Chapter 148:


    Guilt crawled up the back of his neck, hot and prickly. He walked out into the corridor to answer.


    Isolde watched his back disappear through the door. The corner of her mouth lifted in a mirthless smile.


    She looked at the boy in the bed. The swelling was going down. He looked so much like Belle — the shape of the eyes, the chin. The suspicion that had been gnawing at her for years hardened into a cold, immovable fact. It coiled around her heart like a snake.


    Grayson returned a momentter, looking flushed. “Belle is on her way back. She went home to change and get some food. She’s parking now.”


    Isolde didn’t look up from her phone. “Good. The lead actress is returning from her intermission. The understudy can go home.”


    ???????? ??n a?у ??е???????? o?? ????l?о??e??s.c????


    “Don’t be like that,” Grayson said, his voice tightening. “She was overwhelmed. She needed a break.”


    Isolde closed her eyes and said nothing. She was simply counting down the seconds.


    A rustle from the bed. A groan.


    Isolde stood immediately, but she didn’t move to the bedside. She stayed by the sofa.


    Kaiden blinked his eyes open, looking groggy. He turned his head, found her face, and his expression crumpled.


    “Why are you here?” he croaked. “Where’s Belle Mommy?”


    Isolde’s face didn’t change. “She’s on her way back up. How do you feel?”


    Kaiden huffed and turned his face into the pillow. “Go away. Bad woman.”


    The noise woke Grayson. He jerked upright, blinking. “Kaiden? You’re awake?” He let out a breath. “Thank God.”


    He took the boy’s hand and kissed his knuckles. “You scared Daddy, buddy. You really scared me.” He smoothed the hair back from Kaiden’s forehead. “Tell me — why did you eat the crab cakes? You know those make you itchy.”


    Kaiden’s eyes moved around the room,nding on Grayson, then on Isolde. A cunning look — learned from the best — crossed his young face.


    “I didn’t know they were crab,” he whined. “Isolde didn’t tell me!”


    “I haven’t lived in the house for a week, Kaiden,” Isolde said.


    “It’s your fault!” Kaiden screamed, his voice climbing to a shrill pitch. “If you were home, I wouldn’t have eaten it! You left me!”


    Isolde waited. She waited for Grayson to correct him. To be the adult in the room.


    Instead, Grayson sighed. He looked at her, his expression weary and faintly usatory. “He has a point, Isolde. If you hadn’t pulled this stunt — if you weren’t spending all your time at Orbital — none of this would have happened.”


    Isolde let out a short, disbelievingugh. “So let me understand this correctly. Your son eats something he’s allergic to while under your supervision, and it’s my fault because I wasn’t there to serve as his unpaid food taster?”


    “You are his mother,” Grayson said, his voice hardening. “Legally. And your new job is making you neglect your responsibilities.”


    Isolde looked at the two of them — the man she had loved, the boy she had raised.


    .


    .


    .