The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance novel Chapter 1073

Israel looked pale from the pain, but even now, he showed no sign of regret.

“What do you mean, siding with the enemy? Aurora’s innocent! I don’t believe for a second that Mom would say something like that. Stella must’ve put those words in your mouth, right?”

Joshua shot him a withering look. “Utter foolishness. You never stop to consider your own faults. I must be out of my mind to even waste my breath on idiots like you. What a waste of time.”

With that, Joshua brushed past the group and headed for the stairs.

But Coleman suddenly stepped into his path. “You haven’t finished what you were saying.”

Joshua glanced at him, his voice flat. “Wasn’t I clear enough? You and your mother never saw eye to eye. She realized your hearts were never in the same place—so she cut her losses before it was too late.”

Those last words—“cut her losses”—hit Coleman like a sledgehammer, striking him right in the chest.

By the time he snapped out of his daze, Joshua was already gone.

…

Joshua climbed the staircase, turned the corner, and made his way to Stella’s door. But just as he rounded the bend, he saw a slender figure standing there in the dim light, silent and still—he had no idea how long she’d been waiting.

He stopped in his tracks. “Star?”

Stella answered quietly, “Did you bring the papers?”

“I did.”

She gave a small nod and headed into her room.

She didn’t reach for the folder in his hand, and Joshua understood: she wanted to speak to him first.

This wasn’t his first time in Stella’s room.

“Mom really did find ways to visit my brothers every year,” she murmured.

Before Nora passed away, she’d left Stella a letter.

There was no reproach for Skyler, no resentment toward her three sons, and no request for Stella to mend things between them.

Nora simply wrote that she found opportunities each year to visit her three sons. Sometimes, she’d even dress up in a teddy bear costume and deliver birthday presents to them in person.

But over the years, she’d realized her sons cherished Aurora like a precious gem. Nora knew the child was blameless—but she wasn’t that forgiving, nor was she that kind. Everyone has their own path to walk, she wrote; she had no right to interfere, but she couldn’t bring herself to forgive, either. Even at the end, she couldn’t forgive Aurora and her mother. Their presence was a lifelong stain she could never wash away.

Stella continued, “Last month, Mom’s lawyer contacted me. He told me that when my brothers started working at The Williams Group, Mom secretly helped them out under the guise of business investments—even the time my oldest brother made his name by pulling off that big turnaround, she was the one who provided the funds.”

She paused, her tone gentle but firm. “So, even though she left me an inheritance to make sure I’d be taken care of, it’s not like she did nothing for them.”