Chapter 96
Victoria squeezed a smile as she tried to ensure that it didn’t feel as fake as it did to her and turned Teresa down. “I’m usually quite busy with work. Let’s talk about it when I’m free.”
Since Victoria had already said that, she could only drop the idea, and soon, the car stopped in front of Delta Club.
Victoria held the handle and was about to open the car door when Vincent stopped her. “Tori, wait a moment.” Then, he turned to Teresa and pointed to the small supermarket next to the club. “I’m a little thirsty. Buy me a bottle of water, please.”
There was water in the car, and clearly, he wanted to lure her away so he could speak privately with Victoria. Unfortunately, Teresa wasn’t as dumb as her husband, so her expression was unreadable as she stared at him unblinkingly without moving from her seat.
“I’m familiar with the boss of that shop. Let me go.” Victoria could understand what Teresa was thinking—she had treated Vincent wholeheartedly. Still, in the end, he wanted to lure her away to speak secretly with Victoria, making Teresa seem like an outsider.
She wouldn’t feel comfortable about it if Victoria were in her shoes.
Teresa gripped her hand firmly yet gently, silently rea*suring Victoria that she wasn’t upset with her. Nevertheless, she didn’t spare Vincent as she glared at him and said, “You must be tired after the whole day. I’ll go.”
Afterward, she opened the door and got out of the car. Still, she didn’t enter the shop to buy water as Vincent suggested. Instead, she stood at a spot not far away from the vehicle.
Victoria stared at Teresa’s silhouette as she sighed in exasperation. “Vince, what is it that you can’t say in Teresa’s presence? Even if you want to use an excuse, you should use something that isn’t so obvious. Aren’t you just making her feel bad by doing this?”
He didn’t reply as he grimly took out a stick of cigarette, stuck it between his lips, and lit it up. Then, he glanced at Victoria through the rear-view mirror and put out the cigarette before throwing it out the window.
It was already October, and although the weather during the day was quite lovely, it was a little chilly at night, especially for Teresa, who was only dressed in an evening gown.
Victoria could see that Teresa’s nose had already turned red from the cold, so she immediately spoke up, “It’s too cold outside. Let Teresa come in.”
She rolled down the window and wanted to call her, but before she could do that, the window rolled up again.
“Although I can’t help you with anything major, I can still do something small for you.” The expression on his face showed his apparent reluctance and disdain for what he was about to say, still gritted his teeth and told her, “In a few days’ time, I’ll ask that b*stard Christian Thatcher out. Then, once the time is about right, I’ll give you a call!”
“Yeah,” she answered after a few seconds and rolled down the window to call Teresa back into the car.
Teresa hugged her arms as she tried to warm herself while she walked back to the car. It was still evident to everyone present that she wasn’t happy with Vincent by how she ignored her husband, who opened the pa*senger seat door for her and chose to sit in the backseat. She didn’t slam the door or yell, but the look on her face was also far from happy.
“Teresa, earlier Vince was telling me… the details to seduce Christian Thatcher.” Victoria wanted to smile to rea*sure Teresa, but her lips just wouldn’t curl up. “He’s worried it will be embarra*sing for me, so he asked you to get out of the car. Don’t be mad at him. Blame me if you must.”
She had never picked up anything good from her parents but her father’s proud personality. Sometimes, when she went overboard with her bragging, she would complete what she said no matter how challenging it was. On the one hand, it did make her improve herself, but it also made her prone to prideful mistakes.
Regardless, after being holed up in jail for two years and ending up in Delta Club, she had already lost all her dignity. So, how could she even have the pretense of being proud or arrogant?
Teresa stared at her as her expressions swiftly changed from expressionless due to astonishment, sorry, guilty, and heartache within a few seconds. She desperately wanted to say something to comfort her but realized there was nothing she could say.
“It’s getting late. You should go home and rest. Be careful on your way home.” So, Victoria decided to ease the tension by removing herself from the equation. She got out of the car and watched them from the side while gesturing for them to leave.
Worried that she would be embarra*sed and awkward, Vincent knew his sister well, so no matter how her time at prison had affected her, he was still worried that she would feel embarra*sed and awkward. Thus, he said no more, started the car, made a turn into the traffic, and left. Until the vehicle completely disappeared from her sight. Only then did she purse her lips as she left for the dorm.
Beep.
Her cell phone vibrated. Perhaps thinking that it would be inconvenient for her to pick up calls, Evelyn had texted her instead.
‘Tori, all your birthday presents have been sent to the Thatchers. When are you coming to take it? I’ll ask someone to pick you up.’
The wind was a little chilly, and she curled into herself as she replied, ‘The gifts are too expensive, and I can only use them as decorations, at most. I don’t have much use for it. If you have the time, will you please help me to take care of the gifts and donate the money to the disabled who are in poverty?’
Evelyn replied immediately, ‘Okay.’
Victoria kept away her phone and rubbed her cold arms before entering the dorm.
“You’re home?” Gabrielle was removing her makeup when Victoria walked in, and she flashed her a smile, a look of guilt and cautious hope in her eyes.
Victoria nodded in greeting as she sat on the bed, took off her heels, and gave her slightly sore heels a rub. Under the light, the tiny diamonds on the dress necklace and heels were shining brightly.
An envious Gabrielle wanted to take a closer look, but seeing that Victoria didn’t seem too happy, she didn’t bother to try her chances. Hence, she merely stole a few glances at Victoria’s necklace, dress and shoes from time to time.
“Why am I suddenly in a bad mood?” Daisy leaned into the bed as she talked on the phone. All the while, she focused her malicious gaze on Victoria. “The disgusting b*tch that I hate the most is back. How can I be in a good mood?”
It was evident that the ‘b*tch’ she meant was Victoria.
After Gabrielle removed her makeup, she wore a facial mask and swept her gaze past Victoria naturally, but she saw that she was still ma*saging her heels without much change to her expression.
The instant Daisy saw that Victoria was utterly unaffected by her words, she felt even more frustrated. It was as though her insults rolled off her back like water off a duck’s back, and the things she said turned even nastier.
“I heard that this b*tch was recently hospitalized. Why didn’t the f*ck she just die there? It’s f*cking unlucky to be living with a murderer! She came home in an evening gown with fake plastic diamonds on her dress necklace and shoes. How f*cking ridiculous it is! F*ck, that b*tch has the nerve to glare at me. If she keeps that up, I’ll f*cking dig out her eyeballs. I—”
A barefooted Victoria paced to Daisy, snatched her phone away, and hung up directly.
“F*ck you, how dare you!” Daisy sprung to her feet as she placed one hand on her hip and poked Victoria’s body harshly with the other. “How dare you hang up my call? Give me back my phone!”
Victoria frowned as she grabbed Daisy’s hand and said icily. “Apologize, and I’ll give it back to you.”
“You want me to apologize to you?” Daisy tried her best to pull her arm away while she pointed at Victoria’s head and shouted, “B*tch, did you hurt your head?”
Almost at the same time, Victoria dropped her phone to the floor right before her, and cracks appeared on the screen immediately, as though the screen was covered in a dense spider web.
Daisy gawked at her phone’s shattered screen in utter shock before rage overwhelmed her as she lunged at Victoria as if she had lost her mind. “B*tch! I’m going to f*cking—”
Slap!
Before she could finish, Victoria slapped her across the face, yanked her by her hair, and growled, “I’ve told you before that you should watch your words. Did you think that I was kidding?”
“Let go of me, trash!” Daisy felt as though her scalp was being ripped off, and it hurt so much that she was breaking out in cold sweat, but no matter how much she struggled, it only made things worse. At the end of the day, she could not break free from Victoria’s grip.
With a stone-cold face, Victoria said, “I’ll give you another chance. Apologize.”
Gabrielle had seen Victoria take care of Daisy before, which was gratifying the past couple of times. Nevertheless, today, Victoria clearly seemed out of the norm, and she was worried that Victoria would get into trouble if she were too ruthless. Therefore, she hurriedly rushed over and said, “Daisy, it’s your fault, to begin with, today. Just apologize to Victoria; everything will be over and done with!”
