Chapter 495
“Work can wait. I’m not going anywhere until you’re done, even if it takes all day.”
Years ago, those words would have undone her completely. Now they only tightened the invisible walls around her.
She was about to turn back into the room when Colton’s phone lit up on the table. Elyse again.
Kristine stood still, watching him closely.
Colton answered with a calm expression that shifted, as he listened, into something hard and dark. “Understood.” He ended the call and looked up to find Kristine watching him with unconcealed curiosity.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “I’m staying.”
“Is something wrong with Elyse?” Kristine asked. She surprised even herself with what came next. “It’s all right. If she needs you, you should go.”
Colton’s voice was heavy. “She tried to kill herself — cut her wrist. Someone found her in time. I’ve already sent Bobby to handle things at the hospital.”
A quiet, leaden feeling settled over Kristine.
Even a suicide attempt wasn’t enough to pull him away from her. He really was a different man from the one she had known before.
Kristine settled back onto the massage table looking utterly defeated.
If even Elyse couldn’t pull Colton away, there was no other card left to play.
Then Colton’s phone rang — a different tone this time, not Elyse’s.
A few seconds later, he appeared in the doorway.
“Kristine, something urgent has come up at the office. I have to go.”
She kept her expression carefully neutral, suppressing the relief that surged through her. “It’s alright. I know your work comes first,” she said, managing a convincing note of resignation.
Colton looked genuinely troubled. “I’m sorry about this.”
He lingered a moment longer, then turned and walked away.
The instant he was out of sight, a cold, quiet smile crossed Kristine’s face.
Vicky Gibson, the beautician working on her, caught the expression and misread it entirely. “Men always get pulled back to work eventually,” she said sympathetically. “But Mr. Yates is different — I’ve been here a long time, and I almost never see a man willing to sit through an appointment just to be near his partner.”
Kristine glanced at her but said nothing. She wasn’t sad. She had simply confirmed what she already knew — Colton was exactly the same as he’d always been. He never kept his promises.
But right now, that worked in her favor.
“Let’s stop here for today,” Kristine said, sitting up. “Could you fetch your boss for me?”
“Of course,” Vicky replied.
Iris appeared a few minutes later, her expression carefully pleasant. “Is everything alright? Vicky said you’re leaving.”
“I have somewhere I need to be. Could I borrow one of your staff for a little while?”
“For what?” Iris asked, puzzled.
Kristine looked down at her legs. “I can’t manage on my own. I need someone to help me get around.”
Understanding settled over Iris’s face. “Of course. Vicky, go with Ms. Green and stay with her.”
Vicky nodded.
“Thank you,” Kristine said.