The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance novel Chapter 1895

"Aurora's pregnancy basically gave him the perfect excuse to step up.

"He... he really is in love with her."

Stella fell silent.

When someone is truly in love, they'll unconsciously invent every excuse in the book to justify their partner's worst actions.

After ending the call, Stella kept her eyes cast downward, turning the new information over in her mind.

Just then, someone wrapped their arms around her from behind.

"Star, what's on your mind? You look a million miles away."

Stella turned her head and looked at Joshua. "My dad just called. He said Aurora and McCoy got their marriage license. The families are having dinner together this weekend."

Joshua raised an eyebrow, not looking particularly surprised.

He simply remarked, "I figured McCoy would hold out a bit longer. I didn't expect him to cave this fast."

"Lauretta told me Aurora is pregnant," Stella said softly.

A look of clear realization washed over Joshua's face. "With her reputation completely trashed, marrying well was off the table. But now that she's pregnant, Skyler would move heaven and earth to force the Chapman family to take responsibility.

"Because, right now, the Chapman family is the absolute best she's ever going to do.

"It's a good thing Sellers is currently missing, otherwise..."

"Otherwise what?" Stella asked.

Joshua's dark eyes glinted with an unfathomable depth. "Otherwise, Aurora could have easily used that baby to string both Sellers and McCoy along."

Catching the dark implication in his words, Stella was taken aback.

"Are you saying that Aurora and Sellers were..."

Stella's shock was entirely justified. Aurora had always been fiercely protective of her image. She might have kept a stable of admirers on the hook, but very few had ever crossed the line into anything physical.

Even her tangled mess with the Fordham Group brothers back in the Delta made a twisted kind of sense—she was doing it to stay alive.

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