"Oh, my god, I''m so sorry," Ste gasped, instantly stepping back.


    But as she looked up and recognized the face staring down at her, the apologetic warmth vanished from her features.


    "Leonard. What are you doing here?"


    Leonard Lerman gazed down at her, ignoring her questionpletely.


    "You''ve lost weight," he murmured, his voiceced with concern. "Has it been that rough for youtely?"


    Having absolutely no desire to engage in small talk with the man who had ordered her torture, Ste gave a clipped response.


    "I''m doing perfectly fine."


    She sidestepped him and continued down the cobblestone path.


    Leonard fell into step right behind her. "If you ever need anything, my door is always open."


    Ste didn''t even break her stride. "Thanks, but no thanks. Joshua tends to get a little jealous."


    Both Mr. Burton and Old Mr. Wyatt were notorious recluses who despised unfamiliar faces.


    Therefore, Zenia had remained parked out by the estate''s main gates.


    When the rhythmic crunch of Leonard''s footsteps persisted, Ste spun around, her brows knitting together in irritation. "Leonard, do you mind not trailing me like a shadow?"


    He slipped his hands into his pockets, his demeanor infuriatingly calm. "You''re heading to see Old Mr. Wyatt, aren''t you? I have business in that wing too. We''re just heading in the same direction."


    Ste shot him an icy re.


    "If Joshua finds out you''re stalking me, and he decides to put you in a hospital bed, don''t say I didn''t warn you."


    For some inexplicable reason, a genuine, amused smile tugged at Leonard''s lips. "I appreciate the concern, Ste."


    Throwing him a deeply unsettled look, she turned away and picked up her pace, aggressively ignoring his presence.


    Her mind was already redlining over Joshua''s deteriorating health; she didn''t have the mental bandwidth to y games with Leonard Lerman.


    A momentter, Leonard''s voice drifted over her shoulder.


    "Do you know the real reason Joshua abducted Sellers Burton?"


    Ste didn''t look back. "Because Sellers has beening after us for months, using every dirty, underhanded trick in the book to destroy ourpany."


    "That''s partially true," Leonard conceded. "But the real trigger was the fact that


    Aurora Williams and Sellers started digging into Joshua''s past.


    Has he ever actually told you what happened to him?"


    Ste halted, her temper finally ring.


    "Leonard, call me by my actual name."


    Back on his private ind, she had choked down the disgust of him using intimate nicknames just to survive.


    Now, hearing him use the affectionate tone made her skin crawl.


    Leonard fell silent for a moment before finally inclining his head. "Alright. Ste."


    He paused, letting the heavy name settle in the air before continuing. "The Gardner


    family''s mental instability isn''t exactly a well-kept secret.


    But the reason they all die young isn''t some destined biological failure.


    That whole ''cursed to die before thirty'' rumor is vastly exaggerated."


    Ste stopped dead in her tracks, throwing him a look of sheer bewilderment.


    "Are you seriously out here defending Joshua?"


    Leonard''s expression remained perfectly neutral. "Hardly. I''m just presenting the facts."


    She crossed her arms defensively. "Get to the point. What are you trying to say?"


    His piercing gaze locked onto hers. "I''m saying that if you''re going to dive headfirst into hell for him, you need to know exactly what you''re dealing with


    If you''re going to anchor yourself to a man like that, you need theplete, unfiltered truth."


    The two men were practically mortal enemies, seconds away from slitting each other''s throats.


    Hearing Leonard offer legitimate advice was profoundly unsettling.


    her


    Reading the sheer suspicion on face, Leonard let out a dry breath "The war between Joshua and me, started because he was out for my blood after what I did to your hand.


    In the grand scheme of things, it isn''t an unresolvable blood feud."


    Ste kept her mouth shut, refusing to give him an inch.


    Unbothered by her frosty silence, Leonard dropped the bombshell. "ording to my


    intel, Joshua was held captive and systematically tortured for six months.


    They locked him


    in a cage like an


    animal, starved him, sted him


    with interrogation lights so he couldn''t sleep for days on end, and used physical torture methods specifically designed not to leave permanent scars, along with experimental drugs to break his mind.


    Do you know why they were so careful not to scar him? Because the warlord''s


    daughter who funded the operation had an obsession with his face.


    Do you have any idea how he finally managed to escape, Ste?"