The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance novel Chapter 774

“Not only did someone avenge us, but our hands stayed clean.”

Yes, their hands stayed clean.

That had been Candida Fletcher’s intention all along—she’d stopped Stella from getting involved because she didn’t want Stella’s reputation sullied, didn’t want to give anyone ammunition against her.

Stella’s expression grew thoughtful.

For some reason, she couldn’t shake the feeling that this whole thing had something to do with her.

But who could it have been?

Haynes?

Just then, a gentle knock sounded at the hospital room door.

“I’ll get it,” Abby said.

She opened the door and froze for a split second at the sight of the three people standing outside. Her face immediately hardened.

“What are you doing here?”

Standing there were none other than Haynes, Foreman, and Rachel.

Foreman was one thing—he’d helped Stella before—but what were Haynes and Rachel doing here?

Foreman put on a pleasant smile. “We heard Ms. Cameron hurt her hand. We just wanted to see how she was doing.”

Since Foreman had been good to Stella, Abby couldn’t exactly slam the door in his face, so she let them in.

Stella was sitting on the couch, leafing through some sheet music.

Joshua, lost in a game on his phone, looked up as they entered, raising his eyebrows slightly.

“You’re here for Ms. Cameron?”

Stella had been staying at the hospital to look after Joshua—a single woman alone with a man, which could easily be misconstrued. Usually, Abby would stay and keep her company to ward off any gossip.

Now, Stella’s brow furrowed ever so slightly.

“Isn’t that what you’re doing?” Abby retorted. “You’re saying Joshua went after Karl, but for all I know, it was you. Haynes, if you don’t want people to find out, maybe don’t do it in the first place.

Don’t tell me that incident—when you roughed Karl up and had him stripped and thrown out on the street—wasn’t your handiwork?”

Neville had already looked into it. There was no definitive evidence, but the clues at the scene all pointed to Haynes.

Haynes’s voice was low and tense. “I did teach him a lesson, but the stripping part? That wasn’t me.”

Abby snorted. “So you’re saying you just beat the guy up, and someone else did the rest?”

“That’s right.”

Abby laughed outright, her tone cutting. “Haynes, you do realize that humiliating Karl like that is exactly why he snapped and tried to get back at Star, right? Are you trying to dodge responsibility now?”

Not long ago, Stella and the others had discussed why Karl had lost it and caused the car wreck.

Joshua had pointed out that it was impossible to separate Karl’s breakdown from the public humiliation of being dumped naked on the street.