Stella was no longer as naive as she used to be; she easily caught the hidden caveat in his words.
She pressed, "What do you mean by 'getting in your way'? Does that mean I'm never allowed to see them again?"
Joshua remained silent.
Stella knew she had hit the nail on the head.
A heavy, suffocating weight settled in her chest, but it wasn't fear of Joshua's "true colors."
Instead, it was a terrifying wave of panic at the thought of losing him.
She had a sinking feeling.
Joshua's condition truly couldn't be ignored any longer.
But agreeing to the hypnosis meant the end of their relationship.
And she didn't want to break up with him.
Stella didn't know if human beings were just fundamentally selfish.
Or perhaps it was the simple truth that you didn't feel the sting of the whip until it struck your own skin.
Even knowing that her friends had been ruthlessly manipulated by Joshua, she still couldn't bring herself to leave him.
She desperately wanted to find some shred of evidence that he wasn't sick.
She prayed Joshua would promise never to target her friends again.
As if a simple promise would magically mean he was completely fine.
But Stella knew she was only lying to herself.
She needed to face reality.
Just like she once had to accept the harsh truth that she wasn't as important as Rachel.
But this time, she couldn't find the strength to make a decision.
She kept hoping and praying for a miracle.
Just like how she had crawled out of her own living hell and miraculously gained everything she had never dared to dream of.
However, she had forgotten that miracles were a rare commodity in this world.
Every miracle she had ever experienced had been given to her by Joshua.
He was her miracle.
But she was powerless to create one for him in return.

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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...