The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance

Stella let out a quiet breath of relief. "I'm fine," she said.

She glanced at Candida, then leaned closer to Joshua and whispered, "Get Candida over here. Whatever happens, don't let them take her."

A faint, careless smile played at the corners of Joshua's mouth. "Of course, Ms. Cameron."

He strolled unhurriedly toward Candida.

Karl's expression hardened. He turned to another bodyguard and ordered, "Keep her close. Don't let that man take her away."

Joshua raised an eyebrow. "Protect her? Mr. Burton, why don't you ask Miss Fletcher if that's the kind of protection she wants?"

Karl's voice was cold. "Let's allow Candida to choose for herself, then."

He fixed his gaze on Candida. "Candida, are you leaving with me, or... are you going with them?"

He didn't spell out the threat, but it lingered heavily beneath his words.

Uncertainty flickered in Candida's eyes. It wasn't that she couldn't bear to leave Karl-she just worried about dragging Stella into trouble.

Before she could speak, Stella's voice rang out, steady and clear.

"Candida, you don't need to worry about me. He can't do anything to me. Barging into my studio, trying to snatch someone and resort to violence-he's not getting away with it."

She paused, then looked directly at Candida. "Don't give in to him. If you surrender once, you'll spend the rest of your life surrendering. Candida, think about it. Is that really the life you want?"

Tears glimmered in Candida's eyes, threatening to fall. "But-"

Stella understood what she was thinking. Her tone softened.

"This is Neo-Vespera. He can't just do whatever he pleases here."

At that moment, Joshua spoke up. "Ms. Cameron, the only reason this guy's so brazen is because he thinks we're easy targets. If we don't give him a lesson today, he'll just keep pushing. Today he barges inhere and hurts people. Tomorrow, who knows what he'll try?"

Stella nodded, realizing he had a point. "So what kind of lesson do you think he deserves?"

Joshua pretended to ponder for a

moment. "Some people only

understand pain when they feel it themselves. I say we give him a taste of his own medicine. If your hand had really been ruined today, your whole future would be gone. No amount of money or apologies could ever make up for that, right?"

Stella agreed wholeheartedly. "You're absolutely right."

She glanced at Candida. "What about you, Candida? What do you think?"

Karl was even worse than Haynes-utterly beneath contempt. Still, he'd been Candida's boyfriend for years, so Stella wanted to make sure she was on board.

A spark of hatred ignited in

Candida's eyes. After what he'd done last time, she'd felt only

disgust. But this time-trying to destroy Stella's hand-her feelings had turned to pure loathing.

She spoke up, her gaze cold and fixed on Karl's hand. “I agree with Joshua." Her

lips curled into a cold smile. "Let him taste his own medicine."

Stella and Joshua's words hadn't fazed Karl, but Candida's cut straight to the

bone. His face darkened. "Candida, don't you dare—!”

Before he could finish, something sharp and silver streaked through the air toward him.noveldrama

He didn't even have time to react before a searing pain shot through his palm.

Looking down, he saw a throwing knife had pierced clean through his hand- blood trickling down, drop by crimson drop.

Joshua grinned. "What do you think, Ms. Cameron? All those hours throwing knives finally paid off, huh?"