The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance

Chapter 323

Haynes had never stooped to taking part in any of the schemes against Stella.

Of all the things that had happened, the only one he orchestrated was the freezing of Stella's one hundred million dollar assets. But even then, he'd only frozen the account-he never made a move to reclaim the money for himself.

After all these years as Haynes's friend, Jasper knew better than to think Haynes was simply being generous or indifferent about the fortune. That wasn't it at all.

No, Haynes was using the money as leverage, hoping to force Stella to come back.

To him, this divorce didn't feel like a real line drawn in the sand. Haynes had a thousand ways to drag things out, to keep Stella from ever truly leaving him-but he hadn't used any of them.

Because, in his mind, Stella needed to learn the hard way. Without him, she'd have nothing.

If he didn't let her struggle a bit, if he didn't let her see just how harsh reality could be, she'd always cling to her naïve optimism. It was better to let her realize now that without his protection, even surviving would be a challenge.

Soon enough, she'd come back on her own-and any hope of escaping him would vanish.

didn't get involved,

Jasper's eyes lit up as he spotted

here!" he

Haynes as he strode closer. She whispered, "Jasper, do you

be?" Jasper replied with a shrug. "He'll be thrilled. We're basically handing him the perfect opportunity-Stella will have to beg him for help. Though,

"Honestly, with Stella's stubbornness, I

she digs her heels in, the worse things will get between them. When that happens,

to push things to the brink. If he wanted, he could spread a few nasty rumors and ruin Stella's reputation in

crowd buzzed

is that Haynes? What's

mean...what that woman said was

few reporters had noticed Haynes's arrival, and their

Stella with questions-accusing her of posing as Mrs. O'Brien to con people, suggesting that's why she'd landed herself in trouble. Stella, however, had calmly

stand there, mute, letting the rumors spiral out of control. The divorce was already public knowledge; she had nothing to

left the crowd momentarily