Chapter 165
Chapter 165:
In the restroom, Isabella’s gaze was cold as she scrutinized her reflection in the mirror: swollen eyes, bruised lips, and tousled hair marred her appearance.
Once again, she adjusted her strapless gown, which felt dangerously loose, as if it could slip off at any moment.
Tears streamed down her face uncontrollably. She believed she had been humiliated today.
All of Shirie’s elite had seen her disheveled state—every single one of them.
The embarrassment was so overwhelming that she doubted she could ever face them again. Her carefully planned schemes had crumbled before she could even act on them.
The cause of her fall still puzzled her; she had been walking perfectly fine until she tripped over the hem of her dress.
As she covered her face and wept, she was unaware of the eyes that had been watching her for some time.
“Do you know why you fell earlier?” Denis Wagner asked, a mischievous sparkle in his eyes as he touched his chin, observing Isabella’s elegant yet troubled form, his lips curling with a hint of desire.
Startled, Isabella immediately stopped crying. Reflected in the mirror was Denis’s somewhat sleazy expression. He was a man in his thirties, slightly shorter and heavier than her, with plain features and an unsettling gaze.
Still, Isabella suppressed her disdain. Offending Denis was not something she or the Barrett family could afford.
Denis’s short, stocky figure stood there, and while Isabella felt no affection for him, she suspected his presence here was no coincidence.
Obliged by social norms, she wiped her tears and replied, “I simply caught my dress with my foot. Did you need something, Mr. Wagner p>
Step into fiction with. com
Her tear-streaked face and evident vulnerability intrigued Denis. With a soft chuckle, he stepped closer and, with undue familiarity, stroked her bare shoulder.
A surge of revulsion hit Isabella, and she instinctively recoiled.
She believed Denis was even less appealing than Jordy.
“Please, Mr. Wagner, don’t touch me,” Isabella said, backing up until she was cornered against the bathroom door, trapped with no escape. She cast him a pitiful glance while keeping an eye on the door, silently praying for someone to enter, someone she could signal for help. But no one came.
Denis felt smug. He believed her avoidance without calling for help suggested she was just putting on an act. Perhaps she was even hoping he would touch her more.
He let out a chuckle, feigning sympathy. “I saw it myself. Audrey was the one who jerked the carpet. That’s why you tripped and caught your dress, revealing more than you intended…” He audaciously reached toward Isabella’s chest.
Isabella’s face paled with fear, and she cried out, “Mr. Wagner, please, stop p>