The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance novel Chapter 1960

His tone made it abundantly clear—Stella was the sole exception to his complete lack of humanity; to everyone else, he remained the exact same remorseless monster.

Old Mr. Wyatt's lips twitched in mild disgust. "Did Mr. Burton give you a timeline on when those toxins will finally be flushed out of your system?"

"He said it'll take another month," Leonard replied, checking his watch.

Old Mr. Wyatt nodded and waved him off like a stray dog.

...

When Stella returned to the penthouse, she found the massive suite entirely empty. Joshua was nowhere to be found.

Retreating to the music room, she unlatched the velvet-lined case and lifted Nameless, the custom violin, from its cradle.

She adjusted her grip, testing the tension of the bow, and began to play a slow, sweeping sonata.

To an untrained ear, her performance was still breathtakingly professional.

But to Stella, the agonizing gap between her current sound and her former peak was glaringly obvious.

When she had first returned to the music scene after years of absence, she had relied on grueling daily practices to revive her dormant talent.

Now, with her hand still recovering from severe trauma, hitting those virtuosic heights overnight was physically impossible.

Yet, the panic clawing at her throat made her desperate. She didn't have months to rebuild her stamina.

As she forced her way through a complicated measure, she frantically brainstormed her therapy approach. Maybe she should switch to the Nocturne Stella.

It was the exact violin she had played in the island's moonlit garden—the very instrument Joshua had painstakingly restored with his own hands.

Dropping her bow as the final note faded, she turned to head to the display case, only to freeze.

A tall, imposing figure was leaning casually against the doorframe.

"Joshua? When did you get back?" she asked, startled.

"Just a few minutes ago," he replied, his dark eyes dropping to the polished wood of Nameless. "You were distracted just now."

Stella let out a soft sigh, carefully setting the violin down on a velvet stand.

But this time, instead of pulling away, she reached up, looping her arms around his neck. Rising onto her tiptoes, she pressed her lips firmly against his.

In all their time together, Stella had never been the one to initiate a kiss.

It wasn't that she lacked the desire; Joshua was just such an overpowering, possessive force that he never gave her the opportunity to make the first move.

Her sudden, bold aggression clearly caught him completely off guard.

When he finally pulled back to let her breathe, his chest was heaving, his dark eyes burning with raw, untamed lust.

He glanced down, realizing her nimble fingers were already undoing the buttons of his tailored dress shirt.

A wicked, raspy chuckle escaped his lips. "It's barely the afternoon, Star. Are you absolutely sure about this?"

Despite the teasing question, he didn't make a single move to stop her. Instead, he simply watched her, his gaze heavy with an intoxicating mix of devotion and searing desire.