The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance novel Chapter 1271

After Mark left, Aurora's friendly demeanor vanished the moment she turned to Joshua. A distinct chill emanated from the depths of her eyes.

"What a move," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm.

"I'm still leagues behind you, Ms. Williams," Joshua retorted. "After all, you're an expert at getting others to do your dirty work. I prefer to handle things myself."

At this point, Aurora knew any chance of winning him over was gone.

"If you planned to use me against Leonard Lerman, why not keep up the act?" she asked. "Why reveal your hand so soon?"

"I don't have your talent for playing nice with people I despise for so long," Joshua said flatly. "Some people are so repulsive that even pretending is unbearable. Unfortunately for me, Ms. Williams, you're one of those people."

Aurora's carefully composed expression almost cracked.

It was the first time anyone had ever shown such blatant, undisguised contempt for her. The absurdity of it was almost laughable. Everything this man did seemed calculated to test her limits.

Plenty of people admired her, and just as many disliked her. The haters were a mix of men and women, though mostly women. The men who detested her usually did so because she gave them the cold shoulder, never offering them a sliver of hope. Their logic was simple: if you can't have her, slander her. A smaller fraction simply found her irritating.

"The one who reaps the rewards is never truly innocent," Joshua shot back. "You've had every advantage, which makes it easy to maintain your grace and dignity. But if you were forced to endure everything Star has been through, could you still stand there so calmly and claim it was all your own doing, that it had nothing to do with anyone else?"

"It's unfair to blame me for things that aren't my fault," Aurora said.

Joshua raised an eyebrow. "Fair? Ms. Williams, do you mistake me for some impartial judge here to serve you justice? What does your sense of fairness have to do with me? Was Leonard fair to Star? Did you really think the entire world had to be on your side, that no one was allowed to favor someone else? Let's be clear: you're not as innocent as you claim. But even if you were a victim, so what? I'm not here to dispense justice."

His unabashed favoritism stunned Aurora. In that moment, she realized that Joshua and Leonard were cut from the same cloth.