72. ICY TOUCH

ISLA’S POV. I exhaled quietly, trying to mask my irritation. The last thing I wanted was to provoke Kelvin, but truth be told, I was far more irritated than he was. His words droned on, a meaningless hum in the background of my growing frustration.  My focus was elsewhere, pulled tight like a rubber band ready to snap. I shouldn’t have been here with him. I should have been with Remy.  Time was slipping through my fingers, and Kelvin’s presence felt like a chain keeping me anchored to the wrong moment.   I reached for my glass of water, hoping to buy myself a distraction, a brief pause from this suffocating situation. The cool glass touched my lips, but as I sipped, my gaze snagged on something familiar, someone familiar.   A broad, muscular figure moved behind Kelvin. My breath caught, the glass trembling slightly in my hand.   I froze.   It was Remy.   There was no mistaking it. My heart stuttered in my chest as I watched him from behind Kelvin’s oblivious frame. He didn’t se