Chapter 514
Chapter 514:
Belle covered her mouth in feigned shock, though her eyes glittered with satisfaction. “No need for all that, Harper. We only came to wish Isolde a happy birthday. Without Grayson here, she must be so lonely. We’re simply being kind p>
Isolde’s hands tightened at her sides. Her eyes dropped involuntarily to Belle’s hand wrapped around Grayson’s arm. The lie she had told Madam Beatrice flashed through her mind, and heat climbed her face — the acute, burning embarrassment of a woman who had protected someone else’s feelings only to be cornered by the very situation she’d invented.
Grayson said nothing throughout. His eyes had not left Isolde since he walked up. He had wanted to say happy birthday the moment he saw her. Her cold distance and the charged standoff between the two groups had locked the words somewhere he couldn’t reach them.
The tension crested.
Arland stepped out of the private room with calm, unhurried ease. He positioned himself at Isolde’s side, shoulder to shoulder, his body angled naturally to shield her. His manner was composed and gentlemanly, his voice polite but carrying no room for negotiation.
“Grayson. This is a private gathering. Please leave p>
Grayson’s gaze moved to Arland and Isolde standing together. A surge of anger he hadn’t anticipated flared in his chest. His hand curled into a fist at his side. A cold, thin smile crossed his lips.
𝖢𝗁і𝗇𝖾𝗌𝘦 nо𝘷𝗲𝗹𝘴 𝘁𝘳а𝗇𝘀𝘭𝗮𝘵𝖾𝖽 оn
“I’m a member here. I go where I like. No one gets to tell me otherwise p>
He did not prolong it. He yanked his arm free from Belle’s grip and led Daron — still smirking — directly into the vacant VIP suite next door, intent on staying on the floor.
As he passed Isolde, he slowed for half a step, dropping his voice so only she could hear.
“The champagne earlier. Consider it my treat p>
The door of the neighboring suite closed behind him with a firm, quiet click.
Isolde stood motionless. The pieces fell into place.
The unmarked Dom Pérignon had been from him all along.
But what did the gesture actually mean? Condescension? Mockery? Another form of surveillance dressed up as generosity? She couldn’t make sense of it — only felt the frustration rise hot and sharp in her chest, every trace of the evening’s hard-won ease dissolved completely.
The heavy atmosphere in the private room lingered, but Harper had been quietly planning a surprise long before any of it. Without telling Isolde, she had called the family nanny in advance and asked her to bring Effie to the club — hoping to let mother and daughter cut the cake together and chase away the unpleasantness of the evening.
Moments later, a waiter led Effie into the second-floor hallway. The little girl wore a delicate tulle dress, her hair in neat braids, clutching a small paper flower as she hurried to find her mother. She ran too fast, her short legs carrying her straight toward the restroom without any attention to her surroundings.
At the far end of the hallway, Grayson had grown restless in the stifling air of the neighboring suite and stepped out to smoke. He stood with a cigarette between his fingers, his mind fixed on Isolde’s expression from earlier.