Chapter 28:


    The photo from the park was everywhere. But it was cropped. It showed Grayson, looking heroic and concerned, holding Kaiden’s hand. Belle looked worried and maternal.


    And in the background, blurry and distorted, was Isolde.


    The captions were brutal.


    Ex-wife crashes family time. Jealous much? Look at how Belle looks at Kaiden. That’s a real mom. Isolde Carson looks unhinged. No wonder he left her.


    Isolde stared at ament that said Kaiden had Belle’s eyes.


    “The public is blind,” Isolde muttered. “Or stupid.”


    There was a knock at the door.


    Isolde opened it. Harper stood there, holding a bottle of Dom Pérignon in one hand and a thick legal folder in the other. She didn’t wait for an invitation. She pushed past Isolde into the room, bringing with her a gust of expensive perfume.


    Harper looked around the cramped hotel room. She looked at the two suitcases in the corner. Her eyes softened.


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    “Oh, Izzy,” she said, using the nickname only she was allowed to use.


    “Don’t,” Isolde said, closing the door. “Don’t pity me. This is freedom.”


    Harper set the champagne on the wobbly desk. “It looks like a prison cell with better thread count. You know my guest room is empty. You and Effie could havee to me.”


    “It’s temporary. And I need to stand on my own two feet.” Isolde sat down. “Did you see the PR spin? They’re setting me up as the unstable ex. They want to make sure if I ask for custody, I look crazy.”


    Harper opened the folder. “That’s exactly what they’re doing. Grayson’s team is good. But we’re better. I’ve known Grayson as long as you have, remember? I know how his ego works.”


    “I don’t want his money,” Isolde said.


    Harper paused. “Izzy, don’t be a martyr. You deserve half. You built his life. I watched you sketch those designs on our kitchen table while he was out partying. I’m not letting him erase that.”


    “If I take his money, he controls me. He’ll drag it out in court for years. He’ll use the money to make me look greedy.” Isolde looked at Effie, who was coloring in the corner. “I want a clean break. I want sole custody. And I want to beat him.”


    “Beat him how?”


    Isolde pulled up an email on her phone. “I registered for the ISSDC.”


    Harper’s jaw dropped. “The spacepetition? You? But you haven’t worked in…”


    “Five years,” Isolde finished. “I’m reactivating ‘Sophia.''”


    Harper gasped, a spark of recognition lighting up her eyes. She knew that name. She was the one who had helped Isolde set up the encrypted proxy servers years ago so she could consult anonymously.


    “The Sophia? The ghost engineer from the forums? You’re bringing her back?”


    “I’m going to crush SkyLine on their own turf,” Isolde said. Her voice was steady. “I’m going to show the world that the brain behind the Phoenix wasn’t him. It wasn’t Belle. It was me.”


    Harper grinned. “Okay. I like this. I like this a lot. This is the Izzy I remember.”


    She pulled out a document. “Then let’s control the narrative. We release a statement.”


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