Chapter 238
Isolde’s heart stopped for a beat. The coldness spread from her chest all the way to her fingertips.
In his eyes, her freedom — her entire future — was worth less than Belle’s performance of a stomachache.
“Get the car ready!” Grayson called to a nearby security guard. He scooped Belle into his arms and held her against his chest. “We’re going to the hospital!”
He didn’t look back. He carried Belle out of the ballroom, pushing through the staring guests.
Isolde stood perfectly still.
A waiter rushed past, his heavy black shoe stepping squarely onto the first page of the divorce agreement, leaving a dirty footprint across the text.
Isolde slowly sank to her knees.
She reached out and picked up the first page. Then the second. Her movements were mechanical, robotic.
A shadow fell over her.
𝗧𝗵о𝘶𝗌𝖺𝗻d𝘴 𝗈𝗳 𝗿𝗲𝖺𝖽𝗲𝗿𝗌 о𝘯 𝗴𝘢𝘭𝗇𝘰𝘃𝘦𝘭𝘴.cоm
Arland knelt beside her and gathered the remaining pages, handing them over without a word.
“Is this the man you spent five years loving?” he asked quietly.
Isolde brushed the dirt from the paper. She didn’t cry. There were no tears left for Grayson Lancaster.
“Yes,” Isolde said, her voice hollow. “I was completely blind.”
Arland stood and offered her his hand. “Let’s go. If Nathaniel won’t talk to us, we’ll find someone else. Silicon Valley is full of money.”
Isolde took his hand and pulled herself upright. She looked at the empty doorway where Grayson had disappeared.
“No,” Isolde said, her eyes hardening to dark glass. “I’m going to make him realize that losing me was the biggest mistake of his miserable life.”
The fluorescent lights of the emergency room were merciless.
The doctor clicked his pen and looked at Grayson. “It’s just trapped gas, Mr. Lancaster. Indigestion. She’ll be fine.”
Grayson let out a long, slow breath. The adrenaline drained from his system, leaving behind a heavy, crushing exhaustion.
He walked into the private curtained area. Belle was lying on the hospital bed, a blanket pulled to her chest. She reached out and took his hand.
“Gray,” Belle whispered, her eyes wide and tearful. “I was so scared. For a second I thought — I thought our baby —”
Grayson snatched his hand back as though she had burned him.
His heart slammed against his ribs. “What baby? Are you pregnant?”
Belle looked away, biting her lip. “No… I just meant… if we had one…”
Grayson pressed his fingers to his temples. His head was pounding.
For a split second, when she said the word baby, he hadn’t felt joy.
He had felt absolute, suffocating terror.
The Tuesday morning light in the Orbital Systems office was gray and unforgiving. The atmosphere was thick with tension.
Arland paced back and forth in front of the conference table, where the speakerphone in the center sat active and waiting.
“Nathaniel,” Arland said, pressing his hands flat against the wood. “I do not doubt your caution. But Isolde is a top-tier engineer. Her personal life has zero bearing on our deliverables.”
Isolde sat quietly in the corner chair, her eyes fixed on the speakerphone, her face expressionless.
.