Ex-Lover as My Divorce Lawyer? This Train Wreck Just Got Scorching! - Chapter 26: Chapter 26

"He's got a daughter—what do you think?"
Just not with Victoria.
Hearing that, Liam rolled his eyes: "You've got a daughter too. Are you married?"
It took Sophia a few seconds to catch on: "Maybe he just didn't marry Victoria, or they're already divorced."
When she'd left Manhattan, she hadn't even known if Ethan and Victoria had tied the knot yet.
But the reality now was that Ethan had a new wife and an adorable daughter.
"She's really his kid?"
"His daughter and Mia look like twins. You tell me if she's his."
Thinking of Jamie's face, Sophia couldn't lie to herself.
Without blood relation, how could two kids look so alike?
"Alright then, so he moved fast—married, divorced, remarried, and had a daughter Mia's age."
"You're unbelievable."
Sophia cut him off before he could speculate more about Ethan, speaking seriously: "Look, if I really go to Paris, I'm probably never coming back. This studio, with you running it..."
"I'm not exactly confident about that either." Sophia's tone shifted as she became playful again.
"Now you're even cracking jokes like that—you really have changed. I don't have to worry about you taking care of yourself or Mia in Paris anymore."
Liam was referencing her old personality, and Sophia couldn't argue.
She'd never had many friends growing up, always kept to herself.
She thought she preferred solitude, but everyone knew it was because of her difficult personality—others just didn't want to hang out with her.
"As long as Mia doesn't turn out like I was as a kid, I'll count my blessings."
After having Mia, she'd tried to eliminate the worst parts of her personality. Liam thought she'd done a great job raising Mia to be who she was now.
But Sophia knew Mia still had some personality issues.
She could only hope that leaving Chicago, or spending more time with her grandparents, might help.
"Everyone's got their own way of being. You can't just erase it because you don't like it. How's that any different from what my family did to me?"
Liam directly compared Sophia to his own family, making her face flush with embarrassment.
"Thanks for throwing me under the bus like that."
Just as Sophia finished speaking, the intercom rang. She glanced at Liam and walked over to answer.
"Ms. Reed, the front desk says there's a Mr. James here to see you."
"Tell him no."
Sophia answered curtly and hung up immediately.
Seeing her sour expression, Liam couldn't help but speculate: "What? He tracked you down at work?"
"The guy's nuts."
Sophia's uncharacteristic outburst made Liam burst out laughing.
"You really have changed since having Mia." He chuckled as he got up from the couch, straightening his suit. "Want me to do some recon? If Mia's older than his daughter, you've got the upper hand."
"I was pregnant before he married Victoria. How could his daughter possibly be older than Mia?"
Right—why would Jamie be older than Mia?
Sophia suddenly snapped back to reality. When she'd seen Jamie, she hadn't thought the girl was much younger than Mia.
Had Ethan really cheated?
But how was that possible?
Hearing this, Liam straightened up: "If Mia's older than his daughter, what are you worried about?"
"You…"
"My bad, my bad." Seeing Sophia about to blow up, Liam didn't dare push further and apologetically headed out of the office.
The moment Liam left, Sophia couldn't wait to get to the bottom of this.
She picked up the intercom, then immediately put it down.
She turned and headed downstairs.
The elevator doors barely opened before she bolted out.
But the lobby was nearly empty, with no sign of Ethan.
Sophia chased outside the building entrance and suddenly spotted a figure in the distance.
"Ethan!"
The man was about to get in his car when he heard someone calling his name and immediately turned around.
Sophia's undignified shouting made her throat ache.
Ethan stood there looking at her. They just stared at each other—neither speaking first, neither moving toward the other.
After a while, Sophia took out her phone and called a number from her blocked list.
Three seconds later, the man in her line of sight raised his phone.
"You…"
"Don't talk. I need to ask you something."
Ethan immediately went silent, only wind noise coming through the phone.
Sophia's voice was still shaking.
Ethan was right there in front of her.
She knew she shouldn't be doing this, knew that working up the courage would only end in pain.
But she still had to know for sure.
"Jamie—is she your daughter?"