The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance novel Chapter 1956

"If the music therapy actually helps him, the risks don't matter," Stella replied evenly.

Mr. Burton leveled a heavy stare at her. "Even if it means you permanently destroy your hand for that boy? You truly don't care?"

"I don't," Stella answered without a second of hesitation. "If it cures Joshua, I'll gladly never touch a bow again."

Mr. Burton leaned forward, tapping his cane against the floor. "Listen to me, girl. Even if you shred every nerve in your hand, it's only going to manage his symptoms. You aren't going to cure him."

"Managing the symptoms is enough," she insisted.

The patriarch shook his head, letting out a long, heavy sigh. "You used to swear up and down you'd never sacrifice your passions for a man ever again. Look at you now. You're just as hopelessly romantic as you were back then."

"Joshua is different," Stella countered, her voice laced with unwavering conviction.

"I'd sacrifice my hand, my career, everything I have right now, and I wouldn't think twice.

It's not about being blinded by love. It's about the fact that he's worth it."

She openly admitted she had been foolishly naive during her marriage to Haynes O'Brien, completely losing herself.

But her devotion to Joshua was entirely different.

Every ounce of success she currently enjoyed was because of him.

Without Joshua, she wouldn't be where she was today.

He was willing to lay down his own life to shield her; she was more than willing to return the favor.

What they shared transcended standard romance; it was a bond forged in fire.

Seeing the raw determination burning in her eyes, Mr. Burton dropped his cynical act.

His expression hardened into something far more serious. "His idea is worth a shot, but don't hold your breath.

When his mind is relatively stable, the music might act as a decent sedative.

But he is in the middle of a full-blown relapse now. A few songs aren't going to pull him out of the abyss.

Think about it, Stella—the Gardners have enough money to buy God. They've tried every conceivable treatment known to modern science.

If your little violin solos possessed some miraculous healing property, don't you think the boy would have burned down the earth to drag you back years ago?"

You have the power to be his remedy, but you also have the power to be his poison. It all comes down to how his fractured mind reacts to you now.

If he stabilizes, you're the cure.

If he continues to unravel, you'll be the very thing that kills him."

The weight of Mr. Burton's words pressed down on Stella as she left the main house and made her way toward Old Mr. Wyatt's private quarters.

Laurel Quinn had mentioned that Joshua's mental state was actually at its absolute peak during the time they first met on the island.

Back then, she might have genuinely been his remedy.

But now...

He was rapidly deteriorating, carving up his own skin in the dead of night.

How was she supposed to pull him back from the ledge?

Completely lost in a maze of anxious thoughts, she wasn't paying attention to where she was going—until she slammed right into a solid chest.