Chapter 399

The middle-aged man's face hardened with absolute conviction in his wife's fabricated story. His furious gaze locked onto the young man, veins visibly pulsing at his temples. "You insolent brat! Daring to make advances on my wife? Have you lost your mind?" His hand shot up, poised to deliver a brutal slap.

"Enough!" Evelyn's commanding voice sliced through the tension like a blade.

The man whirled toward the interruption. Rage still contorted his features until recognition dawned. "Mrs. Black!" he gasped, the anger draining from his face. The way he addressed her made something flicker in Evelyn's piercing gaze.

"Mrs. Black, what seems to be the problem?" he asked, his tone now carefully measured.

Evelyn didn't mince words. "I witnessed your wife sexually harassing that young man. She was stroking his thigh and attempting to slip her hand beneath his shirt. When he tried to leave, she physically restrained him and forced money into his palm."

The color drained from both the middle-aged man and Vanessa Delacroix's faces simultaneously.

The young man stared at Evelyn with undisguised awe. Never had he expected someone of her stature to intervene on his behalf.

Vanessa looked like she'd been struck. Her cheeks burned crimson, but she knew better than to challenge Evelyn directly. Turning to her husband with trembling lips, she began, "Darling, let me expl—"

"Silence! We'll discuss this at home," he snarled, his voice dripping with venomous promise. The threat in his eyes made Vanessa shrink back.

Evelyn turned her attention to Vanessa, then gestured decisively toward the shaken young man. "Mrs. Delacroix, consider this your only warning. He's under my protection now. If I hear even a whisper of you approaching him again..." She let the unspoken threat hang in the air.

She remembered Natalie's warning about Vanessa's obsessive nature—how she never let go of prey once marked. That knowledge had prompted Evelyn's unusually direct intervention.

Vanessa's face twisted with barely contained fury. She'd marked that handsome waiter as her next conquest, planning to have him one way or another. Now Evelyn's interference had ruined everything.

"Of course not. I wouldn't dream of it," Vanessa forced through clenched teeth, her humiliation complete. Without another word, she turned on her heel and fled, the click of her designer heels echoing her disgrace.

Her husband lingered just long enough to offer Evelyn an embarrassed nod before chasing after his wayward wife.

Evelyn glanced at the young man. "You're safe now," she said simply. Without waiting for gratitude, she turned to leave.

The young man blinked rapidly, as if emerging from a nightmare. "Wait!" he called out desperately. "Please—at least tell me your name?" His voice cracked with emotion. "I'll never forget what you did for me today."

"Don't mention it," Evelyn replied coolly over her shoulder, already walking away with regal poise. She waved a dismissive hand as she disappeared into the crowd.

What Evelyn couldn't possibly know was that this single act of defiance would trigger consequences far beyond anything she could imagine.