Chapter 13
The thought had barely surfaced before Evangeline forced it down.
Impossible.
Just last month, when Soren heard Poppy was ill, he booked the earliest flight out, rushing overseas to stay by her side for three sleepless nights. He bought her a necklace worth hundreds of thousands just to make her smile.
Even after he came home, he called out Poppy’s name in his dreams.
He loved Poppy with such devotion–how could he possibly not want a divorce from Evangeline?
Soren assumed she was disappointed about not getting any money, his contempt. for her deepening. He gave a cold laugh. “The Fawkes family isn’t some hotel your can check into and out of at will. You clung to the engagement for dear life back then, and now you think you can just walk away with a pile of cash? Not a chance.” Evangeline looked at him, confused. “This money–doesn’t it buy you the freedom to be with Poppy? Isn’t that worth it?”
Soren froze for a moment, taken aback.
Poppy?
What did this have to do with Poppy?
Then it clicked: she was offering to step aside, to divorce him so he could be with Poppy.
The idea was both irritating and laughable. She was the one who wanted a divorce, the one after a piece of his fortune, but now she was pretending to be self–sacrificing, as if she were doing this for his happiness.
Just like her mother–calculating to the core.
He let out a cold, dismissive breath and grabbed her chin, forcing her to meet his
eyes.
“Who told you the only way I can be with Poppy is if I divorce you?”
His voice was icy.
Evangeline stared into his jet–black eyes, feeling her heart go cold inch by inch.
1/3
21.04
Of course.
He was never bound by morals or marriage. Whether she divorced him or not, it had nothing to do with whether he would be with Poppy.
Seeing her face go pale, Soren only assumed her plan had failed. His smile more mocking.
“Evangeline, stop with these childish schemes.”
“Either straighten up and do your duty as Mrs. Fawkes, or-”
grew
He yanked her hand roughly, slapped the divorce agreement into her palm. “You can walk away with nothing. Think carefully about your next move.”
With that, Soren turned on his heel and strode out, not sparing her another glance.
“Macy, you’ve been doing well lately. I’m adding another two thousand to your salary next month,” he called cheerfully as he passed the housekeeper.
Macy’s cheeks flushed with delight. “Thank you, Mr. Fawkes! I promise I’ll do even better. You won’t be disappointed.”
After Soren left, Macy shot Evangeline a smug look, then went back to her cleaning with a spring in her step.
Evangeline’s eyes stung with tears. She slumped down by the staircase railing, all the strength gone from her body.
She’d known Soren would make things hard for her. She’d prepared herself for it.
But she hadn’t expected him to humiliate her like this.
All her years of effort, her sacrifices–he’d trampled them into the ground as if they meant nothing.
In his eyes, she wasn’t even worth as much as Macy.
Evangeline stared at the divorce papers in her hand. Maybe she’d been disappointed so many times that now, at last, she just felt numb.
She understood–Soren wasn’t holding back out of sentiment. He wanted to this as another way to make her suffer.
He was determined to
would be pointless.
see her leave with nothing. No matter how hard she fought, it
But if she stayed, the pain would only last day after day. The agony of loss, the grief that had already broken her once–she couldn’t go through it again.
21:04
And Soren’s attitude just now had said it all.
Staying with the Fawkes family would only destroy what little was left of her.
Evangeline sat there for a long time–so long that the house grew silent and empty around her. At last, she stood, went back to her room, and called her lawyer to draft a new agreement.
She was about to head upstairs when her phone rang.
“So I heard you’re getting a divorce?”
As soon as she picked up, a familiar, deep male voice sounded in her ear. “Ready to come back?”
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