Chapter 412

“You seem eager to have her dead.” Stefan shot Renee a dirty glare, carrying Briar bridal-style and laying her down at a resting area nearby.

Renee had almost died because of Briar’s sudden outburst, and a panicked Stefan had no choice but to hit Briar on the back of the neck to knock her out for a while. Renee might not have survived otherwise.

Briar would probably be better after resting, so Stefan didn’t try to wake her up. Instead, he turned to Renee, who was still in the children’s section, and pointed at the clothes on the ground. His eyes narrowed as he asked, “Why are you buying so many children’s clothes?”

Renee and the employee were busy putting the outfits on the ground back into her bags. She scoffed dismissively, “Why do you care? Am I not allowed to buy cute things?”

Stefan squatted down and picked up one of the striped socks near him, observing it curiously. The sock was pink, soft, and no bigger than his hand. He couldn’t deny it was cute, and it softened his heart for some reason.

“So you bought these socks… because they’re cute?” Stefan asked dubiously as he handed them to Renee.

However, the woman didn’t want to play buddy-buddy with him, and shot him a disgusted look. “I did think it was cute, yeah, but now you’ve dirtied it with your hands. I don’t want it anymore.”

“You!” Stefan was furious. ‘What the hell? Didn’t she say she hoped we could still be friends?! She was acting so nonchalant before, but now she’s acting like I’m some kind of curse! What’s her problem?!’

“I just knocked Briar out just to save you, and this is how you thank me?!” Stefan wanted an explanation for her behavior, so he blocked her way to question her. He scowled as he asked her, “What have I done to piss you off this time?”

Renee felt her blood boil, and her eyes blazed in rage. “Do you really not know? Or are you just pretending to be oblivious, Hunt? I couldn’t tell before, but you and Desrosiers really are a family, aren’t you? Now that she’s joined your family, she’s just so eager to choke people too. You weren’t able to break my neck four years ago, so your girlfriend is doing it for you now. Why are you pretending to be a good person?”

Honestly, four years was enough for her to let go of her miserable past, and move on from the man in front of her. However, when Briar was choking her, painful flashbacks of Stefan doing the same played in her head. His grip had been much stronger than Briar’s, and Renee still remembered the feeling of that near-death experience like it happened yesterday. Those upsetting memories had never left, and remembering them had just made her pain resurface.

There was no way she could be entirely numb towards the situation.

Seeing how agitated the woman was, Stefan felt a little satisfied. ‘She’s finally not acting like an emotionless statue. Her mood was affected…

because of me.’

Although she was upset with him, it proved to him that he still mattered to her in some way. It made his dead, cold heart explode with passion once again.

“That’s right, I’m not a good person! So hate me, yell at me, you can even hit me…” Stefan grabbed Renee’s hand all of a sudden, placing it on his chest. “If you’re so angry with me, if you hate me that much, then don’t hold back! There’s no need to pretend you’re doing fine on your own.”

He just wanted to tell her that she could hate him and take her anger out on him as she liked, but he couldn’t bear it when she ignored him. He would rather them fight with each other than become complete strangers