The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance novel Chapter 1043

Coleman had been right all along.

Long before Israel went to fetch the assistant, Stella had already given Joshua, her bodyguard, clear instructions.

“If anyone dares to lay a hand on me, don’t hold back. I don’t care who you offend.”

As Stella’s protector, Joshua couldn’t just act on his own every time—one rash move could ruin her plans.

When they reached the door to Skyler’s office, chaos greeted them. Papers were strewn everywhere, the furniture knocked askew. Skyler sat behind his desk, his face dark and twitching with anger.

Israel’s gaze swept the room and landed on Stella, who was calmly sipping tea on the sofa as if nothing had happened. Fury surged in him; he stormed over and knocked the cup right out of her hands.

“Stella, how can you sit there drinking tea? Do you have any idea what kind of trouble you’ve brought down on the Williams family?”

His voice was low and venomous, eyes burning with resentment.

“Did you even bother to find out who you shot at? Do you know what kind of family they belong to? We have a major partnership with them—one I’m in charge of!”

The project at risk was, of course, overseen by Israel himself. If Stella had ruined things, his entire negotiation might collapse.

Stella arched an eyebrow, her tone calm. “Brother, they were the ones who made the first move. I had no choice but to defend myself.

He pulled a gun in Dad’s office—right in front of us. How could I possibly know who he intended to shoot? Maybe me, maybe he wanted to take advantage of the chaos and turn the gun on Dad.

If I hadn’t made sure he was no longer a threat, what if the gun went off by accident? What if Dad got hurt?

Dad is the head of the Williams Group. We can’t afford for anything to happen to him.

Anything—or anyone—that could threaten his safety needs to be nipped in the bud, no exceptions.”

It’s a small office—if the gun went off, who knows what might have happened to Dad?

Everything I did was for his sake. If something happened to him, who’s going to keep us living in the lap of luxury?”

Israel’s face flushed red with rage at Stella’s righteous speech. He opened his mouth to argue, but Skyler cut him off in a cold, authoritative voice.

“That’s enough. Stop arguing. Stella did nothing wrong—she was only trying to protect me.”

He shot Israel a withering glare, making it clear he sided with Stella.

Skyler had completely accepted her way of handling things. Whoever those men were, they’d come to his office armed. That alone meant they had bad intentions.

Stella pressed on, “Dad, at the end of the day, this whole mess started because of the people who came after me. Why not track them down and hand them over to the oil tycoon and that financier? At least that would give those families some kind of explanation.”