The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance novel Chapter 1005

She didn’t care that, in her brother’s eyes, Aurora would always come first.

But what she couldn’t accept was that her brother would stoop so low for Aurora’s sake—going behind her back, undermining her.

There were so many things she was willing to give up for Aurora. Why did they have to fight over the same man too?

Simone’s anger simmered beneath the surface, threatening to spill over.

For a moment, she wanted nothing more than to march straight up to Leonard and demand an explanation. But in the end, she forced herself to hold back.

She turned to Joshua, her tone softening. “Joshua, don’t take my brother’s words to heart. He’s just… well, he wants me to marry for the family, that’s all. He only said those things to push me in that direction.”

Joshua’s voice was calm, even resigned. “He’s not wrong, Simone. You’re the Lerman family’s heiress, and I’m just an ordinary guy. I’ll never be good enough for you.”

Simone shook her head quickly, desperate to reassure him. “What does it matter if you’re ‘ordinary’? There’s no such thing as who’s worthy or not—only whether someone is truly deserving.”

She looked Joshua straight in the eye, her voice brimming with sincerity. “Joshua, to me, you will always be the one who’s worth it.”

If she were in his shoes, Simone thought, she would be deeply moved by words like these.

But Joshua only replied, “Miss Lerman, I think… it’s better if we keep our distance.”

Her heart, which had been pounding with hope, slowly turned cold.

“Joshua, what are you saying?”

He answered quietly, “Mr. Lerman already accused me of trying to kill him in the hospital, just to keep us apart. Who knows what else he’ll blame on me in the future? I may be a little tougher than the average person, but I’m hardly a professional assassin. That hospital was locked up tighter than a vault—I honestly have no idea how I could have even gotten inside to attack your brother.”

Simone lowered her head, her long lashes shadowing her eyes, hiding her feelings.

She paused, then looked at Aurora, a faint but ambiguous smile tugging at her lips. “Aurora, you seem awfully interested in what’s going on between me and Joshua, don’t you?”

Aurora caught the strange note in Simone’s voice and raised an eyebrow, about to reply.

But Leonard cut in, his tone cold. “Simone, I’ve told you—Joshua is the one who tried to kill me. For all we know, Stella put him up to it. We can’t say for certain whose side he’s on, but I’m sure of one thing: he’s not on ours.”

Simone protested, “But Joshua’s been looking for the violinist who played in the garden. Now, Stella’s hand is injured—she can’t play anymore—and she doesn’t seem to remember anything about losing that earring. Joshua was willing to help Rachel back then; he’d do the same for us.”

Aurora considered this for a few seconds, then nodded. “Simone has a point. But still—why would he try to kill Leonard? If he really believed you were the person he was searching for, he wouldn’t have gone after Leonard. Would he?”