The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance

Chapter 352

Stella took a slow breath, her voice barely more than a whisper as she recounted

the past.

"My father was furious about what Fisherwoman did-how she tore our family apart. Any gratitude he once felt for her slowly faded away.

But at the height of the chaos between my parents, when the fighting over Fisherwoman was at its worst, she showed up at our house. My mother threw her out without a second thought.

She tried calling my father, but my mother wouldn't let him take the call. And then, out of nowhere, Fisherwoman had an accident. She died."

Stella's eyes drifted toward the window, her tone growing distant. "Her sudden death stirred something in my father. Maybe it brought back memories of what they'd shared, or maybe he just needed someone to blame. Either way, he put all the blame on my mother.

He insisted on adopting Fisherwoman's daughter-making my mother her legal guardian, demanding that she raise the girl as her own."

"Of course, my mother refused. She even thought about running away. When my father found out, he locked her up."

moment. When the chance came, she

was only after she arrived in Novaris that

my mother was diagnosed with a terminal illness. She knew

whisper, she said, "I still remember the tears in her eyes as she told me, 'Star, I'm so sorry. The grudges of the previous generation should never have been passed down to the

private room, gentle and detached as if she

back to the Williams family for a while. But I never got

graduated college, I cut ties and never went

eyes widened in realization. "So when you were in college, you

nodded. "That's right. The Williams family created a false identity for me- said I was an adopted daughter and erased all traces of my past. That's why you couldn't find any information

mother's story and mine... they

"So, Stella is Stella.

her, surprised. "Your name

was soft, almost bitter. "Raven... the shadow