The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance novel Chapter 449

The air in the room froze in an instant.

Rachel was the first to crack. She let out a piercing scream.

“Ah! He’s been stabbed!”

Jasper jolted back to reality, his nerves shot. Instinctively, he moved toward Haynes to check on him.

But Rachel clung to his arm in terror. “Jasper, I’m scared...”

Stella, standing there with the bloody knife, looked utterly terrifying—like a cold-blooded killer.

Seeing this, Jasper stopped dead in his tracks. For a second, he genuinely feared Stella might snap and turn on Rachel next.

Haynes had been caught off guard; that’s the only reason she’d gotten the better of him. If he’d been ready, Stella would never have stood a chance.

Haynes stared at the knife buried in his abdomen, his pupils contracting in shock. Disbelief and hurt flickered across his face. “...Why? Stella, do you really want me dead?”

Stella’s long lashes trembled like the wings of a moth. Her face was almost ghostly—pale and bloodless. The hand gripping the knife shook ever so slightly; after all, this was the first time she’d ever done something like this.

Yet her eyes were steady, not a trace of fear in them.

“Haynes, didn’t you once promise me a chance to get even? Well, I’m cashing in that promise now. The only question is—will you own up to your word?”

Haynes’s lips curled into a faint, bitter smile. His voice was hoarse. “Stella, if you hate me so much, why not go for my heart?”

She gave him a cold, emotionless smile. “If I did that, I’d be a murderer, wouldn’t I? Don’t worry—no matter how much I hate you, I won’t kill you. Murder comes with a price.”

Maybe it was the commotion, but suddenly the office door flew open.

Foreman rushed in, taking in the scene with a look of horror.

“Star, are you alright?!”

Jasper seized the moment. “Foreman, restrain Stella—she’s lost it! She stabbed Haynes!”

By now Jasper had recovered from his shock. He pointed an accusing finger at Stella, his voice shaking with rage. “You’re always preaching the law to me, Stella! I’ve already called the cops. You’re going to jail for this, you murderer!”

Rachel, too, had snapped out of her panic. The look she gave Stella was openly hostile—pure ice and contempt.

“Stella, Haynes will never let you get away with this!”

Stella met Rachel’s hateful glare with a cool, self-assured smile.

“No, you’re wrong. Haynes won’t do a thing to me.”

Rachel’s breath caught, her face twisting in disbelief. “What did you say?”

“If you don’t believe me, why don’t we make a bet?”

Before Rachel could reply, Foreman cut in at just the right moment. “Haynes is still in surgery. Let’s wait until he wakes up before we talk about anything else.”

Jasper glared at Stella, his eyes wild with excitement now that he finally had something on her.