The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance novel Chapter 1776

Stella understood Leonard's plan in an instant.

He had hired strangers to kidnap her—people who didn't know each other and were scattered all over the world.

For Joshua and his team, finding them would be like finding a needle in a haystack.

Of course, no one would have ever imagined that Leonard would use strangers instead of his trusted subordinates.

Abby continued, "Once Joshua pieced that together from Aurora's and Simone's confessions, he had everyone change their investigation strategy. But it was still incredibly difficult. The world is huge, and there are so many people, so it was taking much longer. If it hadn't been for their confessions, we'd still be spinning our wheels, being led on a wild goose chase by Leonard."

At this, Abby looked a bit ashamed.

"Even if you gave me that lead, I doubt I could have found anything in less than a year, maybe even longer. Joshua hacked into a global surveillance network but found no trace of you or Leonard. That's when he knew you had to be somewhere with no signal. There are plenty of places like that, but Joshua figured Leonard would never take you to some harsh, remote wilderness.

"Being on land makes it too easy to leave a trail, and even in the most desolate areas, you might run into explorers and get discovered. Leonard is meticulous enough to have thought of that. The only place where you wouldn't easily be found by outsiders is a private island. But even on an island, Leonard probably wouldn't venture out often, which meant the island had to be rich in resources and self-sufficient. An island that large would need a dedicated staff to maintain it, which means hiring help. Those employees couldn't be allowed to leave, so their salaries would have to be exorbitant. All he had to do was investigate where a large number of high-paid staff, forbidden from contacting the outside world, had been hired recently. That made it much easier to pinpoint.

Abby replied with a hint of schadenfreude, "Aurora was nabbed by Joshua before she even had a chance to make a move. The Williams family is in complete chaos with two of their daughters missing. The shareholders who support you thought Skyler Williams was finally showing his true colors and had you kidnapped. They've been pressuring him to hand you over almost daily. The public is also buzzing with speculation about it."

Stella's brow twitched. "They don't know Leonard was the one who took me?"

Abby snickered. "They know, but who would believe it? Everyone knows Leonard is Aurora's lapdog; he even gave her three percent of his company's shares. It's more believable that he kidnapped Aurora. Besides, Leonard was staying with the Williams family for a while right before you and Aurora disappeared. Now, a lot of rumors are circulating that Aurora and Leonard eloped."