The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance

Genius violinist? Please. That's just hype.

The blonde girl kept going. "She only got famous because she cozied up to men. Now she actually thinks she can be compared to Aurora? What a joke!"

"Yeah, as if a little secret lovechild like you deserves to compete here," sneered the brunette. "Why don't you just quit before you embarrass yourself and the rest of us, too?"

"Shameless! Spreading rumors just to worm your way back into the Williams family. You must be desperate to marry into money," the redhead added with a smirk.

Abby looked like she wanted to say something, but Stella stopped her with a gentle hand.

Stella didn't know exactly what was going on, but listening to these three girls saved her the trouble of figuring it out herself.

Her eyes flickered with thought as she spoke, "And who told you all this, exactly?"

The brunette rolled her eyes. "Does it matter? Everybody's talking about it. You're just the Williams family's bastard daughter, trying to claw your way back in, but they don't want anything to do with you."

"So you went and started some rumor, hoping to force their hand and make them accept you," the redhead finished, sneering.

way off, Foreman listened with a mixture of anger at the rumors and admiration for Stella. Despite the insults thrown her way, she didn't lose her cool. Instead, she used the girls'

family to acknowledge me..." Stella echoed softly, mulling over

wonder people had been looking at her

the gossip about being the family's illegitimate child was why everyone

now, it seemed the rumors had gotten

"They say the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. If your mother was a homewrecker,

The stigma sticks to the kids as much as to the women involved, and it never fails to draw scorn and

kept Stella's identity a secret

Stella understood what was happening, she saw no reason to keep tangling with these

a look. "Let's

bit back her

not content to let them leave, started forward-only to be blocked by

"Are you looking to cause

and

Stella's retreating figure, fuming and stamping their

is some kind of saint Everything they said today is going