Unable to guess Leonard''s intentions, Ste turned to the man beside her. "Joshua, what do you think he''s up to?"


    Joshua watched Leonard ambling through the garden with the butler, his dark eyes deep and unreadable. "I''m not sure, but..." He trailed off, leaving the sentence hanging.


    "But what?" Ste prompted.


    "The Williams family seems to have underestimated him."


    "Do you think he''ll use this opportunity to marry Aurora?" Ste asked. With Aurora''s reputation in ruins, this was the perfect chance for him to press his advantage and negotiate a marriage.


    "He won''t marry her," Joshua said tly.


    Ste looked at him, confused. "Why do you say that? Is it because he doesn''t want to put her in a difficult position?"


    "Star, Leonard isn''t as foolish as you think," Joshua exined. "Just because he let Aurora use him without asking for anything in return doesn''t mean he wasn''t keeping score. She probably never imagined that a little prodding from me would be enough to make him change. What she doesn''t realize is that I was just the catalyst. Even without me, they would have drifted apart eventually."


    He paused, a derisive smirk on his face. "Leonard thinks he and Aurora are the same kind of people, but he''s wrong."


    "How can you be so sure he won''t marry her?" Ste asked again.


    "Think about it," Joshua said. "When a man is drugged, would he rather spend the night in a cold shower than touch the woman he loves, all out of respect?"


    Ste, who had never even been in a rtionship, couldn''t begin to fathom a man''s mind. "Then what do you think it means?"


    "He''s given up on her," Joshua


    stated. He had seen everything that happened that night. Leonard hadn''t even questioned Aurora; he had gone Straight to the bathroom. When you love someone you have an overwhelming desire to possess them. Leonard, on the other hand, had looked like he was fleeing in a panic, terrified that the drug would make him lose control and he''d be forced to take responsibility for her.


    Leonard spent over forty minutes in the back garden, and the Williams family grew impatient.


    Israel was the first to lose his cool. "Aurora is in the middle of a crisis, and instead ofing here to discuss a solution, he has the nerve to wander around taking pictures in the garden? Does the Lerman family not have a garder. He injured his hand, not his brain! He''s been acting stranger and stranger since the ident. Maybe he''s developed schizophrenia or something."


    The Williams family''s garden was vast; he could easily spend another hour there. Jonathan checked his watch and said sternly, "Send someone to bring him here."


    Just as he spoke, there was a knock on the door. "Mr. Lerman has arrived," the butler announced from the hallway.


    Soon, Leonard entered the room. The entire Williams family, including Ste and Joshua, was gathered once again—though thetter two were merely spectators.


    After Leonard was seated, the butler served tea and discreetly closed the door behind him As the current head of the family and Auror


    father Skyler opened the discussion. "Leonard, how do you intend to resolve this matter with Aurora?"


    Leonard lifted his teacup, took a slow sip, and then replied, "Aurora is in trouble.


    Shouldn''t the Williams family be the ones to resolve it?"