Chapter 268

Chapter 268:

“Yes,” Arland said. “He heard rumors about the Sophia blueprints. He is ruthless, Isolde. But he has deeper pockets than anyone else on the East Coast. This is our last shot at funding the prototype.”

Isolde looked at her tired reflection in the rearview mirror. She thought of her mother in the hospital. She thought of Effie’s brave little smile.

“Tell him I will be there,” Isolde said, shifting the car into drive. “I am not afraid of tyrants.”

Miles away, in the hospital, Grayson’s phone rang.

He answered it to the sound of Kaiden sobbing hysterically. “Dad! She’s a witch! Isolde threatened me!”

𝘋о𝗐𝗻𝗹оa𝖽 𝘗𝘋𝖥𝘀 f𝗿е𝖾 𝗼𝗇 𝘨𝗮𝗅𝘯о𝗏𝖾ls.с𝘰m

Grayson listened to the boy cry. He had expected to feel anger toward Isolde.

Instead, he looked at the red scratch on his cheek in the mirror and thought about the way Kaiden had acted at the horse track.

For the first time, Grayson didn’t comfort the boy. He hung up the phone, thinking that maybe — just maybe — Kaiden had deserved to be terrified.

The sky over the Upper East Side was a bruised purple, threatening rain that hadn’t yet fallen.

The asphalt of the St. Jude’s Preparatory Academy playground was damp and smelled of wet leaves and exhaust fumes. It was recess. The air was filled with the high-pitched shrieks of children released from captivity — a chaotic symphony of energy.

Effie sat alone on a cold metal bench near the perimeter fence.

She placed her “Little Bee” drone model carefully inside her backpack, zipping it shut to protect it, then pulled out her lunchbox — a simple pink plastic container, unbranded, unlike the designer leather satchels the other girls carried. She popped the lid. Inside was a sandwich cut into four perfect triangles and a small note from Isolde bearing nothing but a drawing of a rocket ship.

Effie traced the rocket with her fingertip. Her heart rate, usually fast in this noisy environment, slowed down a little.

“Look at her.”

The voice was loud. Deliberately loud.

Effie’s hand froze over her sandwich. She didn’t look up. She knew that voice.

Kaiden stood at the top of the jungle gym, holding court. He was surrounded by four other boys, all wearing the same navy blazers, all looking up at him as though he were a king. Kaiden pointed a finger directly at Effie. “She doesn’t have a dad anymore. My mom says she’s a charity case.”

The playground chatter near them died down. Heads turned. A hush spread like a ripple in a pond.

A boy named Leo, who had borrowed Effie’s eraser during math class, frowned. “A charity case? Like… she’s poor?”

“Worse,” Kaiden said, sliding down the pole and landing with a heavy thud on the rubber mat. He walked toward Effie, his chest puffed out. “She’s a beggar. That’s what my mom calls her. My dad kicked them out because they are parasites.”

Effie gripped the edge of the bench. The plastic of her lunchbox dug into her thigh.

“That’s a lie,” Effie said. Her voice was small, barely a whisper, but her chin was up.

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