Chapter 476

Chapter 476:

Isolde’s fingers clamped down hard on the thick wool collar.

She did not pull it toward her shoulders.

Instead, she twisted her wrist and yanked the coat violently out of Grayson’s hands. With one fluid, brutal motion, she hurled the heavy garment sideways.

The coat flew through the swirling snow and landed with a wet, sickening smack directly into the slush-filled drainage gutter at the edge of the terrace. Thick, freezing mud instantly soaked into the pristine wool.

W𝗲𝗲kl𝘆 𝗿е𝘭e𝗮s𝖾𝗌 o𝘯 ѕ.𝖼𝗈𝗆

Grayson froze. His lungs stopped expanding. He remained in his offering stance, empty hands hovering in the frigid air, and slowly turned his head to look at the ruined coat lying in the mud.

Isolde stood tall. Her body still shivered, but her eyes were completely devoid of warmth.

“My body is freezing,” she said. Her voice trembled from the cold, but the words were sharp as broken glass. “But your coat makes me physically sick. I find it entirely disgusting p>

The words hit Grayson harder than the blizzard. They landed like a fist driving straight through his ribs, crushing his heart into dust.

Isolde did not wait for a response. She stepped around him, spine perfectly straight, and walked into the warm, brightly lit lobby.

Grayson remained standing in the open doorway as the freezing wind battered his body. The sudden, violent motion of reaching for her had torn the healing tissue on his back. He felt the warm, wet slide of fresh blood soaking through his bandages and staining his white dress shirt.

He didn’t care. The physical pain was nothing compared to the devastation in his chest.

Belle pushed through the crowd of onlookers and rushed to the door. She glanced at the gutter and let out a horrified shriek.

“Oh my god!” she screamed. “That is a custom Armani! That crazy bitch just threw twenty thousand dollars into the mud p>

Belle hurried out into the snow, carefully navigating the slush in her heels, and dragged the heavy, ruined coat back inside. She turned to Grayson with exaggerated sympathy, brushing snow from his shoulder.

“Gray, leave her alone,” Belle said. “She is completely ungrateful. You tried to help her, and she acts like a lunatic p>

Grayson slowly turned his head to look at her.

He took in her perfectly styled hair, her manufactured concern, the muddy coat draped over her arms. Suddenly, the sound of Belle’s voice made his skin crawl — loud, grating, and entirely meaningless.

He shoved her hand off his shoulder without a word, then turned and walked heavily toward the elevators, leaving Belle standing alone in the lobby with a pile of wet, muddy wool.

Across the lobby, Harper ran toward Isolde with a large, dry, heated towel she had grabbed from the spa desk. She threw it over Isolde’s shoulders and rubbed her arms frantically.

“Isolde! You are freezing!” Harper cried.

Isolde pulled the warm towel tight around her neck. Her teeth were still chattering, but her eyes were bright and fiercely alive.