The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance

Candida said, "I was prepared for any kind of chaos tonight-honestly, I can't believe nothing happened."

No one could blame her for thinking that way. When you're in the spotlight, trouble has a habit of finding you.

Given all the vultures circling around Stella, it would've been more surprising if the evening had gone off without a hitch. Everyone had braced themselves, expecting some sort of incident.

The real shock was that absolutely nothing went wrong.

Abby spoke up, "Just because the concert's over doesn't mean we can let our guard down. The enemy might be waiting for us to relax before making their move."

Antoney, Candida, and the others nodded in agreement.

Stella glanced at her watch. "It's getting late. The afterparty's about to start. We should go-Neville and the others are probably waiting."

Abby nodded. "Right, let's get moving."

and Aurora were leaving the concert hall, chatting as

"Your half-sister really has something special. After tonight, her reputation's only going to soar. Even among the most privileged crowd,

"She's trending online again. People are starting to connect the dots—realizing Stella is Raven. Now, contestants from all over are watching her

For her, this was expected—her entire reason for competing was to be defeated by Stella. She'd always had perspective

She

thing. The Williams family has gained another star

subject drop

venue, Aurora turned to Simone. "Want to

"I think I'll have plans with Joshua tomorrow."

were about to part ways when Aurora suddenly caught a glimpse of someone lurking nearby-moving quickly

ran down her spine and, acting on instinct, she shoved Simone aside. "Watch

she did, something splashed toward them,

face drained of

...

was marked by the harsh, red glow