Pain twisted her face into a grimace. Stella’s entire body convulsed, sweat beading on her forehead and dripping down like rain, splattering onto the cold floor.
For a moment, her consciousness flickered. She felt as if she were teetering on the edge of life, certain she was about to die.
Sellers saw things spiraling out of control and quickly intervened.
“Leonard, that’s enough. Don’t push this any further—you’ll kill her.”
Leonard’s lips curled into a cruel smile. He finally lifted his foot, giving Stella a brief respite.
“Stella, I’m not finished with you yet. Don’t give up so quickly. If you die now, I’ll just have to let your dear friends suffer in your place.”
Sellers’ expression darkened. “Leonard, that’s enough. She’s still a woman… If you really want to ruin her hands, just have someone do it—why torment her like this?”
Leonard lazily drew a knife from his coat. “If she doesn’t learn to fear, if she doesn’t remember this pain, she’ll never understand who she should never cross. If we don’t break her spirit now, she’ll only come at us harder next time.”
Sellers thought Leonard was out of his mind. Regret gnawed at him—he never should have gotten mixed up with this man.
“But—” Sellers started, but Leonard, seeing that Stella had caught her breath, raised his foot again and pressed it down on her hand.
His polished black shoe ground against her knuckles, slow and deliberate. Just watching was enough to make Sellers wince. But Leonard wouldn’t even let Stella scream.
Her pupils lost their focus and went glassy. For a moment, Stella wondered if people truly glimpsed their whole lives on the brink of death.
She saw her mother. She saw Antoney Watson, the boy who’d learned piano with her. Abby, her childhood classmate. Lauretta Chapman, with whom she’d once performed in the school orchestra…
She saw Haynes. She saw the brief, precious moment when Keen O’Brien was born…
Her mind drifted further. She remembered Aurora’s birthday, the way the Williams family looked at Aurora with such affection.
Aurora, dazzling as a princess. And Stella—always the outsider, the Cinderella who never quite belonged.
Suddenly, she felt exhausted—so tired, she could barely hold on.
In that haze between waking and oblivion, she heard Abby’s voice, thick with tears.
“Star! Star! Don’t sleep! Please, don’t fall asleep!”
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance
Why would the author of this book do that to Stella? Such cruelty!...
So many chapters are incomplete. Missing pages. Hard to get continuity...
Please move on from Stella's troubles, we need more exiting news. Like Joshua discovering that Stella is the one he has been looking for,the owner of the earring....
Seriously, how long will this get stretched ?? Looks like the whole world is set to trouble Stella... It's not moving anywhere.....
Hey...please update regularly...
Is Jasper gay? He certainly behaves that way....
dont read this... a billionaire in business is a dunce at the truth...duhhh...
Why are there no updates ?? It's getting updated on Kikanovel regularly.. please update on regular basis...thank you !!...