Stella stood like a soulless doll, incapable of any reaction.
Joshua smiled, the same carefree, unconcerned expression he always wore. "Well, the game Rachel started should finally come to an end now."
He gave her one last, deep look, his lips parting slightly. "Star, don't trouble yourself over this. You know I would never want to see you in a difficult position."
With that, he turned to leave. Haynes watched the scene unfold in silence.
It was Foreman who broke the stillness.
"He can't leave!" he said coldly. "We can't just let him walk away! After everything he did, playing Star like a fiddle, he has to pay a price!"
Foreman moved to block Joshua's path.
Suddenly, Haynes spoke. "Let him go."
Foreman froze, staring at Haynes in disbelief. "Haynie, what did you just say?"
"Let him go," Haynes repeated.
"But…" Foreman protested, his face a mask of frustration.
"Foreman!" Haynes cut him off, his voice sharp and cold.
Foreman clenched his jaw. Without Haynes's help, he knew he couldn't stop Joshua alone. He took a deep breath and finally stepped aside.
Joshua said nothing, not even sparing Foreman a glance as his figure quickly disappeared from sight.
The moment he was gone, Foreman started to add more fuel to the fire, but Stella's body suddenly went limp, and she fainted.
Foreman instinctively reached for her, but Haynes was faster, scooping her up into his arms.
Stella took the key. "Where is he?"
Abby's lips trembled. "Joshua said… he's leaving. He promised you he wouldn't disappear without a word, so he asked me to say goodbye for him. He didn't want to do it himself."
The light in Stella's eyes dimmed. She murmured to herself, "Gone? Yes, he always said he would leave eventually… After all, every game has to end."
Though Abby hadn't been by Stella's side recently, she had often heard her talk about Joshua. She instinctively tried to defend him. "Star, I don't think what Joshua felt for you was just a game. He may have hurt you, but he… he…"
Abby's voice trailed off, unsure what to say next.
The pain he had caused, even if it was in the past, had left scars on Stella's heart that wouldn't fade.
She wasn't Stella. She couldn't forgive on her behalf, and she couldn't ask her to, either.

Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance
anxiously waiting for updates...
Hello! This series has been requested a lot on Reddit, but we’re unable to post the link there ourselves. If you have a Reddit account, we would truly appreciate it if you could help us share the link to this novel to increase its readership. As a thank-you, we will increase the number of free chapters available each day. Thank you so much for your support!...
The same rotation blaming Stella trying to get her destroyed. Isn't the writer tired of writing the same foolishness overand over again? This is exhausting....
Can’t wait to see what joshua will do...
Why would the author of this book do that to Stella? Such cruelty!...
So many chapters are incomplete. Missing pages. Hard to get continuity...
Please move on from Stella's troubles, we need more exiting news. Like Joshua discovering that Stella is the one he has been looking for,the owner of the earring....
Seriously, how long will this get stretched ?? Looks like the whole world is set to trouble Stella... It's not moving anywhere.....
Hey...please update regularly...
Is Jasper gay? He certainly behaves that way....