That was true. Evangeline knew they should be working together to escape. But the bitterness was a hard pill to swallow.


    Instead of agreeing, she shot back, "That''s easy for you to say, Miss Yates. It wasn''t your child who died. If I had been the one to cause the death of your unborn baby out of petty jealousy, do you think you could just ''put it aside''?"


    At the question, Poppy looked away, a flicker of guilt in her eyes. "That was an ident."


    Evangeline let out a derisiveugh. "You know perfectly well whether it was an ident or not. The stunt you tried to pull on me earlier, trying to have those men ruin my reputation-wasn''t that just an attempt to bury this whole affair for good?"


    Her usation hung in the air, and Poppy dropped the pretense. "You should know that Soren never loved you," she said, her voice turning cold. "Even if that child had survived, its life would have been nothing but a tragedy."


    "I have always been the one in Soren''s heart. I know you wanted to use the baby to keep him, but even if he had loved the child, it would have only been love for the child, not for you."


    "I made the choice for you," Poppy continued, a twisted sort of justification in her tone. "With a child, you would have only been more miserable, more conflicted, and more unable to let go of your feelings for him." She took a breath. "Without the child, you''re now free to be with Finn without any attachments."


    "Evangeline, you''re trapping yourself in the past with a child that''s gone. It will only bring you more pain. You should be looking to the future, not letting a baby and your hatred chain you to a lifetime of misery."


    Evangeline was so stunned by the familiar, condescending advice that she almostughed. Soren had told her the same thing. Look forward. Forget the child, forget the hatred.


    To them, the child was irrelevant, so of course they could say ''forget.''


    She was about to retort when she heard a noise from outside the door. Someone wasing. Instantly, her heart leaped into her throat.


    Something was wrong.


    From the moment she''d seen Poppy, a thought had flickered in the back of her mind, but she hadn''t grasped it. Now, it hit her with full force.


    The logic was wed.


    The men had said they were hired by Soren''s rival. If that were true, his rival should have known that she and Soren were divorced and that Poppy was the one he was about to many. A logical person would have kidnapped Poppy, not her.


    But they had taken them both.


    There had to be another reason.


    A cold sweat traced its way down her spine as the realization dawned on her. She shot a look at Poppy, her eyes sharp and urgent, so intense that it startled Poppy.


    "You''re right," Evangeline said, nodding slowly. "We are in the same boat. We should put our personal issues aside."


    Poppy, thinking her words had finally gotten through, felt a small measure of relief, but she was also puzzled by Evangeline''s sudden change of heart.


    Just then, the warehouse door swung open. One of the kidnappers entered, pushing a wheelchair. In it sat a man dressed in a mboyant purple suit, radiating an aura of arrogant defiance, Evangeline''s eyes were drawn to his legs. One of trouser legs was empty.


    "Mr. Howard?" Poppy was the first to speak.


    his


    At the name, Evangeline recognized him too. He was one of the wealthy young heirs who used to be close with Soren often foining him for in


    reckless streetfaces the


    countryside. And among the@rowd that used to mock her, Mr. Howard had always been the most enthusiastic.