Chapter 476
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Chapter 476:
Gaston Collins stepped out behind her in a flawless, razor-sharp Tom Ford tuxedo. He didn’t look at the cameras. He didn’t acknowledge the other celebrities. His dark, unwavering gaze was locked entirely on his wife. He placed his large hand firmly at the small of her back, guiding her up the iconic steps. Their body language was a physical fortress of absolute devotion — every whispered rumor of a PR marriage incinerated on the spot by the heat radiating between them.
Inside the museum, the Temple of Dendur had been transformed into a lavish private dining room. Jocelyn and Gaston stood near the ancient Egyptian ruins, engaged in easy conversation with a French ambassador.
Then the cloying scent of salon perfume cut through the surrounding notes of expensive champagne.
Chloe Monroe pushed her way into their circle. She wore a dress cut far too low, her eyes bright with a desperate, barely concealed need for attention. She had slipped into the gala on a borrowed ticket, determined to prove she still had access to the Collins world.
“Gaston,” Chloe said warmly, flashing a wide, practiced smile and completely ignoring Jocelyn. She extended her hand toward the lapel of his tuxedo. “It’s so loud in here. We should find a quiet corner to catch up on your sleep architecture p>
The surrounding socialites and politicians stopped talking. The air thickened with scandalous anticipation.
Jocelyn didn’t flinch. She took a slow, unhurried sip of her champagne, her expression a study in elegant boredom. She had no need to fight this battle herself.
Gaston took a deliberate half-step backward, withdrawing entirely from Chloe’s reach. He regarded her outstretched hand as though it were something contaminated.
“Dr. Monroe.” His voice was a low, commanding boom that rolled off the stone walls of the temple and carried across the room.
The crowd went completely silent.
“I believe my security team made my boundaries perfectly clear to you last week,” Gaston continued, his tone saturated with public, unhurried disdain. “My wife takes flawless care of my health. You are not my doctor. You are certainly not my friend p>
𝖥iոd 𝗻о𝘷𝘦𝗅 P𝘋𝖥ѕ оո
Chloe’s smile fractured. Her face drained to chalk.
Gaston delivered the final blow without raising his voice. “If your medical practice is failing so miserably that you have resorted to stalking former clients at charity events, I suggest you leave before I have security escort you out. Again p>
A collective intake of breath moved through the crowd. The socialites stared at Chloe with naked, merciless curiosity.
Chloe’s hands trembled. Tears of absolute, crushing humiliation welled in her eyes. She pressed her clutch to her face and walked out of the temple at a near-run, her heels clicking frantically against the stone floor.
Jocelyn lowered her champagne glass. She turned to Gaston, a slow, luminous smile spreading across her face, and pressed a soft kiss to his jawline.
Gaston’s arm closed around her waist, pulling her firmly against his side. “Are you satisfied, Ms. Wolfe?” he murmured against her ear.
“Very,” she whispered back.
Across town, in a quiet corner of a dimly lit Michelin-starred restaurant, Bella Douglas sat at a corner table in a conservative navy dress she absolutely despised. She drove her silver fork into a piece of expensive caviar with pointed aggression.