Chapter 177: Chapter 177: Take Her With You
Chapter 177: Take Her With You
Before Yvonne could say a word, Elias turned and headed for the front door.
There was no hesitation in him. No lingering look, no reluctant pause, no fragile little afterglow. He left with the lazy satisfaction of someone who had eaten well, slept well, and ruined someone’s peace on the way out. The bit of profile Yvonne caught before he turned away was bright with almost unbearable cheer.
If he had a tail, it would have been standing straight up.
The door shut behind him.
Yvonne remained in the living room, alone, watching the last strip of sunset thin against the window glass until the light went dull.
Elias, meanwhile, stepped into the elevator in a very good mood.
Yvonne might have complicated thoughts, buried urges, medical ethics, self-control, and a whole private museum of psychological damage, but Elias was not wasting his energy on all that right now.
He had one clean summary.
That was satisfying.
First-run Yvonne had given him the same level of experience as fourth-run or fifth-run Serena. The play had gone better than expected, the favorability had jumped beautifully, and his body was still buzzing in a way that made the whole morning feel extremely worth it.
One stone, two birds. Maybe three, depending on how badly Yvonne slept tonight.
Elias got off the elevator and went straight to Naomi’s door. He rapped his knuckles against it several times.
Nothing.
He waited.
Still nothing.
[System Theta: Host, she is not home.]
Elias lifted one brow. "Of course she isn’t. She went out to play."
He pulled out his phone and called her.
Naomi picked up after a few rings. Her voice came through bright and careless. "What’s up?"
Elias immediately began firing. "Where are you? Do you do anything besides run around outside all day? Get back here right now."
There was a pause on Naomi’s end.
"With that attitude," she said slowly, "anyone listening would think you were my boyfriend."
He leaned lazily against the wall beside her door, the corner of his mouth lifting. "I could be."
"You absolute..."
His voice cooled at once. "Say that again."
"No, no." Naomi’s tone weakened instantly. "I mean, have you heard yourself? Your throat sounds like it got stabbed ten thousand times."
As she spoke, she glanced across the charity gala at Victoria Frost and Giselle. A sudden, deeply inappropriate guilt made her cover the phone and stand up.
"I’m stepping out to take this," she said in a lower voice.
Elias did not care about her caution. "Of course it’s hoarse. That’s normal."
Naomi understood exactly what that meant.
"So you got her?"
"Obviously." Elias sounded offended that she even needed to ask. "Let me ask you something. If I took my clothes off in front of ten women, what do you think they would do?"
Naomi pictured it before she could stop herself.
Her body gave a tiny shiver.
"They’d all rush you and eat you alive."
Elias laughed. His voice was ruined enough to turn the sound into something low, scraped, and indecent.
"Wrong. Eleven women would rush me."
"Damn." Naomi had to pull the phone away from her ear because the laugh hit too hard in that damaged voice. "You’re actually insane."
Elias’s current voice belonged in the category of things that made ten women listen and twelve women lose feeling in their lower backs.
He had no interest in dragging the call out. "Come back. I can’t get into your apartment."
Naomi sighed. "Baby, my door has a keypad. I can just give you the code."
He caught the hidden meaning immediately. "Where are you? You can’t leave?"
Naomi gave a short, helpless laugh. "I’m at a charity gala. I’ll be back later."
"Giselle is there."
It was phrased like a question, but his tone was certain.
Naomi closed her eyes for a second. "Please stop doing that."
He had just taken down the cold, untouchable doctor who looked like she had never let a human vice touch her life. Fine. That was already outrageous. But how was he guessing Giselle’s location when she was nowhere near him?
Elias only smiled.
He was not about to tell Naomi that Giselle must be following Victoria around to every formal function she could tolerate right now. After being battered by him and Serena from two different directions, Giselle would naturally start trying to make up for all the heir-training she had run from before. Public dinners, donor galas, foundation events, corporate greetings. All the things Victoria Frost would consider necessary for a future successor.
Elias’s laugh faded into something much lighter.
"Then do me a favor," he said. "Bring Giselle over."
Naomi’s expression sharpened. "What are you trying to do?"
Elias gave a soft laugh, then spoke each word slowly.
"I’ll show you what you wanted to see."
By the time Naomi ended the call and returned to the gala hall, her ears were still numb.
Elias calling her sweetheart in that wrecked voice, with that deliberately teasing tone, had nearly taken her knees out from under her. Staying upright had required an embarrassing amount of willpower.
"Seriously..." Naomi rubbed at one ear, trying to shake the feeling off.
Then she put her smile back on and walked toward Victoria Frost and Giselle.
"Mrs. Frost. Giselle."
Victoria glanced up and gave Naomi a mild, graceful smile. With one look, she invited Naomi to sit.
Naomi shook her head. "I’m too restless for this kind of thing. I’m probably heading out soon."
Victoria nodded with gentle understanding. "Events like this really aren’t for you girls. They’re for old women like me who have already accepted our fate."
"Mrs. Frost, please. If someone saw us walking in together without knowing who you were, they’d probably think you were my older sister."
Naomi delivered the flattery with practiced ease.
Victoria only looked at her.
The warmth faded from that single glance just enough to make the compliment fall flat on the carpet.
Apparently, a trick that worked on plenty of older women meant nothing in front of Victoria Frost.
A moment later, Victoria’s smile returned, soft and pleasant. "If you don’t like it here, go have fun. No need to force yourself to sit through this."
Naomi kept smiling, but inwardly clicked her tongue.
She could not leave. She had a job to do.
"Going out alone isn’t much fun," she said.
The meaning was obvious. She wanted Giselle to come with her.
Victoria did not seem to understand. Or rather, she understood perfectly and chose not to acknowledge it. She simply gestured toward the empty chair beside Giselle.
"Then sit here and keep Giselle company."
Naomi was briefly speechless.
Victoria had no intention of letting Giselle leave.
Naomi looked at Giselle, and her face changed.
Giselle sat there with no expression at all. Compared with before, it was as if every bit of life had been stripped out of her. She looked dim, heavy, hollowed out. Like something important had been taken from her, and what remained had not figured out how to stand on its own.
Pride, maybe.
Self-respect, maybe.
Either way, Elias had been ruthless.
Naomi still refused to give up. She turned to Giselle and said, "You look bored too. Come out with me for a while."
Giselle did not react.
She sat there like a puppet with its strings cut.
Naomi reached for her arm.
Giselle immediately shook her off.
Then she turned her head and looked at Naomi with dull, lightless eyes.
"I’m not going."
Victoria’s face sank slightly. "If you don’t want to go, then don’t. Why take your temper out on Naomi? You get hurt somewhere else and refuse to hit back, but you have plenty of nerve when it’s someone on your own side?"
The air between mother and daughter pulled tight.
For a second, it looked as if the two of them might start fighting right there in the middle of the gala.
Then Victoria’s phone rang.
Naomi’s heart gave a strange little twitch.
For some reason, she immediately put herself in the caller’s place and felt a silent thread of pity.
Whoever had picked this exact moment to bother Victoria Frost was either very brave or very unlucky.
Victoria took the call.
She listened for a moment.
Then, to Naomi’s shock, a real smile touched her face.
Her voice turned soft.
"All right," Victoria said. "Play however you want. Just don’t go too far."
Naomi stared at her.
Who could possibly make Victoria Frost sound that gentle?
