His Final Betrayal Was My First Move Chapter 21

His Final Betrayal Was My First Move Chapter 21

As soon as Julian’s words landed, the muscles in Griffin’s jaw tensed. The embarrassment of being called out in public quickly turned to raw anger. Like a beast whose tail had been stepped on, he tore off his mask of civility.

“A divorce I didn’t agree to doesn’t count just because some judge signed off on it,” he bit out, his voice laced with the absurd arrogance of a spoiled child.

Daphne, who had been silent, locked her gaze on Julian. The quiet pressure radiating from this man, the effortless composure that came from the highest echelons of East Coast old money, stung her eyes. Amelia, a substitute she had personally chosen, what right did she have to find a man whose bearing and background both surpassed Griffin’s?

A sharp displeasure seized her. She tightened her grip on Griffin’s arm, put on a provocative smile, and looked at Amelia.

“Found your next meal ticket so quickly? Amelia, aren’t you going to introduce us?”

“Are we close enough for that?” Amelia finally spoke. Her voice was calm, without a ripple, yet it was like ice water poured over Daphne’s smile.

She didn’t even look at Daphne again. Her gaze shifted to Griffin, her eyes, once full of love, now holding only a cold, condescending scrutiny.

“The Massachusetts court’s divorce decree is there in black and white, with a judge’s signature and seal. A document you personally signed is not something you can overturn by just saying ‘it doesn’t count.’” She paused, the corner of her mouth curving into a faint, almost cruel smile. “Griffin, didn’t Harvard Law teach you that court judgments are legally enforceable?”

She took a step closer, her voice low enough for only the three of them to hear.

“Ruining someone’s perfectly good evening. How tacky.”

That quiet sentence was far more damaging than any shouting match. Griffin’s face flushed a deep red.

“Amelia, how did you become like this? Like some ill-bred shrew!”

As if to prove his point, he turned to Daphne for support. “I didn’t believe it when Daphne told me what kind of person you really were. It seems you really did bully her back in college.”

“I bullied her?” Amelia looked as if she’d just heard the funniest joke in the world and actually let out a soft laugh. She turned to Daphne, her gaze sharp as a blade. “Are you serious? Daphne, I bullied you?”

Daphne’s scalp prickled under that look. How could she possibly defend the lies she had so casually spun? She immediately switched to the mode she knew best. Her eyes reddened like a startled deer’s, and she tugged hard on Griffin’s arm.

“Griffin, let’s go. I can tell Amelia doesn’t want us here.”

Before leaving, she didn’t forget to cast Julian a pitiful yet magnanimous look, as if she were a saint who, despite being bullied, was still thinking of her friend.

“Good luck. She has quite a temper. You’ll need it.”

“Daphne, you’re just too kind,” Griffin murmured, looking at the “wronged” woman in his arms with heartache.

Julian ignored this clumsy performance completely. He lowered his head and looked at Amelia, his brow slightly furrowed. He gently fanned the air in front of her with his hand.

“Darling, do you smell that cheap perfume?” he asked softly, while discreetly taking out his asthma inhaler. “It’s so strong. I think my asthma is about to act up.”

Amelia understood immediately. A hint of laughter crossed her eyes as she cooperatively took his arm.

“No wonder I thought the air in here was so foul. It’s worse than L.A. smog. Let’s go. I don’t want you getting sick.”

“You…” Daphne trembled with anger at their back-and-forth mockery. Her carefully painted face twisted. She was used to showing off in front of Amelia. When had she ever been so directly humiliated?

Griffin watched them leave, arm in arm. Amelia didn’t even look back. She leaned against another man with a quiet intimacy he had never seen before. His face darkened, but he didn’t notice the malicious flash in Daphne’s eyes beside him.

How could this be?

Didn’t Amelia love him? The woman who supposedly couldn’t live without him, who would always wait for him to turn back…

How could she have moved on so quickly?