The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance

Israel looked pale from the pain, but even now, he showed no sign of regret.

"What do you mean, siding with the enemy? Aurora's innocent! I don't believe for a second that Mom would say something like that. Stella must've put those words in your mouth, right?"

Joshua shot him a withering look. "Utter foolishness. You never stop to consider your own faults. I must be out of my mind to even waste my breath on idiots like you. What a waste of time."

With that, Joshua brushed past the group and headed for the stairs.

But Coleman suddenly stepped into his path. "You haven't finished what you were saying."

Joshua glanced at him, his voice flat. "Wasn't I clear enough? You and your mother never saw eye to eye. She realized your hearts were never in the same place so she cut her losses before it was too late."

Those last words—"cut her losses"-hit Coleman like a sledgehammer, striking him right in the chest.

By the time he snapped out of his daze, Joshua was already gone.

Joshua climbed the staircase, turned the corner, and made his way to Stella's door. But just as he rounded the bend, he saw a slender figure standing there in the dim light, silent and still-he had no idea how long she'd been waiting.

He stopped in his tracks. "Star?"

Stella answered quietly, "Did you bring the papers?"

"I did."

small nod

for the folder in his hand, and Joshua understood:

his first time in

in the space was a painting-Nocturne Stella-hung in the place of

documents scattered across the couch. She must have been poring over them before he

from him and flipped through the contents.

asked, "How did you know my mother used to visit

Joshua replied, "I guessed."

"You guessed?"

by how much your mother cared for you, she must have been a loving parent. If she treated you with such devotion, there's no way

expression complicated. "Even you, an

But they

eyes falling on the painting on

ways to visit my brothers every year," she

Nora passed away, she'd left Stella

three sons, and no request for Stella to mend things between

three sons. Sometimes, she'd even dress up in a teddy bear costume and

over the years,

Aurora like