The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance novel Chapter 2010

Stella stared in absolute horror. "You... you're Foreman Richards?!"

Dr. Winter laughed. "Star, I'm thrilled. Even with a brand-new face, you can still see me."

Stella's mind reeled. The gentle, reliable Dr. Winter standing in front of her was actually Foreman Richards.

"How are you not dead?"

The look in Foreman's eyes turned monstrous and warped. "How am I not dead? Look at me—I'm a freak. Does this count as living?

That fire burned my face down to the bone.

You have no idea what that kind of agony feels like, Star.

Just an inch... I was one inch away from burning to ash in that inferno!"

His voice pitched up, trembling with manic excitement.

His eyes practically glowed with an obsession that made Stella's blood run cold.

"To become Dr. Winter, I kidnapped her. I had my face reconstructed to perfectly match hers. I underwent gender reassignment surgery.

But I couldn't kill her, because I needed her to draft the medical protocols so I wouldn't blow my cover.

Of course, I've been studying medical theory non-stop.

Star, as long as I can help you, it doesn't matter if I'm a man or a woman.

I'd pay any price, suffer any hell, just for you!"

The pain in Stella's stomach was escalating rapidly. The water Foreman had handed her was spiked.

Foreman was still rambling, lost in his own twisted romantic delusion. "This bastard child cannot survive. If it lives, Joshua will never let you go.

Plus, the Gardner family's genetics are defective. This baby is a ticking time bomb.

This filthy bloodline has no right to continue.

Star, if you want a baby so badly, we can have one.

I've preserved my sperm. We can do IVF..."

"It's no use, Star! I paid a massive fortune for that drug. It acts instantly. You can't save it."

If Foreman was brazen enough to drug her right under the noses of three elite doctors, he had made damn sure the poison was lethal.

After all, he knew Mr. Burton, Old Mr. Wyatt, and Colby might try to intervene.

So he had sourced something that even God couldn't reverse.

Foreman's psychotic voice echoed behind her.

"That stray cat had no right to live, either! As long as Calico was around, Leonard Lerman was always going to hover over you.

If the cat died, I could frame Joshua for it.

I just didn't expect Mr. Burton and Old Mr. Wyatt to actually save a poisoned animal."

So it was Foreman who poisoned the calico!

Even though Stella had given Joshua the cold shoulder over the cat, deep down, she never truly believed he would resort to poisoning an animal. She had just used it as an excuse to push him away.