The Ex-Wife's Burning Elegance novel Chapter 2078

Stella's heart skipped a beat.

With Zara's intellect, she never could have come up with the IVF scheme on her own.

For years, she had been desperately trying to figure out how to climb into McCoy's bed.

Unfortunately, her plans never worked and only made McCoy despise her more.

Stella had been busy recovering her health, helping Hayser secure her position as the head of her family, and taking over Leonard Lerman's shares to gain total control of The Williams Group, effectively sidelining Skyler.

As a result, she hadn't paid much attention to Zara.

She hadn't expected Zara's botched schemes against Aurora to accidentally hand Aurora a massive advantage.

If McCoy ever did cheat, Aurora would be the one walking away with a fortune.

So, Stella had her people secretly plant the idea in Zara's head: she didn't actually need to sleep with McCoy to get what she wanted.

Achieving her goal without physical contact was entirely possible.

Besides, if McCoy actually cheated, wouldn't he have to give half his shares to Aurora?

Neither the Chapman family nor McCoy would ever accept that. In fact, they would treat Zara like an enemy.

While Zara wasn't the brightest, she was excellent at reading the room and taking advice.

She immediately pivoted her strategy.

To avoid leaving any evidence, Stella never interacted with Zara in her daily life.

The 'friends' who had nudged Zara were all operatives sent by Hayser.

Neither the Williams nor the Chapman families could trace this back to her, nor would they ever suspect her.

But Joshua was here.

Stella was confident she could fool everyone else, but she wasn't sure she could hide anything from Joshua.

The thought that Aurora had beaten her to the punch and stolen her identity only deepened her frustration.

Stella had no idea if Joshua would choose to help Aurora.

The voices of Mr. and Mrs. Chapman pulled Stella from her thoughts.

"Zara, go wait in the lounge," Mrs. Chapman said. "We'll discuss this later."

She certainly didn't believe in naive, laughable concepts like love.

Her goal was to secure a better future for herself.

Aurora lowered her head, hiding the dark gleam in her eyes.

As long as she had Shay, she still had a chance to turn the tables.

Even if she had to live in mediocrity for ten or twenty years, what did it matter?

Whatever she couldn't achieve, her child would do it for her.

Her biological mother hadn't managed to climb the social ladder, but she had successfully sent Aurora back to the Williams family.

So what if Stella was the legitimate daughter?

The resources they had access to growing up were completely unequal.

When it came to inheriting the family empire, Stella could never compare to her.

Everything Stella had was stolen—just like an emperor who usurped the throne, lacking any true legitimacy.