Abby obediently took out her phone and called for an ambulance.
Worried that Joshua might lose control again, Stella told her, "Abby, I'll leave this to you."
Leonard had been shot and looked badly injured. He was clearly incapacitated. Abby nodded slightly.
"Okay, Star. You should go. I'll handle things here."
Stella took Joshua's hand and led him out of the restaurant.
Joshua didn't resist, letting Stella lead him away. He was quiet and docile, a completely different person from the out-of-control, bloodthirsty man he had been moments before.
Though he'd been shot, Leonard was still conscious.
He stared fixedly at Stella's back as she walked away, a faint glimmer of light in his eyes, as if yearning for something.
However, Stella never once looked back before she walked out of the restaurant.
Whatever hope had lingered in his gaze vanished, snuffed out by her cold indifference.
Abby noticed Leonard's expression.
Was she imagining things?
Why did Leonard look like a sad, abandoned puppy right now?
But Leonard was no cute, harmless puppy.
Even if he were a dog, he'd be more like a wolfhound.
And the kind that deserved no sympathy.
-
The restaurant was close to The Williams Group, so Stella had no choice but to take Joshua back to her office.
Joshua was unusually silent the entire way.
His expression was impassive, betraying no emotion.
Only the hand holding hers remained tightly clasped.
Once the office door was closed, Stella let go of his hand.
She was about to get him a glass of water when Joshua suddenly pulled her into an embrace.
"The reason he's so despised is because he kills innocent people without a second thought.
"While Leonard is hardly innocent, it's not worth tarnishing our own reputations over someone so vile."
Stella paused before continuing, "The best way to get revenge on Leonard is to make him lose everything.
"I recently uncovered one of his secret shipping routes.
"These routes are for businesses that belong solely to him.
"That's why he isn't worried, even after stepping down as head of the family."
Leonard was ruthless, but the fact that he'd climbed from being an illegitimate son with nothing to his name to the head of the family proved he was also incredibly smart.
He knew better than to put all his eggs in one basket.
He also knew that even as the head of the Lerman family, he still had to listen to the major shareholders when it came to business decisions at The Lerman Group.
If his position became unstable, he could be removed from his post.
Therefore, after becoming the family head, he used the vast resources of The Lerman Group to develop his own private industries.

Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance
Oh come on! This is ridiculous, why can’t you let Stella finally be happy with Joshua. I’m done with this story....
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...