An hourter, Ste left the auto shop,pletely satisfied.


    Leonard watched her cheerful departure, a cold smile twisting his lips. He refused to believe she could assemble the Dawnlight on her own. A custom car like that, without the original blueprints, was impossible for even a professional mechanic to replicate down to the internal details.


    Ste, assemble the Dawnlight? What a joke.


    ***


    When Ste returned to the hospital room, Joshua was surprised to see her back so soon. "You''re back already?"


    He knew she had gone to deal with the car. Since no one would take the assembly job, she had decided to look at it herself. She had experience with race cars and had done most of the work on her own vehicles, so she had some knowledge of car assembly.


    Ste recounted her encounter with Leonard.


    Joshua''s expression darkened. "So, he agreed?"


    "Yes, he did," Ste said, still a bit surprised herself. "I found it incredible, too. I never thought the great Leonard Lerman would be so amodating just because something involves Aurora."


    Joshua fell silent, a cold look settling in his eyes.


    Noticing his change in mood, Ste asked, "Joshua, what is it? Is something


    wrong? Or..." A thought urred to her. "Is he nning some other trap for me?"


    As much as she despised Leonard, she couldn''t deny his cunning and intelligence. Even in his current predicament, he hadn''t shown a hint of despair, a testament to his strong mental fortitude.


    Just as she was wondering what trick he had up his sleeve, Joshua asked, "Did he say when the materials would arrive?"


    "No specific time," Ste replied. "Just that he''d let me know when they''re here."


    As a shareholder of the Williams Group who had proven her


    capabilities, Ste was no longer the helpless woman Leonard could bully at will A man who had wed his way to the top of his family wouldn''t be foolish enough to make enemies indiscriminately. Ste was not someone he could easily touch anymore.


    Leonard''s behavior was so bizarre that even Joshua couldn''t immediately guess his intentions.


    "When he contacts you, make sure you tell me," Joshua said.


    "Okay," Ste agreed, then remembered something else. "By the way, Violet


    agreed to the proposal. She''s willing to marry Israel."


    That was just the first step. The rest would require their help.


    "If she''s willing, we can temporarily ally with the Yancey family and put pressure on them," Joshua strategized. "Since the Yanceys wanted this oue, they shouldn''t get off scot-free. This can also be a small measure of revenge for Violet. I''m sure the Yancey family had plenty of contingency ns to use against the Williamses, but Leonard shut them down before they had a chance. The Williams family, for the sake of their reputation, might have entertained negotiations. But Leonard doesn''t y by those rules. The Yanceys stood no chance


    against his bulldozer tactics."


    As he spoke, something else urred to him. "By the way, did Leonard ask you about Violet?"


    "No," Ste said.


    Joshua sank back into thought. "Logically, he should know what we''re doing. It''s not in his nature to not even mention it. Don''t you find that strange?"