The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance novel Chapter 1364

Having just been through such a terrifying ordeal, Aurora's composure was shattered.

"A joke?" she snapped, her voice trembling with anger. "That was attempted murder!"

Joshua raised an eyebrow. "So we defending ourselves is attempted murder? Then what do you call Mr. Lerman aiming his car right at us?"

Aurora fell silent, unable to argue. She had tried to warn Leonard to slow down, but he had insisted he was just trying to scare them and wouldn't actually hurt them. He had, in fact, started to decelerate just before the impact, which was probably the only reason they hadn't crashed harder. Even so, Aurora had sustained several scrapes on her arm. But she knew Leonard had instigated the whole thing. Swallowing her anger, she turned to him. "Leonard, I'm going to the restroom."

She needed to fix her appearance. Aurora would never allow herself to be seen looking anything less than perfect.

Leonard didn't respond, his gaze fixed intently on Joshua. He noticed that some of the heavy, dark aura that usually surrounded Joshua was gone, replaced by a flicker of high spirits. Clearly, Joshua had been in a good mood lately. Leonard's eyes then drifted to the new keychain hanging from Joshua's keys. He remembered it clearly; it was one of the gifts Joshua had received, and Leonard had mocked it at the time as a cheap, tacky trinket. Yet here was Joshua, a man who wanted for nothing, actually using it.

Joshua chuckled. "And yet, at The Williams Group, Star has accomplished so much more than Ms. Williams. If Star has the time, why is Ms. Williams always so busy? Or is she just busy with things that don't matter?" He then looked directly at Leonard. "As the head of the Lerman family, Mr. Lerman, you've handed The Williams Group so many lucrative contracts. Why not teach Ms. Williams a thing or two? With a little guidance, she could avoid a lot of pitfalls. Look at Star—she started from scratch with no business experience, and now she's second to none."

He smiled, but there was no warmth in it. "Mr. Lerman, you know the saying: teach a man to fish. You arrange everything for her, creating the illusion that she's accomplished, but what happens on the day you can no longer help her? She's going to fall, and fall hard."

Aurora, having composed herself, returned just in time to hear his final words. Her eyes flickered. She couldn't deny that Stella's progress had been astonishingly fast. Joshua had certainly helped, but many of the recent decisions and negotiations had been Stella's own doing. Stella was a quick study; even Skyler couldn't hide his pride when he spoke of her, remarking that she was truly his daughter.