"Guys, you''ll never guess who I just saw."


    "It''s Evangeline and Finn Lockridge!"


    A photo appeared on the screen.


    Soren couldn''t remember when he''d been added to this chat; he rarely paid it any attention. But now, seeing Evangeline''s name, he tapped on it out of some morbid curiosity.


    The picture was high-resolution. A cliché kissing photo. Yet, seeing it made his heart hammer against his ribs.


    They were kissing as if no one else in the world existed. He could see the joyful, brilliant sparkle in her eyes, as if she held all the stars in the sky and all the love in her heart.


    The expression was both familiar and alien. He had seen it in her eyes countless times at the beginning, but somewhere along the way, it had been reced by pain, anger, and finally, despair.


    His heart seemed to skip a beat, and his breathing grew ragged. An unfamiliar storm of anger and anguish began to churn within him. He let out a heavy breath, trying to regain hisposure.


    After a few minutes, he managed to calm himself and was about to leave the group when another message popped up.


    "Weird, isn''t it? I heard Mr. Lockridge is a yer, never keeps a girlfriend for more than two weeks. But he and Evangeline have been together for a while now."


    "You don''t think they''re serious, do you?"


    Someone immediately shot back: "Are you kidding? How could they be?"


    The person continued, "Evangeline is just Soren Fawkes''s sloppy seconds. He just divorced her. A guy like Lockridge might fool around with a woman like that for fun, but he''d never actually want someone else''s used goods."


    Soren''s brow furrowed as he read the crude message.


    Just then, Liam Leigh chimed in: "Alright, that''s enough, guys."


    "Soren''s already divorced her. He was forced into that marriage anyway."


    "She has nothing to do with Soren now. If you want to talk about her, fine, but leave Soren out of it."


    "Besides, Soren is about to get engaged to Poppy. The past is the past, so just drop it."


    Moments after Liam sent the messages, he received a private message from Soren. "Who was that guy?"


    Surprised that Soren was even paying attention to the chat, Liam didn''t overthink it and sent over the man''s information.


    "He''s from the Howard family in Serenity City. We used to go street racing together." "Soren, don''t mind him. The guy''s got a big mouth."


    "He''s tried to partner with Fawkes Enterprises a bunch of times, and his old man is always trying to get in on our projects. He probably said that just to suck up to you."


    After all, everyone in Serenity City knew how much Soren despised Evangeline. In the past, whenever their circle mocked or teased her, Soren wouldytist let it happen as long as it didn''t go too far


    Still, Evangeline was his ex-wife. Even if he didn''t love her, Liam


    thought thement was out of line. But the Howard kid was known for being arrogant, and everyone was used to it. He figured Soren would just give the guy a warning or cause some minor trouble for him and be done with it.


    A few dayster, however, Liam heard that the young Mr. Howard had gotten into a serious ident while racing and had been hospitalized. He had a broken leg but was otherwise stable. After the crash the once arrogant heir


    became remarkably low-key," disappearing from the public eye almost entirely.