For three straight days, Mason Lawson hadn’t reached out to Eve Vaughn.

The entertainment news headlines had been wiped clean by Mason Lawson’s PR team.

But the image was seared into Eve Vaughn’s mind.

In the study hall, Eve Vaughn stared at her silent phone, a bitter feeling welling up inside her.

Even though she had been the one to hang up on him, now that she had calmed down, she desperately wanted an explanation.

’If he called her again now, she definitely wouldn’t hang up.’

But he didn’t. He never called back.

Just then, her phone suddenly vibrated. Eve Vaughn’s eyes lit up, and she quickly looked at the screen.

The next second, her expression fell. 𝒇𝒓𝒆𝒆𝙬𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝒎

It wasn’t Mason Lawson calling. It was Mia Kendall.

Eve Vaughn walked outside the study hall and answered the phone listlessly.

Mia Kendall’s voice, laced with both anger and concern, came through the phone. "I asked you to come out the day before yesterday, and you said you were in a bad mood. It’s been three days. You can’t stay like this forever, can you? Is some lousy guy really worth it? Get over here! Bring your gym clothes. I’m waiting for you at the gym across from your university!"

Mia Kendall had been obsessed with fitness lately. Not long ago, she’d gone to an audition where the director had been very pleased with her, but the role required her to wear a crop top.

In the end, she lost out to someone else because she didn’t have defined abs and was cut from the running.

Ever since then, Mia Kendall had been hitting the gym every few days, determined to get those defined abs.

...

「At the gym.」

Eve Vaughn was in no mood to work out, nor had she brought any gym clothes, so she just found a random place to sit.

She watched Mia Kendall working up a sweat on the treadmill. "I think you were right," she said. "Birds of a feather flock together. Maybe there’s a reason Mason Lawson and Eric Kendall are such good friends."

Mia Kendall shot her an I-told-you-so look. "See? Now you believe me, don’t you? Just think about it. Even a good-for-nothing playboy heir like Eric Kendall has women throwing themselves at him. So what about a man like Mason Lawson, who’s rich, powerful, and capable? When you first told me you were with him, I thought it was an even worse idea than you being with Julian Lawson!"

Eve Vaughn said dejectedly, "He was the one who helped me after Julian Lawson dumped me. I was so stupid. I thought that was love."

Mia looked exasperated. "He wasn’t helping you, he was hitting on you. To you, it felt like help, but for Mason Lawson, all of those things could be solved with a single word. When a guy wants to reel a woman in, isn’t that the first step?"

A look of surprise flickered across Eve’s face. "When did you learn so much about this?"

Mia pursed her lips. "I grew up watching Eric Kendall pick up girls. I picked it up by osmosis! It’s a shame I’m a girl, though. All this talent with no place to use it."

Something suddenly occurred to Eve. "Oh, right, does Eric Kendall know you were the one who reported Crimson Spring Resort?"

At the mention of this, Mia froze, seemingly lost in thought.

She had been keeping herself busy for the past few days, running between auditions for various productions. She had chalked that night up to Eric being drunk, and since it was the anniversary of his mother’s death, she figured he had deliberately humiliated her.

But now, as the memory of that night flooded her mind, a chill ran down her spine.

"Mia? What’s wrong?" Eve asked softly. "Is something bothering you?"

Mia quickly shook her head and forced a smile. "No, nothing. Can we please stop talking about these disgusting, lousy men? Let’s go out for hot pot tonight. We’ll get something spicy, have some soda, and I guarantee you’ll forget all about it!"

Just then, a shrill voice cut through their conversation.

"Eve Vaughn, you bitch!"

Charlotte Vaughn, dressed in skintight workout clothes, stormed toward them.

She probably never expected to run into Eve Vaughn, of all people, at the gym.

Charlotte was both shocked and furious. ’Talk about a small world,’ she thought with a sneer.

Right now, her parents’ divorce was an ugly, irreconcilable mess.

The family matriarch was even urging Jason Vaughn to start dividing the assets. The rumor was that they wanted Lana Chambers to leave with nothing.

Mia said to Eve in disbelief, "We must have had some bad luck today. Who’d have thought we’d run into your asshole cousin here?"

Eve Vaughn stood up, coldly watching Charlotte approach.

Soon, Charlotte was standing before her, demanding, "Was it you? Did you incite my parents to get a divorce?"

Eve replied calmly, "If your parents’ love was so rock-solid, could anyone really drive a wedge between them? Besides, they came after me first. I was just speaking the truth!"

Mia had no idea what they were talking about.

Charlotte crossed her arms and sneered at Eve. "I know you hate me. Do you think playing these petty little games is going to break Julian and me up? Dream on!"

Eve gave a scornful laugh. "I have no interest in picking up trash I’ve already thrown away. Of course, if you enjoy picking up trash, that’s none of my business. After all, he’s just my leftovers."

With that, she turned to Mia. "The air in here is getting toxic. Let’s go."

Mia chimed in, "No wonder. There’s a pile of dog shit right in front of us. The stench is overwhelming."

As Charlotte glared daggers at them, the two left together.

Once in the locker room, Mia said, "I’m going to go take a quick shower. Wait for me, okay? I’m so sweaty!"

"Okay, go ahead."

Eve sat in the waiting area, scrolling through her phone as she waited for Mia to finish her shower.

Before long, Charlotte snuck up behind her and viciously yanked her hair.

Caught completely off guard, Eve cried out as a sharp pain shot through her head. It felt as if her scalp was being torn off.

"You little bitch! You think you can just ruin my parents’ marriage and get away with it?"

Charlotte was pulling her hair with all her might, trying to keep her from fighting back.

And in this position, it was indeed much harder for Eve to fight back.

She jabbed her elbow back hard, but Charlotte dodged the blow.

Charlotte taunted smugly, "I thought you were such a tough fighter? Go on, fight back now!"