Chapter 279
Isolde thanked her and paid her in cash. As Mrs. Higgins put on her coat, she nodded toward the kitchen counter. “That came for your mother. It was forwarded from the estate mail.”
Isolde frowned. A package for Ellyn?
She looked at the return address. It simply read: G. Lancaster.
Her stomach tightened. Grayson.
He had cut off the hospital payments, threatened to let her mother die, and now he was sending packages. There was a note taped to the top.
For Ellyn. Hope this helps. — Grayson.
It felt like a guilty conscience token. A way of telling himself he wasn’t a monster.
Isolde grabbed a knife and sliced the tape. Inside the box were six bottles of “Revive” health supplements — high-end multivitamins and anti-aging pills.
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She stared at them. Supplements? For a woman with internal bleeding?
She picked up one of the bottles. The seal looked intact. But something on the bottom caught her eye — a small, round, neon-orange sticker.
PR SAMPLE — NOT FOR RESALE.
Isolde froze.
PR samples. She remembered instantly. Belle was the brand ambassador for “Revive.” She had boxes of the stuff shipped to the penthouse every month for her social media posts.
Isolde checked the expiration date on the side of the bottle.
EXP: MAY 2024.
It was April. They expired in two weeks.
These weren’t gifts. They were Belle’s nearly expired freebies. Grayson hadn’t bought them or gone to a store — he had likely spotted a box of Belle’s surplus lying around the apartment and told Liam to ship it to Ellyn to assuage his guilt.
Bile rose in Isolde’s throat. It burned.
He was treating her mother like a disposal for his mistress’s trash.
She placed the bottle back in the box. Her hands were shaking — not with sadness, but with a rage so pure it felt like clarity. This was worse than hate. This was contempt.
Isolde picked up the box. She wasn’t going to throw it away. She was going to return it.
The next morning, Isolde drove to the hospital. She didn’t go to her mother’s room first.
She walked past the nurses’ station in the VIP wing. They whispered as she passed, but she didn’t care.
She reached Grayson’s suite. The door was open.
Belle was inside, having set up a ring light and a tripod. She was filming a “Get Ready With Me” video for her social media followers, talking to her phone while applying lip gloss. Grayson watched her from the bed, looking bored and tired.
Isolde walked in without a word and dropped the heavy box onto the table with a resounding thud.
Belle jumped. “Isolde! You ruined my shot!”
Isolde looked at Belle, then at Grayson.
“I’m returning your trash, Belle,” Isolde said.
Grayson looked at the box, then at Isolde. His face was pale, the scratch from the ring still vivid on his cheek.
“What is this?” he asked.
“Supplements for my mother,” Isolde said, her voice dangerously calm. “Did you send them?”
Grayson nodded, looking confused. “Yes. I thought she needed them. They are high quality.”
.
.