolted Rachel from her thoughts.
“Now that Haynie and Stella are divorced, I don’t have to worry about hurting his feelings anymore.”
Haynes frowned. “What are you going to do?”
“That old bastard-he’s been on my nerves forever. He keeps making things hard for Rachel, and he’s the reason she’s been hospitalized so many times. You saw it yourself.”
Jasper knew that, even though Stella and Haynes were divorced, she was still Keen’s mother. If he went after her directly and Keen found out, it might plant a seed of resentment.
So he continued, “I’m planning to have some guys trash his shop. Don’t worry, we’ll just wreck the place-no one gets hurt. As for Stella…”
“That apartment she owned before she got married? It’s under the Wilkinson Group’s real estate holdings. We just need to find a reason to evict her-and make sure she can’t move back in for at least a year or two.”
“If she’s got nowhere to live and can’t find a job, she’ll have no choice but to come crawling back to you.”
Rachel suddenly cut in, “But Stella still has a lot of money. Even if you freeze her out of that apartment, she could just buy another one. Jasper, your plan might not work.”
Jasper grinned, clearly pleased with himself. He’d already thought this through.
“We’ll slap some charges on her and get her assets frozen. That way, not only will she lose access to the money Haynie gave her, but all her funds will be locked down.”
Rachel eyed him warily. “You can’t just fabricate charges out of thin air. If you mess this up, it could backfire on all of us.”
Jasper only smiled wider. “A while back, Stella bought up a ton of stuff using Mrs. O’Brien’s name. Now that they’re divorced, we can report her for accepting bribes —say she was trying to cash out before the split. Better yet, we could claim she was in cahoots with the competition, stealing Haynie’s business secrets the whole time.”
He finished, looking almost proud of the scheme.