This was Stella Sterling’s first time on a private jet, and her curiosity was fully sparked the moment the door to her suite closed.
She clasped her hands primly behind her back and took small steps around the suite before sitting down on the sofa.
Her tote bag was tossed aside. Its opening was propped wide by a diary that couldn’t stay upright, its pages bending and falling to either side. When it finally came to rest, the page that lay open was, once again, her life list.
The diary lay open on the coffee table, and Stella Sterling’s gaze fell on the last item on her life list.
—A grand escape.
This was originally meant to be the final step on her list—the end to her controlled life.
Her half-successful escape attempt at twenty had left her, for a long time afterward, with no idea what a true "grand escape" should be. No one could offer her any clue.
But now, having evaded Joel Joyce’s relentless attempts to intercept her, she was sitting on this private jet, about to leave Lumina and waiting for takeoff.
It felt as if, in the pitch-black darkness, she had finally caught a sliver of light filtering through a crack.
The tote bag was large, but there wasn’t much inside.
Without the diary in the way, the blue velvet jewelry box lay by itself, strikingly conspicuous.
Stella Sterling suddenly recalled the phone call she had received a month ago.
She couldn’t even remember the last time she’d received a call from her father, Gavin Sterling.
Years ago, when she’d been abroad with Kiana for her medical treatments, Stella had usually spoken to Gavin Sterling by jumping in on Kiana’s or Madeline Jennings’s calls for a few brief words.
On the rare occasions she returned home, the two of them would only exchange a few words, and only at the dinner table.
It was never much, just the most perfunctory of pleasantries.
Even so, Stella Sterling straightened her dress and went to sit by her favorite window before pressing the answer button.
"Father."
"Are you doing all right by yourself in Lumina?"
’Actually, I’m not.’
But their relationship wasn’t nearly close enough for her to be so candid.
Stella said in a flat tone, "I’m fine."
"Well, I’m calling because there are a few things I wanted to talk to you about..."
Putting on his fatherly airs, Gavin Sterling spoke at length—he probably said more to Stella in that one call than he had in the past ten years combined.
It all boiled down to three things:
First, Kiana and Ethan Rhodes would be getting engaged soon. The two families had already come to an agreement, and he hoped she would be considerate of the bigger picture.
Since the family had already indulged her by letting her run off to Lumina, he expected her to behave and not make a scene. It would be best not to tarnish the family’s image or harm its interests.
Second, her grandmother had left her the marriage agreement with the Rhodes Family. The family had turned the house upside down looking for it but couldn’t find it. He asked where she’d hidden it and demanded she return home immediately to retrieve it.
Third, since Ethan Rhodes had forgotten her, she shouldn’t stay hung up on a relationship with no future.
It was childish for an adult to be so sentimental. He told her that when she returned, she was to meet some eligible bachelors from their business partners’ families, settle her marriage prospects quickly, and stop coveting what wasn’t hers.
Gavin Sterling mentioned a few names on the phone.
Coincidentally, she didn’t know a single one of them.
After he was done, she wanted to laugh.
His intentions were so painfully obvious.
It seemed they truly thought she was a pushover.
Stella Sterling was silent for so long that Gavin Sterling almost thought they had a bad connection.
Stella finally spoke. "President Sterling, you’ve certainly mastered the art of the deal. Why not just knock me out and deliver me to one of their beds yourself?"
Perhaps because he was so shocked to hear such rebellious words from Stella for the first time, Gavin Sterling didn’t have a chance to respond before the line went dead.
It was only then that it dawned on Stella why it had been Gavin Sterling who’d told her about Kiana and Ethan Rhodes’s engagement.
Because he was the patriarch.
His word meant the matter was set in stone. There was no room for negotiation.
Gavin Sterling was merely "notifying" her.
They hadn’t just allowed Kiana to steal her fiancé; they were also planning to marry her off for an alliance.
—A grand escape.
Suddenly, those words seemed to glow with a sacred halo as they rose before her eyes.
And the blue velvet jewelry box seemed to glow with a halo, too.
The pink diamond ring, the private jet, Owen Rhodes...
A faint thread of light seemed to connect them all. Stella suddenly realized something, and she straightened her back unconsciously.
She finally remembered why Owen Rhodes’s name had sounded familiar.
It seemed she had unintentionally provoked someone formidable.
...
Stella’s hand had been on the doorknob for a long while, and a thin layer of sweat had formed on her palm without her noticing.
Finally, she opened the door and stepped out.
She was so nervous walking toward Owen Rhodes that she nearly tripped over her own feet.
When a person is overly nervous, their brain tends to short-circuit.
Case in point: "Owen Rhodes, what kind of marriage are you looking for?"
She clearly saw his deep-set eyes widen slightly before darkening even more.
After a moment, he said, "A free marriage."
’Freedom?’
’That made sense. He had a past he wouldn’t speak of, and she had ulterior motives and planned to use him. From any angle, "freedom" was a reasonable request.’
Stella mulled it over, nodding silently to herself.
Owen Rhodes sensed a potential misunderstanding between them, but before he could correct her, Stella threw out her next question.
"Where does the plane land when we get back?"
"Jandor."
’Just as I thought.’
Stella’s hand on her knee curled into a loose fist, her fingers fidgeting against one another.
She didn’t dare to look at him, so she fixed her gaze on the window behind him, looking past his face.
Just as she was struggling to find the right words, Owen Rhodes suddenly asked, "Did you bring the ring?"
Perhaps from a lack of sleep, his voice was slightly hoarse, causing her already frantic heart to skip another beat.
"Huh?... Oh, yes. I brought it."
"Why don’t you go get it?"
Her gaze finally snapped back to him. "Are you taking it back?"
She felt a surge of panic.
’He’s not backing out, is he?’
Stella watched as the smile on Owen Rhodes’s face—a face she found devastatingly handsome—deepened. Ripples seemed to spread through his deep, dark eyes, which were framed by his bangs.
Owen Rhodes didn’t answer, simply saying, "Just go get it."
Stella obediently went to get it.
She returned cupping the jewelry box in both hands, her eyes downcast and her brow furrowed in a troubled expression.
She sat back down in her previous seat.
Owen Rhodes took the jewelry box, opened it, and then knelt on one knee before her.
He was so close that his kneeling knee touched the tip of her shoe.
"Leave the proposal to me."
"Miss Stella Sterling, will you marry me?"