Chapter 48
Chapter 48
A disturbed and preoccupied Victoria flagged down a cab and made her way to the Thatcher Residence. Since there were many people attending Evelyn’s birthday, they all gossiped in murmurs when they saw Victoria. “Isn’t that the culprit, Victoria, who got into jail because of her attempted murder? Is she out of prison?”
“Damn! How did someone like her get in here? It gives me the chills to think that I’m now in the same house with a murderer.”
“She is still the Thatcher Family’s daughter regardless, so how can she dress so indecently? She is such a disgrace to her family.”
In the meantime, Victoria walked toward a corner and sat down despite their unforgiving and mean gossip about her. The moment she sat down, a man in a black suit who happened to be sitting there stood up and walked away with a frown and unhappy look on his face. However, Victoria wasn’t really bothered by the man’s reaction as she kept her eyes locked on the entrance in a stressful and preoccupied manner.
After all, she was worried about Christian’s severe injury since he still hadn’t shown up. Christian has always been ruthless and merciless. Now that I accidentally wounded him, I bet he is going to get back at me to make me suffer terribly.
“Miss Coleman, Mrs. Thatcher would like to see you.” Just then, a maid walked up to her.
Victoria nodded, following the maid to Evelyn’s room as everyone else watched in surprise and puzzlement.
“Here you are, Tori.” Evelyn was gorgeous and elegant, wearing a long purple dress while smiling with crow’s feet showing on her face. Then, her eyes fell upon the scar that was barely covered by Victoria’s fringe on her forehead. However, she quickly looked away as a sign of respect for the woman.
While Evelyn still treated Victoria the same way she did two years ago, the latter appeared somewhat prudish and reserved. Soon, Victoria kept her head down and politely greeted Evelyn, “Greetings, Mrs. Thatcher.”
“Where is your birthday wish for me this time? I haven’t heard that from you at all.” Evelyn pulled the young lady’s leg. Please check at N/ôvel(D)rama.Org.
Nevertheless, Victoria only pursed her lips without saying a single word; she had been humbled by what happened in the past two years that she no longer dared to joke with Evelyn.
“Ah, it looks like my girl has grown up.” Evelyn caressed Victoria’s hair and sighed before changing the subject. “I have a dress for you. It was tailor-made based on your measurements two years ago, but I wonder if it still fits you. Why don’t you try it on?”
The maid then brought the beige dress forward and gave it to Victoria, but the latter rejected it. “No thanks, Mrs. Thatcher. I’m here just to visit my mom, and I’ll be gone in a while. I appreciate your kindness.”
Victoria refused to accept Evelyn’s gift, thinking she should consider herself lucky to be invited to the birthday feast. Deep down, she was worried that her stigmatized past would embarrass Evelyn since everyone knew she was sentenced to jail two years ago.
However, Evelyn seized her hand and interrupted her, saying, “Hey, today is my birthday, so how could you come here to visit your mom and go?”
“But I’m a mur—” Victoria licked her dried lips, feeling too embarrassed to continue her sentence.
“Who do you think you are?” Evelyn cut Victoria short and said, “You’re my favorite girl.” Without giving Victoria a chance to turn her down, she turned her attention to the maid and said, “When Tori is done trying on the dress, tell Willy and the others to come here and give her a makeover. She needs heavier makeup, or it’s going to look like she doesn’t have any under the lights.”
Since she was unwilling to ruin the birthday feast, Victoria wanted to say something since she didn’t know how to face her parents either. Nevertheless, Evelyn beat her to it and said, “There are a lot of guests here tonight, Tori. I’m going to have to excuse myself now. If you need anything, just call Amy.” She walked away after finishing her sentence.
Meanwhile, Victoria had her eyes fixed on the closed door with a complicated expression on her face. When she was finally done with her makeover, it was already two hours later. At the same time, the place was crowded with more guests dressed in decent suits and fancy dresses as they raised their glasses and laughed happily.
“Say, did Mrs. Thatcher tell Victoria to get a makeover because she couldn’t care less about her past? Do you think she wants Victoria as her daughter-in-law?”
“No way! The Thatcher Family will never want a daughter-in-law who’s been in jail before. Why would they? Maybe she just thought Victoria’s current outfit would embarrass her too much.”
While Victoria weaved through the crowd, she overheard some of them talking about her. She then paused in her tracks and shifted her gaze to the table at the corner, where she saw a man and a woman. As the duo saw her approaching them, both of them stood up and winked at each other before walking away.
After that, Victoria sat down and shifted her gaze across the crowd to search for signs of Christian, but to no avail. Thus, she began to grow even more anxious, wondering why he still hadn’t come back. Is he not here yet because he is too injured to move?
“Victoria?” At that moment, Bella approached Victoria in a wheelchair, sizing the latter up with a smile. “I thought you would be here in your uniform. No wonder I wasn’t able to spot you because you got yourself a fancy dress.” At the same time, Lucas was standing behind his sister, fixing his gaze upon Victoria for a while before he was able to take his eyes off her.
While Victoria knitted her eyebrows silently and took a bite of the cake, Bella bit her lips and offered her word of advice. “Your dress must be tailor-made, right? You know what, Victoria? You should learn not to bite more than you can chew; spending more than you can afford just to satisfy your desire is one of the things that you shouldn’t be doing, considering your current situation.”
“Something I shouldn’t be doing? Like what? Becoming a pet for the rich?” Victoria lost her appetite after taking a bite of the cake, replying sarcastically to Bella’s statement.
“I’m just giving you a word of advice because I want what’s good for you. That’s all it is.” Bella felt helpless. “You need to stop being so mean to me.”
Nevertheless, Victoria produced a piece of tissue paper and wiped her lips, whereupon she made her way to another table. After all, she couldn’t tolerate Bella’s presence, making it seem as though it would pollute the air around her.
“Why do you have to be so mean? Bella is trying to give you her word of advice.” Lucas walked up to Victoria and stood in her way. “Or was Bella right? That you’re mad?” Deep down, Lucas was unhappy at the thought that Victoria slept with different men every night for money.
“I guess I don’t have to answer your question whether I’m mad, do I, Mr. Spritz? Furthermore…” Victoria chuckled coldly and added, “What does that concern you even if I really do that for money?” Why won’t this sibling duo leave me alone? Ew! They’re disgusting.
Lucas gulped speechlessly upon hearing that, thinking Victoria was right because he was in no position to lecture her about that. However, Bella raised her voice and did the job for her brother like she was the right person to lecture Victoria. “You were my friend back then, so of course it concerns me. If you’re in need of money, you can always let me know. There’s no need for you to sacrifice your body for money.”
Although they were talking in a corner, the place was still crowded with people, some of which were drawn to their conversation. Therefore, they got closer out of curiosity to find out what they were talking about. “Come on. She is still the daughter of the Coleman Family, after all. Do you really think she is going to sacrifice her body for money? Nah, I don’t believe it.”
“She was disowned by the Coleman Family two years ago, so it’s still possible.”
“She can still work and make herself some money, can’t she?”
“Come on, are you kidding me? She didn’t even graduate from college. Perhaps she did, but it was a two-bit institute. After all, what can a useless daughter like her do besides asking for money from her rich family?”
Hearing those murmurs, Victoria clenched her fists, feeling blood gushing through every single vein in her body. As she noticed the wine glasses and vases on the table, she was tempted to smash Bella’s head with them. After all, the worst that could happen to her was getting thrown into prison once more.novelxo.com fast updat