Chapter 179

Chapter 179:

The lawn was dotted with picnic blankets and gourmet food stations. Employees mingled, sipping champagne, doing their best to relax while their boss quietly judged them.

Isolde sat on a blanket near the edge of the woods, well away from the main tent. Effie sat beside her, a bandage on her knee, holding a frisbee and gazing wistfully at the other children playing across the lawn.

“Go play, sweetie,” Isolde said, wincing as she awkwardly patted Effie’s hair with her stiff, bandaged left hand. Even that small contact sent a fresh jolt of fire up her wrist. “Just be careful.”

“Will Daddy play with me?” Effie asked, her voice small.

Isolde’s heart broke. “Maybe. You can ask him.”

Ellyn was perched on a folding chair nearby, nervously checking her phone. “Isolde, you really should talk to him. The accounts are still frozen. Payroll is due on Monday.”

𝖢𝗁𝘪ո𝗲se ոo𝘷еl𝘴 𝘵r𝖺𝗻𝘴𝘭𝖺te𝘥 o𝗻 𝗴𝗮𝗹ոоvеlѕ.𝖼𝗼𝗺

“Here,” Isolde said, pulling a slip of paper from her pocket with her good hand. “This is his personal lawyer’s number. Call him. Don’t beg Grayson.”

“How did you get this?” Ellyn asked, eyes widening.

“I have resources,” Isolde said simply.

A ripple moved through the crowd. Heads turned.

Grayson had arrived.

He was walking across the lawn flanked by Belle and Kaiden, all three of them wearing matching outfits — navy blue polo shirts and khaki shorts and skirts. They looked like a catalogue spread for the perfect American family.

It was nauseating.

Belle waved at the employees as though she were the Queen of England, having apparently abandoned the limp she’d performed so dramatically the day before.

Effie stood up. She clutched her frisbee.

“Daddy!” She ran toward him, her little legs pumping hard.

Grayson was in the middle of peeling a grape for Belle. He heard Effie’s voice and looked up. For a brief moment, his face softened. He took a step toward her.

“Daddy, look!” Effie held up the frisbee. “Can we play?”

Grayson opened his mouth to answer.

“Daddy!” Kaiden shrieked, yanking hard on Grayson’s shorts. “I want to ride the pony! Now! You promised!”

Grayson looked down. “Kaiden, just a second —”

“Now!” Kaiden screamed, his face going red. “Ride a horse! Ride a horse!”

Grayson sighed, the path of least resistance winning out as it always did. He scooped Kaiden up. “Okay, okay. Let’s go find the ponies.” He turned his back on Effie.

Effie stood there, the frisbee sinking slowly to her side. She looked as though she had been slapped.

Isolde began to rise, fury climbing her throat.

Effie turned around, tears flooding her eyes, and started running back toward Isolde — blinded by rejection, not watching where she was going.

She didn’t see Belle standing there, sipping a mimosa.

Effie bumped into Belle’s leg. It was barely a tap. Belle’s drink didn’t even spill.

“Ah!” Belle yelped, leaping back as though she’d been struck by lightning.

Effie, startled by the shriek, recoiled. Her foot caught on an exposed tree root.

She went down hard.

Her other knee — the good one — slammed onto a jagged landscaping rock.

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