Apocalypse Rebirth: Crazy from Day One

Chapter 435: Chapter 445: River Larkin’s Hatred

Before, she had said River Larkin was worth it. Now, Stella Sterling wanted to ask her again—after hearing all this, did she still think he was?

Selene Larkin’s face was glacial. She remained silent, giving no hint of what was going through her mind.

River Larkin, however, was growing uneasy.

He knew everything Stella Sterling had said was true. He had indeed used the excuse of traveling with her to get close, but his intentions had been anything but pure.

’No wonder she was so cold to me back then. She must have seen right through me from the start.’

Her words were logical and well-supported, far more convincing than the flimsy excuse he’d cobbled together on the spot.

He didn’t know if Selene Larkin would believe the masked woman, but judging by her expression, he figured she already suspected him.

He glared at Stella Sterling with pure hatred. ’Why did she have to show up now? I was so close to succeeding.’

Selene Larkin’s status was extraordinary. She held a high position in the base and was the sworn sister of Sanctyr Base’s supreme leader.

After entering Sanctyr Base, he had worked hard just to get noticed by her, to catch her eye.

After years of carefully managing their relationship, she had fallen deeply in love with him.

They were about to be married. Once they were, his future in Sanctyr Base would be a smooth and rapid ascent to power.

He could achieve greatness and climb the ranks step by step just by using his wits, without having to face the same dangers as everyone else.

And for years, he had done it perfectly!

But then, at this crucial moment, Stella Sterling had to appear.

He was filled with hate. ’Why did she have to ruin everything for me?’

He couldn’t understand it. They had no real feud between them. In fact, in the beginning, he had gone out of his way to be nice to her, trying to win her favor.

Even when faced with her constant cold shoulder, he never backed down. Instead, he always approached her with a smile.

He even gave her the supplies he had acquired through his own schemes.

In this apocalypse, those resources were incredibly precious, yet he had been willing to part with them for her.

’And even then, she was completely unmoved. She never treated me well. When I ran into trouble and tried to ask for her help, she shut me out, leaving me outside her window.’

He remembered the scene from that night perfectly—the faint smile on her face as she pushed him away.

Afterward, hiding in the building, he had looked for a chance to get revenge more than once. Unfortunately, the woman had earned a fearsome reputation by then, and everyone in the building was wary of her.

Even Bell and his gang wouldn’t dare provoke her because of her brutal combat record.

He never found an opportunity for revenge. Later, the gang that Bell and the others had put together was mysteriously dismantled, leaving him without any support.

Even when he watched Stella Sterling move her people into his apartment, he didn’t dare show his face. All he could do was hide from her.

To say he felt stifled during that time would be an understatement.

He feared Stella Sterling, and he hated her.

As he watched the woman’s reputation in the building grow, he had no choice but to leave the complex and struggle to survive on the outside.

It wasn’t until much later that his situation finally began to improve.

Then, he seized an opportunity to enter Sanctyr Base, latched onto Selene Larkin, and clawed his way to where he was today, one step at a time.

Everything had been going so smoothly.

But the moment he ran into Stella Sterling, everything changed.

He wracked his brain, thinking back long and hard. He couldn’t think of a single thing he had done to deserve this. ’Why is she treating me like this?!’

He hated her!

He wanted nothing more than to rush over and tear her face to shreds.

His emotional turmoil was so intense that Selene Larkin noticed his shift in demeanor almost immediately.

Her brow furrowed deeply. Where she had only been suspicious before, she now completely believed the masked woman’s words.

Otherwise, River Larkin wouldn’t be reacting like this.

She looked at River Larkin, a hint of disappointment in her eyes. "Is what she said true?"

River Larkin took several deep breaths before he could tear his gaze away from Stella.

He looked wounded as he spoke. "We’ve known each other for so long. You don’t believe me, but you’ll believe her?"

He didn’t answer her question. Instead, he turned it back on her, his expression deeply hurt, as if she were the one who had wronged him.

Watching from a short distance away, Stella Sterling took it all in. ’No wonder he was able to win her over so quickly,’ she thought.

’The man certainly has his methods. He knows how to manipulate people.’

’It’s no surprise that Felix Lawrence and the others were so thoroughly deceived by him.’

From what she could tell, Felix Lawrence was both capable and intelligent, yet River Larkin still managed to fool him completely. It was a testament to how skilled an actor he was.

Moreover, the man was adaptable. He could endure anything to achieve his goals. He was certainly a shrewd character.

’But as fate would have it, he just had to cross me in a past life.’

If not for what happened in their past life, Stella Sterling wouldn’t have cared what kind of person he was. She wouldn’t have given him a second thought.

But this man was one of the main culprits who had stolen her apartment in her past life.

The memory was seared into Stella Sterling’s mind. If he hadn’t appeared before her now, she wouldn’t have dwelled on the past. But with her enemy standing right in front of her, she couldn’t possibly remain indifferent.

In truth, Stella Sterling had made many enemies and had conflicts and disputes with countless people over time.

But she had forgotten most of them. Or they had already died in the ensuing struggles.

But River Larkin and his group were different. They were the ones who had dealt her a devastating blow right at the start of the apocalypse.

Her memory of them was crystal clear.

Seeing River Larkin’s reaction, Selene Larkin felt conflicted. She kept telling herself that she should trust her boyfriend, that she shouldn’t fall for the masked woman’s provocations.

’That woman is obviously doing this on purpose, trying to sow discord between us. I shouldn’t fall for it.’ But emotionally, she couldn’t control herself.

The woman’s words echoed relentlessly in her mind.

’Is River Larkin just using me?’

Even if this woman was someone River Larkin had genuinely liked in the past, Selene, while bothered, wouldn’t be so petty about it.

As long as she was the only one in his heart from now on, it would be fine.

But what she could not accept was the idea that he was only with her to use her.