Do you really think he has feelings for you?”


    The woman just stared at her, silent.


    Of course, Finn never cared about her. She’d only been hired to y a part.


    Finn had paid her to act like the jealous, possessive girlfriend–her job was to make


    and


    a scene, to insult and pick fights with Evangeline, to make Evangeline as angry embarrassed as possible.


    But now, things weren’t exactly going ording to n.


    Her face flushed red as she prepared to use the opportunity to start another argument, but Evangeline cut her off. “Let’s talk in private.”


    Evangeline took the woman by the arm and led her out.


    When they returned a few minutester, the woman was sniffling and fighting back tears; she grabbed her purse and hurried out of the room in a rush.


    Evangeline sat down at the table, looking calm and unbothered.


    Finn raised an eyebrow. “All taken care of?”


    “Yes. She won’t be bothering you again,” Evangeline answered steadily.


    Finn let out a quiet, amusedugh. “You handle these things better than I expected.” Evangeline paused, then gave a smallugh of her own. “I suppose I do.”


    After all, she’d handled situations like this hundreds–no, thousands–of times


    before.


    Helena always wanted her to be the picture ofposure, the perfect, level–headed wife. But after five years married to Soren, Evangeline had found that Soren’s behavior madeposure nearly impossible.


    She couldn’t control Soren, and she certainly couldn’t control Helena.


    So all she could do was manage herself–again and again.


    And the more she did it, the easier it became.


    “Well, that’s over. I should get going,” Evangeline said, rising to her feet.


    As she left, she noticed the door to the private room across the hall shutting


    ???


    quickly.


    Inside, Lily and a few colleagues were huddled behind the door, peeking through the


    narrowest crack.


    Everyone except Lily looked troubled.


    They hadn’t seen the man’s face, but they’d witnessed the woman storm in, the heated argument that followed, and then the woman running out in tears. Here and there, they’d caught words like “homewrecker” thrown around.


    Lily clicked her tongue, shaking her head. “No wonder Director Whitmore never introduced her to us. I guess there really are… issues with her personal life.”


    “But she doesn’t seem like that kind of person. Maybe we misunderstood?” someone ventured.


    Lily shot back, “What’s there to misunderstand? We all heard it–she got called a homewrecker, loud and clear.”


    “And she said she’s getting divorced. If she’d really been faithful and never caused trouble, why would ite to that?”


    “It’s obvious–she was fooling around, her husband found out, and that’s why he’s pushing for the divorce.”


    Everyone nodded, convinced by Lily’s reasoning.


    After Evangeline left, Finn lingered in the private room, lost in thought.


    Several minutester, the door opened again.


    The same woman returned, now in a different outfit, standing respectfully before Finn.


    “What did she say to you?” Finn asked, swirling thest of his drink in his ss.


    The woman gave an awkward smile. “Not much. She just told me not to get hung. up on one person. There are plenty of great guys out there.”


    “She also said people need something to lean on–but that shouldn’t be love, because love changes. There are things in life that matter more than that.”


    “Anything else?” Finn asked quietly.


    She shook her head. “No, that was it.”


    Finn waved her away. After she left, he mulled over her words.


    A slow, amused smile tugged at his lips. “Interesting.”


    Evangeline, meanwhile, didn’t go home. Instead, she headed straight to thepany’sb.


    Something Finn had said earlier had sparked an idea.


    For the problem she’d been struggling with, she finally saw a possible solution.


    Birds of a feather flock together.