Chapter 37. An Answer

Sophia’s POV

I couldn’t bear to see Evelyn that way.

The last time we met, it was at her engagement. I saw how she drank herself into a stupor, her glass never leaving her hand, her eyes locked on Nathan every chance she got.

It was her engagement, for God’s sake. She should’ve been celebrating with Victor, laughing, dancing — but all of her focus, all of her heart, was still wrapped around a man who wasn’t hers anymore, but was with Isabella.

I hated seeing her hurt.

Evelyn wasn’t the kind of woman who drank, not before Nathan. But after his supposed death, she turned to alcohol, searching for peace at the bottom of a glass.

And when he came back? Oh, it got worse.

It tore me up inside to watch her breakdown. Evelyn was my best friend — more like my sister — and I’d been there through all of it.

Her mourning, her endless tears, the sleepless nights. I thought Victor might give her a chance at happiness, even if I knew she’d nev