?Chapter 390:


    Gerard nearly dropped the phone. How did he know? Did Melvin have surveince on him?


    Before Gerard could piece it together, Melvin continued, “I have a message for your boss. Pass it on, would you?”


    “What is it?” Gerard nced nervously at Kristian.


    Melvin didn’t flinch. “Tell him to give up on Freya. She needs someone who’s steady and sincere—someone who treats her right. Your boss is indecisive and fickle. He’s not good enough for her.”


    Gerard stayed silent, his mind racing.


    Why didn’t Melvin confront Kristian directly?


    Melvin had put him in a precarious position!


    “And honestly, if he had any decency as an ex-husband, he’d stop hovering around his ex-wife all the time,” Melvin remarked, his voiceced with annoyance. “Freya won’t be fooled by a few days of attention; he can’t just swoop in and win her back like that.”


    Gerard’s heart mmed against his ribcage.


    Something about Kristian’s frosty attitude truly scared him.


    “And another thing,” Melvin added, eyes narrowing.


    Gerard felt the edges of panic gnawing at him. There was more? Wasn’t it bad enough that he’d already thrown him under the bus?


    “Freya is my girlfriend now. If he has any dignity, he’ll back off,” Melvin dered with cold finality.


    Without waiting for a response, he ended the call with a heartless click. His words kept reying in Gerard’s mind, slicing deeper each time.


    Attempting to defuse the tension, Gerard managed a weak smile and said, “Melvin has a strange sense of humor, huh? Just try not to take it to heart.”


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    “He’s never joking!” Freya shot back sharply, her voice tinged with certainty.


    Gerard was on the brink of tears, his emotions teetering as if on a cliff’s edge.


    Freya’s actions onlypounded his distress, twisting the knife deeper into his already aching heart.


    “Tell him after you get out of the car—” Kristian seemed unaffected by the earlier conversation, disying a calm that bordered on indifference. He didn’t pick up any hint of possessiveness or romantic affection from Melvin toward Freya, nor did he sense any animosity that mighte from a love rival.


    To him, Melvin’s stance was that of a person merely defending a friend. Gerard, caught off guard, faltered. “What?”


    Kristian’s voice was steady, almost detached. “If he’s never even been in a rtionship, then why is he trying to fake one with someone else?” Lifting his eyelids slowly, his gaze was deep, his eyes a well of secrets. “Imagine how awkward it would be if his act were to fall apart.”


    Freya didn’t say a word, her lips pressed into a thin line.


    Suddenly, a realization dawned on Gerard. “You’re implying that Melvin and Ms. Briggs…” His voice trailed off as he stole a nce at Freya through the rearview mirror.


    His suspicion seemed confirmed by her demeanor—she was the epitome of calm.


    Kristian’s next words were directed squarely at Freya, his tone firm yet not unkind. “You don’t need to fake a rtionship with anyone. If this is merely a ruse to deter my affections, then even if you pretended with ten people, it wouldn’t be enough to dissuade me.”


    Freya’s brow creased subtly, her confusion mounting as she struggled to decipher his thoughts.


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