With a face twisted in weeping misery, Stella gnashed her teeth, utterly unwilling to be led away by the butler.

Yet, just as they reached the front gates, Shane arrived, leading Nate by the hand.

"Butler! What do you think you are doing?!"

The moment Stella caught sight of Shane, she threw herself entirely into his arms, weeping bitterly as she wailed about Sienna's tyrannical behavior.

"Shane, I only came here to humbly apologize to Sienna, but who knew... she would strike me across the face, and now she's banning me from ever setting foot near the Fontaine estate again..."

Staring at her red, swollen cheek, a towering rage erupted within Shane. He took her tightly by the hand and marched straight into the courtyard.

The moment his eyes landed on the two massive guard dogs, his fury scaled to new heights.

"Get these beasts out of here this instant! Do you not know that Stella is deathly allergic to dog dander?!"

He bellowed his command, yet not a single servant in the courtyard dared to move.

Sienna walked over with measured, elegant steps, her gaze pinning him with a deadly chill as she spoke, "Shane Vance, who on earth gave you the right to bark orders inside my estate?"

Chapter 4

Shane was rendered momentarily speechless.

Beside him, Nate was so intimidated by the terrifying aura radiating from her that he instinctively shrank behind Shane, his small hand gripping his father's trouser leg tightly, not daring to instantly yell as he usually did.

However, Stella’s eyes darted around, and as if her foot had tripped over something, she let out an "Oh!" and stumbled directly toward the two magnificent, fierce guard dogs nearby.

"Grrr!"

One of the German Shepherds was instantly startled, letting out a low growl before snapping its jaws shut directly onto Stella's calf.

"Ah!"

Stella's scream this time was far more genuine, and her eyes instantly welled with tears.

"Shane! It hurts so much..."

Shane snapped back to reality, and seeing the blood seeping from Stella's calf, his heart ached beyond measure.

He immediately and carefully scooped Stella up in his arms, glaring furiously at Sienna.

"Sienna! Look at what you've done! Keeping these savage beasts just to hurt people!"

"If anything happens to Stella, I swear I will never let you off!"

Seeing this scene, the tiny bit of fear in Nate's heart was instantly replaced by boiling rage.

He rushed forward, using his small fists to strike violently against Sienna's legs, wailing at the top of his lungs.

"You bad woman! This is all your fault! You set the dogs on Mommy Stella! You are the worst! I hate you!"

Sienna's brows knitted tightly, and the residual trace of patience she held due to their biological bond was thoroughly exhausted.

Impatiently, she reached out and gave him a gentle push, intending to move him away from her.

Nate, being so young, lost his balance entirely and landed flat on his bottom on the ground.

Though the grass was soft and the fall wasn't heavy, when had he ever suffered such a grievance?

Instantly, his eyes went wide, and he erupted into an even louder, piercing sob.

"Sienna! How dare you lay a hand on Nate!"

Shane's eyes looked as if they were about to spit fire.

Stella whimpered weakly in his embrace.

"So noisy."

Sienna massaged her temples, directing a frigid command to the surrounding servants and the butler.

"What are you all staring for? Escort these people out of my sight immediately!"

"From now on, without my explicit permission, no one is allowed to let them step foot into the main mansion!"

"Yes, Miss Fontaine!"

The butler immediately stepped forward with several servants, adopting a harsh stance to "escort" Shane off the premises.

Shane clenched his fists in absolute humiliation, a towering rage rushing straight to his head.

But fearing the severity of Stella's injury more, he could only grind his teeth and hiss with raw hatred.

"Fine! Sienna, you just wait! We are leaving!"

Ultimately, under the forced eviction of the servants, the group left the villa in absolute ruin.

Shane carefully settled Stella into the car and sped frantically toward the nearest private hospital.

Stella leaned against the passenger seat, her tear stains still wet as she choked out in a ragged voice.

"Shane, I'm so sorry... This is all my fault, I've brought trouble upon you again... If it weren't for me, you wouldn't have clashed with Sienna like this..."

Shane's heartache deepened, his tone softening.

"Don't speak such nonsense, she is the one in the wrong, not you. Rest assured, I won't let anything happen to you."

However, when it came time to settle the medical bills, Shane discovered that none of his frequently used credit cards could be processed.

His face fell instantly, and he tried using mobile payment, only for the screen to display a transaction failure.

"Sir, there seems to be a persistent issue with all of your accounts."

The receptionist reminded him with a hint of hesitation.

Shane's expression turned exceedingly ugly.

He had never anticipated that Sienna would not only reclaim the house and freeze his primary card, but would also ruthlessly target all these linked accounts!

As the surrounding people cast strange, mocking glances his way, Shane had never felt so utterly disgraced.

He took a deep breath, stepped aside, and dialed Sienna's number.

"Beep... Beep... We're sorry, the number you are dialing is currently busy..."

Shane finally realized that he had most likely been blacklisted!

Forcing down his rising temper, he looked toward an honest-looking, middle-aged man standing nearby and managed to squeeze out a polite smile.

"Sir, I am terribly sorry, my phone has completely died. Could I possibly borrow yours to make an urgent call?"

The man hesitated for a brief second before handing the phone over to him.

The call went through almost instantly, and Sienna's clear, detached voice echoed from the receiver, "Hello?"

"It's me!"

Shane ground his teeth, barking an authoritative order.

"Sienna, get yourself down to the First Private Hospital this instant to pay the bill! Stella was bitten by your dog, and she needs her medical expenses covered!"

The other end of the line fell silent for two agonizing seconds, followed by a remarkably faint, mocking chuckle.

Shane suppressed his burning fury, adopting a patronizing tone as he declared.

"Sienna, I know everything you've done is just a desperate stunt to get my attention.

Fine, I will give in. As long as you come over right now to settle the medical bills and offer a proper apology to Stella, I will have Stella move out of our home."

"From now on... I will split my time. I'll spend the first half of the month at home with you, and the second half with Stella. Is that satisfactory? Stop pushing your luck!"

Sienna felt as though she had just heard the most hilarious joke in the world.

"Shane Vance, who on earth gave you the delusion that I would ever crave a piece of recycled trash like you?"

"In the past, I loved you, so you had everything a man could want through me. I was willing to lay the entire world at your feet. But now..."

She paused, her tone dripping with absolute disdain, "I simply don't care anymore."

"You, and that precious Stella of yours, are no different from stray dogs begging for scraps on the street in my eyes."

"Why on earth should I pay the medical bills for a stray dog that bit me? And offer an apology? Have you lost your mind, or are you simply still dreaming?"

Chapter 5

"Sienna! You!"

Shane trembled so violently with rage that his entire body shook.

"Must you persist with this pathetic game of playing hard to get? Resorting to such extreme measures, isn't it all just to make me turn back to you?"

"I am willing to compromise now, so what on earth are you still acting so arrogant for?!"

"Playing hard to get?"

Sienna's brows drew together in profound irritation, her voice dripping with disgust.

"Shane Vance, your sense of self-importance is truly staggering."

"Let me make this abundantly clear one last time: you, and everything associated with you, turn my stomach. Do not call this number again."

"You—"

Before Shane could utter another syllable, the call was abruptly severed, leaving nothing but a flat, mocking dial tone.

He gripped the phone with a white-knuckled intensity.

What an absolute joke! How could Sienna ever truly live without him?!

She was merely bluffing!

Using the borrowed phone, he punched in the familiar sequence once more, and this time, the call connected rapidly.

Without giving Sienna a chance to speak, he launched into a furious interrogation, "Sienna! You—"

"Where exactly are you?"

Sienna cut him off entirely.

Shane froze for a fraction of a second, an arrogant sneer creeping into his heart.

Ha! She couldn't keep up the charade after all, could she?

He knew it; she was bound to be sick with worry over him!