CHAPTER 12

             Isabelle entered the kitchen and surprised Lucy while she was preparing breakfast. She tip-toed to Lucy and hugged her, making the woman startled.

"One day, you will give me a heart attack with this little game of yours!" she scolded Isabelle with feigned anger. “You’d better sit down and eat something before starting your day at the Graysons.”

“No, Lucy, the car sent by Marie to pick me up will be here at any moment. Besides, I'd like to go away before father wakes up. I am sick and tired of hearing him saying the same things that he had been telling me for almost two weeks now. Today I don’t want to hear ‘You have to impress Billy Grayson! You must marry Billy Grayson!’, I just don’t,” Isabelle said imitating Andrew's voice. “I can't stand the sound of these words anymore! I'm not interested in marrying anyone, I'm fine as I am right now.”

"You know that Billy Grayson could be your salvation..." Lucy replied, caressing her head.

"He might be my salvation, Lucy, but I would be his damnation. I'd be the one who took away from him the chance to find the right woman and marry her for love."

                She looked out of the kitchen window and saw that the car sent by the Graysons was waiting for her in front of the main entrance. She took her denim jacket, hugged Lucy, and ran out of the house. As she going towards the ‘Villa Mimosa’, Isabelle felt happy thinking of all she had to do with the girls and also of the fact that she won’t see patronizing, obnoxious Shawn.

                   In the last days, she hadn't seen him at the villa, not for much time anyway. Marie said that lately, he spent a lot of time with Danielle Stevens, his last girlfriend. Isabelle had only seen her once at the villa. She was keeping Marie company while the girls were taking their naps, and Shawn came in with this bubbly and snobby blonde. Isabelle felt totally uncomfortable in their presence, but she didn't want to leave Marie alone. Danielle treated everyone, Marie included, quite condescendingly and spent all her time stuck to Shawn like white on rice.

                Arrived at the Graysons’ residence, she entered and went to the terrace. She knew she would find Marie and maybe even the girls there.

“Hello, Marie! Did I arrive too early?” she asked the lady of the house, standing on the threshold. But her heart stopped beating for a second when she saw beside Marie at the table not only Christopher, her husband but also Shawn. They were quite dressed up.

             As usual, she was wearing jeans and a white shirt, and her hair was tied in a ponytail. The whole look, so basic and so insignificant, was perfectly complemented by a pair of sneakers no longer as white as they were when she bought them. Isabelle felt once again so out of place compared to them, dressed so elegantly.

“Good morning my dear! Absolutely not, you are on time, as always,” Marie answered smiling. “Come on, sweetheart, sit here, next to me. In a few minutes, we will go to wake the girls.”

                 She sat down on the only chair left empty, right next to Marie but also next to Shawn. She chose not to look at him. Shawn did exactly the opposite. He stared at Isabelle with the same contemptuous look he always had when she was around. He was so used to women fall at his feet and treat him like he was a god on earth. They always followed him around because of his name and his fortune. Having any woman he wanted was something that made Shawn feel damn good about himself. He was an intelligent, handsome man, a member of a good, well-known family, he had a good education and among his closest friends, there were a lot of celebrities.

               But lately, something happened that he couldn't understand. This little woman so plain, so timid, who was now sitting next to him, had made her way into his thoughts since he had seen her days ago, in that field, trying to run away from him. Why did little Belle have this effect on him?! Perhaps because she knew he didn't like her or maybe because her weakness made him despise her? However, regardless of the reason, she was really a pretty sight for the eyes! The evening when she sang, she stared at him with those incredible blue eyes, Shawn felt something strange... When she was playing with the girls or she was talking to them, the joy drew on her lips the most beautiful smile. And her angelic voice that kept him awake the whole night, imagining what it would be like to hear her saying his name while he would make Isabelle his in every possible way... Yes, she was drop-dead gorgeous, but she was a dull, prideless woman and she was the portrait of simplicity.

                Shawn was used to another type of woman. He was very harsh and could even become ruthless without trying too hard, so this little woman needed a different type of man, someone gentle and caring. No, little Belle was not the woman for him and he was not the man for her. Besides, she already showed him that she loathed him. The moment when she said it came back to him and a faint smile appeared on his lips. It had been such a long since Shawn thought or wanted someone so bad as he did Belle Baldwin. The ironic thing was that in order to hide the fact that he liked her, Shawn had to pretend that he didn’t.

               His gray and disapproving eyes had the effect of a whip on her. He looked at her as if Isabelle's mere presence offended him and amused him at the same time.

“So, dear, what do you want for breakfast? This is still the most important meal of the day. You have to eat something, otherwise in the middle of the day, the girls will pick you up from the ground,” Christopher said, smiling at her.

"Thank you very much, Mr. Grayson, but I don't usually have breakfast. Anyway, I had something at home before I left this morning," Isabelle replied, looking at Shawn out of the corner of her eye.

“Something tells me you haven't had any breakfast. Come on, just dig in, since your daddy isn’t here to keep an eye on you and on what you’re eating,” Shawn said haughtily.

              Isabelle stared at him and opened her mouth to let him have a piece of her mind, but Christopher stole her line.

“Shawn, son, is it my idea or did you have something to do?! Perhaps we are holding you...” he said in a sharp tone.

“I always have things to do,” Shawn replied shrugging his shoulders. "Will I see you and Billy later, or you’ll be on your way to London?" he asked his uncle, but he realized he had said too much and closed his eyes.

“Christopher Grayson, a few days ago, you promised me something and now you are going to the other side of the ocean?” Marie raised her voice and looked at him quite angry. "You told me that you’ll leave the company to the boys and that you’ll retire, or was I imagining all that conversation?" she asked her husband crossing her arms and waiting for his reply.

“My love, just this once, and then I’m through! I promise you that once I’ll return to the States, you and I will pack up our bags and we’ll go away on a long and well-deserved vacation,” Christopher answered and kissed her softly on the cheek. "We'll go wherever you desire!" he added, clutching her in his arms.

                Marie shook her head, but she smiled again at her husband. She couldn't stay mad at him. She loved him with all her might, he was her whole life.

"All right, but if you won't keep the promise you just made to me, don't bother of coming home."

“It will be my last business trip, honey!” Chris told her and then he turned to Shawn and stared at him for a moment. “Son, Billy, and I will stay away for a few days. Take care of everything and everyone around here.”

“Very well, uncle Chris. Tomorrow afternoon I will be in my office, in San Francisco and I will be ready for our videoconference. Please, don't worry about a thing. I will take care of aunt Marie and of the girls. I'll take care of Isabelle too if you wish," he added, staring at his uncle with an enigmatic look. "Oh well, I'd like to stay a bit more with you, but, as I’ve said earlier, I have some things to do. Aunt Marie, I'll see you later. Uncle Chris, say hi to Billy and you two have a safe trip!"

           The two Graysons looked at their nephew with great curiosity as he was walking away. They exchanged a couple of inquiring looks regarding Shawn's behavior. His hostility towards Isabelle had left them very perplexed. Both Christopher and Marie knew what was happening with Andrew, so they were very sorry for this tender girl, for all that she had to put up every day. The way Shawn was treating Isabelle was unacceptable; he was speaking to her as if she deserved his aggressive behavior.

"At work, we have some small problems that we have to fix, and this is disturbing Shawn, is making him stressed and a little aggressive," Chris said softly, trying to find an excuse for the way Shawn had talked to her. “Once this small crisis will be settled, he would act normal again, you’ll see!”

"I know he will," Marie added thoughtfully.

Isabelle smiled softly. She knew very well that Shawn Grayson's behavior had nothing to do with the ‘small crisis’. His way of acting around her, his sarcastic remarks, the harshness of his comments were the product of a strange and senseless antipathy that Shawn felt for her. And now, neither Billy nor Mr. Grayson would be at home to work as a shield from all Shawn's cruel remarks. He was a bully and being here with Marie only wasn’t good news. She was afraid that Shawn would become even more aggressive. Isabelle had to give in to her father at home, but she won’t stay silent and swallow all this senseless hate from Shawn Grayson’s part, especially when she had done nothing to him. She will defend herself from him.

             Yes, she would have had the girls around all the time and Marie Grayson would also be there, but she knew that this won’t be enough to stop him. Somehow, around his aunt he was a bit more human, only she was able to turn her nephew into a polite human being... Isabelle breathes a sigh of relief and told herself that maybe things wouldn't be that bad, that maybe Shawn would prefer to stay away from the villa while she was there. Maybe he would spend his free time in the company of that... girlfriend of his.

“My love, now I have to go upstairs and get my suitcase ready,” Christopher said and his loud voice startled Isabelle a little bit. She decided to leave certain thoughts be for now. “I'll come down later to say goodbye to you and our little girls. Then I'll have to go and meet Billy at the airport.”

"All right. Ah, please, tell our son that next time before he will go on a trip like this, I would expect him to say goodbye to me. I would appreciate it a lot,” Marie replied and hugged her husband.

“He wanted to do it this morning, but I stopped him. You had to know about this trip from me, so I told him that he’ll do it later with a videocall,” Christopher said and an innocent smile appeared on his lips.

“Oh... Christopher, I love you so, but when you’re keeping secrets from me, I can’t stand you...” Marie said to him and then turned to Isabelle. “Dearest, let's go and wake up the girls. Then we would get them ready for breakfast.”