Chapter 417
Chapter 417:
Isolde crossed to a plain, unmarked door at the back of her office and pressed her thumb against a biometric scanner. The door hissed open, revealing a small, windowless room lined with sound-dampening foam and humming server racks. She stepped inside, and the door sealed behind her with a heavy thud, cutting her off completely from the outside world.
She set the teacup on the corner of the desk, beside the small silver-framed photo of Effie.
“I am just clearing the board,” Isolde murmured.
Then a red light began flashing on the hardwired console — not her cell phone, but the emergency landline, the one that bypassed all network interference. The custom alert she had assigned to Harper Vance for absolute emergencies.
Isolde reached out and answered.
“Harper?” she said.
As she listened to the voice on the other end, the color drained completely from her face. Her stomach dropped into a sickening, icy void.
Inside the Carson Dynamics office, Isolde shot up from her desk so fast that her heavy ergonomic chair rolled backward and slammed into the glass wall, scattering a stack of files across the floor.
“Effie?” Isolde gasped, her voice cracking. “What happened p>
“She fell off the jungle gym during recess,” Harper’s voice came through the speaker, tight with panic. “It looks like a broken arm, Isolde. She was crying so hard p>
𝘚𝗁𝗮rе y𝘰𝗎𝗋 𝘵𝘩𝘰u𝗴htѕ 𝗼ո.соm
Isolde’s heart hammered frantically against her ribs. Her fingertips went instantly numb.
“Where is she?” Isolde demanded, already running toward the office door.
“The school tried your cell, but you were in that shielded room — it went straight to voicemail,” Harper explained quickly. “They panicked. Since Grayson is a primary benefactor on the school’s board, the headmaster used his private line to notify him p>
Isolde stopped dead in the hallway. A cold wave of dread washed over her.
“He took her?” Isolde asked, her voice dropping to a terrifying whisper.
“He carried her out to his car,” Harper confirmed. “He said he was taking her to Lenox Hill Hospital p>
Isolde didn’t say another word. She hung up and sprinted toward the elevators.
Arland stepped out of his office, reading the sheer terror on her face in an instant.
“Take my car,” he said, tossing a heavy set of Audi keys through the air. “It’s faster than the rental p>
Isolde caught them mid-stride and didn’t stop running.
The drive from Brooklyn to the Upper East Side was a sickening blur of blaring horns, screeching tires, and red lights run without hesitation. Isolde’s hands gripped the leather steering wheel so tightly her knuckles ached.
She hit the call button on the steering wheel and dialed Grayson’s private number. It rang four times and went to voicemail.
At a red light, she grabbed her phone from the console and typed with shaking fingers: Where is she? Answer me NOW.
Two agonizing minutes later, the screen lit up with a reply.
Penthouse. The ER doctor already set the bone. She is resting.
Isolde slammed her foot on the gas.
The penthouse. The old marital home. The place she had sworn she would never set foot in again.
She pulled the Audi aggressively into the circular driveway of the luxury building, threw the keys at the valet without looking at him, and ran for the glass doors.