The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance novel Chapter 1980

Haynes stood completely speechless.

He couldn't argue with a single point she had made.

Finally, he rasped out, "Does Joshua honestly mean more to you than your own son?"

He had asked her that question half a dozen times before.

And she had always artfully dodged it.

This time, however, she gave him the brutal truth.

Every syllable was coated in steel.

"Yes. He means more to me than anyone walking this earth.

That's why I refuse to let him die, and I certainly won't let him lose his mind.

If there is even a fraction of a chance to save him, I'm taking it."

Haynes's pupils dilated in shock, his fists curling into tight white knots at his sides.

To stand there and listen to his ex-wife—the mother of his child—confess that she was willing to weaponize their boy just to save another man...

The sheer devastation tearing through him was impossible to articulate.

The bitter reality crashed over him like a tidal wave.

She loved Joshua Gardner with a reckless, apocalyptic devotion.

Out of nowhere, a masochistic question slipped past his lips.

"Did you ever... did you ever love me like that?"

Stella looked mildly surprised by the inquiry.

A dry laugh escaped her. "Are you really trying to compare a man who would burn down his entire empire for me, to a man who tossed me aside for another woman?

Haynes, before I met Joshua, I genuinely believed I was deeply in love with you.

But looking back? What we had was mediocre at best.

Being with you taught me that I always had to look out for myself first.

Joshua taught me what it means to surrender completely.

And even if the memories ever surface again... I'll just be an ugly mistake he won't care to revisit.

When you don't care, you can't be hurt. And if you aren't hurt, you don't lose control."

"You've mapped out his entire salvation," Haynes said quietly. "But what about you? What are you going to do?"

"I'll survive. I've had more than my fair share of happiness."

She looked up at him.

"Haynes, if you can't stomach this, walk away. I won't force you."

A bitter sigh escaped him. "Stella, you know I can never say no to you."

She hesitated before offering a grim warning. "Keen will be safe, but you... I can't guarantee Joshua won't come after you."

In fact, it was almost a certainty that Joshua would try to rip him apart.

Even with the divorce papers finalized, the simple existence of Keen meant Haynes would always be inextricably tied to her.