The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance novel Chapter 426

Haynes’s dark eyes were unreadable. “Are you sure about this?”

“What, did you think I was joking?”

“There were steak knives at the party. You could’ve tried one.”

Stella let out a laugh, but it was as cold as winter rain. “You want to provoke me into stabbing you in public, then have me thrown in jail?”

He met her gaze, resentment simmering in his eyes. “You’re overthinking it. I just wanted to give you a chance to get even.”

She gave a bitter, mocking smile. “And what—one stab would make up for everything you cost me? Since when is life that easy? Don’t you think that’s letting you off far too lightly?”

She hadn’t slapped Haynes in front of Mr. Walden, not because she didn’t want to, but because she refused to give anyone ammunition against her. In that kind of crowd, it wouldn’t matter who was right or wrong; if she struck first, she’d be the one to blame in the end.

Throwing away her reputation over someone like him—utterly pointless.

Haynes seemed to realize he was in the wrong. He stood in silence for a long time before finally saying, “I’ll make it up to you.”

“Make it up?” Stella laughed, as if she’d just heard the punchline to a bad joke. “With what? That so-called ‘compensation’—your charitable little two million?”

Right now, even looking at him made her skin crawl.

She took a few steps back, turned, and walked away.

Haynes stayed rooted to the spot, watching her retreat until she disappeared from view, not moving an inch.

***

A light knock sounded at the office door. Benson stepped inside.

Anyone who’s ever renovated a studio knows how exhausting and complicated it can be. And thanks to Jasper’s rampage, everything was right back to square one.

Blood-red paint scrawls still screamed from the walls. They hadn’t even started cleaning them up.

A shadow passed over Stella’s expression. “Abby, start looking for a new studio as soon as possible.”

Abby glanced at her. “Are you really just going to hand this place over to Rachel?”

Stella replied, “Now that Haynes is involved, I’m not worried he’ll come after me. I’m worried he’ll go after Antoney. Right now, he holds the lease to this place.”

Abby knew Haynes had turned down Mr. Walden for Stella’s sake—and that he’d somehow managed to get Rachel accepted as Mr. Walden’s student.

“Rachel, that conniving old snake—she’s the queen of backstabbing. She grabs everything she can get her hands on! And as for Mr. Walden, the older he gets, the worse his judgment becomes. Taking Rachel on as a student? He’s going to ruin his reputation for good!”