\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 4\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 4\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dylan appeared in the doorway in his silk robe, leaning against the frame with a lazy voice: \u201cLooking for something?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My heart stopped, but I kept my expression neutral: \u201cStomach ache. Looking for those pills the doctor prescribed last time.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He stared at me for two seconds, then chuckled softly: \u201cMedical kit in the living room, second shelf. Turn off the lights while you\u2019re at\u00a0<\/p>\n
it-electricity bills are costs too.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
He turned back to the bedroom, his silhouette stretched thin by the night light, like a cold-blooded snake.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Saturday morning, Dylan had scheduled a video call with Swiss lawyers at ten sharp.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I left at nine, saying I needed to grab files from the office, but actually drove straight to the private archive facility in the west end-before marriage, I\u2019d stored my mom\u2019s old house deed and a few paintings my grandmother left behind there.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I thought he wouldn\u2019t bother with those small items, but the manager told me: \u201cMr. Morrison was just here last week to pull files, said you\u2019d\u00a0<\/p>\n
authorized him to handle the old house demolition.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
My heart sank as I pulled up the signature page-the flourishing characters spelling \u201cStella Parker\u201d were clearly forged by him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I gripped the copies, my knuckles white.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The manager looked at me sympathetically: \u201cMs. Parker, technically it\u2019s marital property. Your husband had all the proper documentation, we\u00a0<\/p>\n
couldn\u2019t really stop him.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I nodded slightly, \u201cOK.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
When I left the archive facility, my phone buzzed with a text from an unknown number-\u00a0<\/p>\n
In the photo, my mom sat on a bench at the old street corner, a cup of instant soup watered down beyond recognition in front of her, clutching a crumpled grocery store flyer in her hand.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Caption: [Poor Mrs. Parker. Pension cut, daughter won\u2019t help.]\u00a0<\/p>\n
My head buzzed as I called back-phone was off.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A second later, Dylan\u2019s text popped up:\u00a0<\/p>\n
[Stella, just got word from the demolition office. The old neighborhood project\u2019s moving up. Compensation\u2019s about $200K. Made the call for you-we\u2019ll take cash instead of the house, transfer it to my Swiss account to save paperwork later. Mom can stay in my condo temporarily, saves\u00a0<\/p>\n
on rent.]\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stared at the screen, fingertips ice-cold.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He was even taking away my mom\u2019s last refuge.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I looked up to see the financial news playing on the building\u2019s glant screen across the street-StarMed Medical\u2019s stock hit new highs, with VP Dylan Morrison being interviewed, flashing that practiced smile; \u201cSteady investment, shareholder returns.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The camera caught his wrist-that 1.18 carat diamond ring.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A cold smile crept across my lips.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He thought Stella Parker was just a line item under \u201chuman resources costs\u201d in his financial statements?\u00a0<\/p>\n
10:00\u00a0<\/p>\n
You Thought Cilantro Was Just a Flavor? It\u2019s Actually My FU, Cheater!\u00a0<\/p>\n
17.6%\u00a0<\/p>\n
Chapter 4\u00a0<\/p>\n
Time to show him that human resources can become a catastrophic storm.\u00a0<\/p>\n
I called Rex Hartwell: \u201cRex, need you to check two things-first, that Swiss art consulting company Dylan set up; second, the demolition\u00a0<\/p>\n
authorization he forged with my signature last week. Can we get handwriting analysis?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rex chuckled on the other end: \u201cGirl, you\u2019re playing for real now?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
I stared at that polished face on the giant screen, my voice barely audible: \u201cHe\u2019s tearing down my mom\u2019s house. I\u2019m tearing down his trust.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Game on. Dylan.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2661 (0)\u00a0<\/p>\n
**(0)\u00a0<\/p>\n
10:00\u00a0<\/p>\n
You Thought Cilantro Was Just a Flavor? It\u2019s Actually My FU, Cheater!\u00a0<\/p>\n
18.0%\u00a0<\/p>\n
You Thought Cilantro Was Just a Flavor? It\u2019s Actually My FU, Cheater! by Mark Twain 23 \u00a0 Chapter 4\u00a0 Chapter […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-cilantro-taste-novel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20273\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kezpres.xyz\/novelreading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}