The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance novel Chapter 1775

Stella turned to look. Joshua was leaning back in his seat, fast asleep.

Seeing him asleep, Abby lowered her voice. "Star, ever since you went missing, Joshua has only been resting for three or four hours a day."

Abby had said "resting", not sleeping. In truth, Joshua couldn't sleep at all.

She whispered, "Star, Joshua was going out of his mind with worry, and he blames himself. He thinks that if he hadn't left, you wouldn't have been taken by Leonard."

Stella shook her head. "Even if Joshua had been by my side, we couldn't have been together twenty-four-seven. Leonard managed to kidnap us through the kitchen vents before, so he could have found another way. Don't forget, he bought up the places we frequently visit. And that's just what we know about; there are probably many more we haven't found."

Abby sighed. "You're right, but Joshua still blames himself. He..."

Abby seemed to want to say more, but she glanced at Joshua sleeping beside Stella and hesitated.

Finally, she whispered, "I'll tell you more when we get back."

Stella asked, "What did Joshua discover?"

Abby explained, "Simone and Aurora are the two people who know Leonard best. They knew practically all of his trusted subordinates and private assets. But every time we sent people to investigate, we came up empty, without a single useful clue. Joshua guessed that for this operation—from the kidnapping to buying the island, even hiring the servants—Leonard might not have used his usual confidants or trusted people. Of course, we only found out about him buying the island after we located you."

Abby paused to take a sip of her drink before continuing. "We were initially focused on investigating the people around Leonard. After all, for something like a kidnapping, you'd want to use people you trust completely to avoid any leaks. But on the flip side, that makes his confidants and trusted allies the first place to look. Those people wouldn't talk, but what about the people under them? Once you have a lot of people involved, information can easily get out. But Leonard was incredibly bold. For every stage of his plan, he hired complete strangers who didn't know each other, and none of them were from Solmaris."