Chapter 247
Grayson groaned. His eyelids fluttered open. The pain in his chest was blinding, making his vision swim. He heard the sobbing. He heard the desperate, terrified voice right beside his ear. His brain, clouded by shock and agony, registered the crying woman — and then his unfocused eyes searched past her.
“Isolde… Effie…?” he rasped, his voice barely a whisper.
Belle, seeing his gaze flicker past her, immediately pushed herself into his line of sight. “I’m here, Gray! I’m here! I’m okay!” she cried, deliberately answering a question he hadn’t asked.
Isolde had just taken a step toward him.
Her foot froze in the dirt.
The blood in her veins turned instantly to ice, her lungs collapsing around the weight of what she had just heard. She looked at Grayson — bleeding, broken — and at Belle answering for her and their daughter. In that moment, Belle’s cry of “I’m okay!” sounded like the only answer he had been looking for.
Isolde’s mind rapidly connected the dots. Belle had fallen near the bench. Grayson had run in that direction, his focus seemingly locked on the immediate danger. Her own body had been merely in the path — an unfortunate obstruction he had cleared to reach the true object of his concern. The thought was a cold, sharp blade twisting in her gut.
A bitter, agonizing smile twisted her lips.
She was a fool. For one single second, she had thought he cared.
Paramedics sprinted across the field, carrying a bright orange trauma bag. They swarmed Grayson, pushing Belle back.
Isolde didn’t move closer. She took a slow step backward and looked at the crowd forming around Grayson and Belle. They looked like a tragic, devoted couple.
𝖱𝖾𝗮𝗱 wіtho𝘂t і𝘯𝘁𝖾𝗿𝗋𝘂𝘱𝗍𝘪𝗈ոs оn g𝗮𝗅𝗇𝘰𝘃𝗲𝗅s.c𝗈𝘮
She knelt down and picked up Effie, who was trembling violently. “It is okay,” Isolde whispered into Effie’s hair, her voice dead and hollow. “Mommy is here. We are going home.”
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She turned her back on the chaos and walked away, her steps heavy, leaving Grayson bleeding in the dirt.
On the stretcher, Grayson tried to find Isolde’s figure among the crowd — but all he caught was her back as she walked away. He wanted to call out to her, but the pain was so intense he couldn’t make a sound.
The wail of the ambulance siren cut through the peaceful atmosphere of the polo club like a jagged knife.
Red and blue lights flashed against the white stables. The paramedics moved with practiced urgency, strapping Grayson onto a rigid backboard and securing a thick foam collar around his neck. Belle stood right next to the stretcher, crying loudly into a tissue and clutching an arm where the torn sleeve revealed a nasty scrape, a smudge of dirt and blood marking her cheekbone.
Isolde stood near the parking lot, holding Effie’s hand, waiting for the valet to bring her car. She wanted to leave. She needed to leave before she suffocated.
Suddenly, Kaiden broke away from his nanny and sprinted toward Isolde. His face was red, his eyes wild with a terrifying, learned hatred. He stopped a few feet away and pointed a trembling finger directly at her face.
“It was you!” Kaiden screamed, his voice cracking. “You did this! You hurt Daddy and Mommy Belle! You are a witch!”
.