"Miss Whitmore, what should we do with these two?" a bodyguard asked. "Should we... take care of them?" He punctuated the question by dragging a thumb across his throat.


    The two men, terrified, immediately started begging Evangeline for mercy.


    "We''ve learned our lesson! We''ll never do it again!"


    "Please, let us go!"


    They had figured out that Evangeline was not just some ordinary woman, and these were professional bodyguards who likely weren''t making idle threats.


    In this remote location, anything could happen to them without a trace.


    One of the men started banging his head on the ground in a desperate plea. The other quickly followed suit, the dull thuds echoing in the quiet air.


    Evangeline nced at the bodyguard, who gave her a subtle look. She understood what they were implying.


    After a moment''s thought, she said, "I can let you go, but you''ll have to cooperate and testify about what happened today."


    "Yes, of course! We''ll cooperate!" one of them cried.


    "Just let us live, and we''ll do anything you say!" the other promised.


    Evangeline took the phone with the recording and had the bodyguards search the men for any weapons. Once she was sure they were clean, she gave her instructions.


    "Miss Whitmore, where should we take them?" a bodyguard asked. "Mr. Carlisle has an empty property nearby. Should we hold them there?"


    Evangeline was about to agree but then paused, reconsidering. A momentter, she shook her head. "Take them to the police station."


    As she spoke, she copied the dashcam footage onto a drive and handed it to them. "Find a charge to hold them on for a few days."


    The bodyguards didn''t understand her reasoning, but they followed her orders without question.


    Evangeline watched the car drive away, her expression tense. At first, she had been confused about why Poppy would attack her now. She and Soren Fawkes were divorced, and Roppy was about to geto everything she wanted with their uing engagement Jealousy alone didn''t seem like a strong enough motive.


    But then it clicked. Poppy must have realized that Evangeline was investigating her and staged this attack to intimidate her, using the threat of apromising video to ensure her sitence. The reason she didn''t order a hit was likely because she didn''t want a major incident so close to her engagement.


    If Poppy knew her movements, it meant she had been having her followed for some


    time. Her every move was likely being monitored.


    Today''s events had also exposed her bodyguards. If she had them hold the men privately, Poppy could potentially find them, silence them, or even turn them against her But at a police station, no n, no matter how


    powerful Poppy was, getting them out would be a far more


    Just as she was sorting through her thoughts, her phone buzzed. It was a message from Finn Lockridge.


    He had arrived at their designated hotel.


    Seeing his text, Evangeline pushed everything else from her mind. Today was her anniversary with Finn, and no crisis was more important than their dinner together. A smile touched her lips.


    "On my way. I''ll be there soon," she texted back before putting her phone away and getting into her car.


    But just as the door clicked shut, she heard a faint noise from behind her. Before she could turn, a cloth was pressed firmly over her face, and a strange, sweet scent filled her lungs. Her body went limp, and the world went ck.