Chapter 98
Charlotte didnât decline the gracious offer as she took the specialty from Gabrielleâs hands and
reminded Victoria to show up at work on time tomorrow before leaving elegantly.
âVictoria, what do you think Miss Charlotte is thinking?â Gabrielle closed the door in befuddlement.
âSheâs choosing not to fire a person like Daisy. Is she keeping her for Christmas?â
Victoria shook her head and shrugged, then picked up the cleaning supplies and started to sweep up
the hair on the floor.
âI think maybe Miss Charlotte didnât fire Daisy because she has some big shot backing her up!â
Gabrielle returned to take a seat on her bed, deep in her thoughts. âVictoria, before you return to your
parentsâ good graces, try to be nicer to Daisy.â
Victoria threw the hair into the trash, bagged it, changed a new garbage bag, and said dispassionately,
âWhen I was nice to her in the past, did she appreciate it?â
Gabrielle thought about it seriously. âI think she was even more aggressive.â
âYeah.â Afterward, Victoria took out the trash, and when she returned, Gabrielle was standing in the
middle of the room with her cell phone in her hands, and her eyes were already swollen from crying.
Victoria pursed her lips at Gabrielleâs pitiful sight, paced to her, and passed her a few pieces of tissues.
Gabrielle took the tissues from her, blew her nose, and blubbered with red-rimmed eyes. âHe⦠broke
up with me.â
âClean your face.â Victoria was taken aback for a moment, then immediately passed her the tissue box
and quietly pulled the bin over.
Gabrielle drew out several tissues and messily wiped away her tears, and threw them on the floor after
she had used them.
Victoria glanced at the trash bin, which was inches away, then at the tissues outside of the bin and
straightened her lips in mild irritation. Still, Gabrielle just broke up, so she kept silent on the matter.
âDo you know how he worded it?â Gabrielle sniffled and started crying again, sad and indignant but
resigned. âHe said he canât accept that Iâm with other men. W-When he thought Iâve slept with other
men, he felt that⦠Iâm filthy⦠But am I not doing this because of him? If we come down to it, he was
the one who found me the first man. When that was over, I wanted to break up with him, but he said he
was a jerk and did me wrong. He even promised he would never⦠despise me because of something
like this⦠or break up with me! But now⦠h-he said he couldnât take it anymore and had fallen for
someone else. A-A fresh graduate whoâs working under him. He said heâs sorry, but he really doesnât
love me anymoreâ¦â She gripped Victoriaâs arm desperately with tears in her eyes as she croaked, âTell
me, have I not sacrificed enough for me? Why is he⦠Why is he doing this to me?â
All Victoria did was pass her more tissues without voicing her opinions. In a relationship, it was never
clear who was in the right or wrong; it was only a question of whether love existed or not.
For more than a month that followed, Victoria worked as usual at Delta Club. Still, maybe due to the
fact that Evelyn organized the birthday party for her personally, the customers who visited the club for
entertainment stopped taking liberties or saying anything nasty to her. At the most, some complimented
her, saying that she was pretty, and took a few extra glances at her.
A few times, Anthony came to the club with some ill intentions, but before the trouble reached Victoria,
he was already stopped by Charlotte.
Meanwhile, Lucas and Scarlette decided to have their engagement party on national day.
They used the lack of servers as an excuse and made a request, that was really a thinly veiled order,
for Victoria to come over as one of the staff, but Vincent hired a hundred men and women that were
five feet tall with average looks as servers, saying that it was an early gift for the couple. Regardless,
his âwell-meantâ gift merely humiliated the Spritz and Palmer Families before all their guests.
Besides this, nothing much happened, and without seeing Christian, Bella, and other annoying people
for more than a month, Victoria finally gained some weight. At least she wasnât as gaunt as she used to
be.
âWe have a day off today. Would you like to go shopping?â In contrast, Gabrielle looked worse for wear
after breaking up with her boyfriend, and not even thick makeup could hide her pale face and dark
circles.
When Victoria was about to agree, her cell phone started ringing. âIâm sorry, but Iâll get back to you after
this call.â
It was a call from Vincent, and she only picked it up after she entered the bathroom.
âIs it your day off today?â Vincent asked directly. His voice sounded a little heavy-hearted and frustrated
compared to his usual tone.
âYeah. Whatâs wrong?â she asked, frowning.
âDonât go anywhere today. I asked Christian out this afternoon at Delta Club. Keep your phone on and
wait for my call.â After he said all those things, he hung up on her for the first time ever.
For a while, Victoria was stunned, and her knuckles turned white from clutching her phone so tightly. A
layer of sweat started to form on her forehead as she pursed her lips into a thin line. For more than a
month without seeing Christian and nobody messing with her, she had almost forgotten about her
honestly ill-conceived yet desperate plan.
All blood drained from her face at the thought of the consequences once she failed to seduce Christian.
She could feel her body shaking in fright as she lifted her phone and called Vincent after hesitating for
a good while.
When he picked up the call, she gulped and said softly. âVince, Christian, Bella, and the rest didnât
come to the Delta Club recently. The new leader, Miss Charlotte, and the rest didnât put me in a spot,
either. Can I justâ¦â
Her fear of Christianâs ruthlessness was real.
âNo!â Vincent broke her off immediately, and the more he spoke, the louder he became. âChristian and
the others didnât cause you any trouble recently, but what if theyâre up to it again after a while? And
those customers as well. Your birthday is just over, and theyâre keeping their paws away from you for
Mrs. Thatcherâs sake! But what about after a while? That *sshole Christian is Mrs. Thatcherâs biological
son, and she wonât stand on your side forever!â
Victoria lowered her gaze, and her lashes trembled. She had already considered all the things Vincent
just yelled through the phone.
Butâ¦
She shut her eyes as she tried to think things through. Unfortunately, all it did was make her focus on
the chill down her spine whenever she recalled the scene where Christian broke her leg with a golf
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Yes, she was terrified. She was really terrified of Christian!
âThatâs it. Itâs decided!â Vincent said impatiently. âIâve prepared the pin-hole camera for you and a few
pieces of sexy lingerie. So donât think too much and just shove all the blame on me if anything
happens!â
A tight knot formed in her throat, and tears welled up in her eyes. âVinceââ
âSay no more. I still have a lot of stuff to prepare. Iâm hanging up now!â As soon as he said those
words, he hung up on her again.
Victoria stared at their picture together on the screen of her phone. Under the sun and next to the
flower bed, Vincent placed his arm around her shoulder, and both were grinning from ear to ear.
It was a picture from two years ago, but it felt very distant when she looked at it now. She licked her dry
and cracked lips while clutching her phone tightly. It was true that she was terribly frightened of
Christian, but she really didnât want to continue working at Delta Club anymore.
Knock, knock, knock.
âVictoria?â Gabrielle called out, knocking on the bathroom door,
Victoria kept her phone away then, opened the bathroom door, and did her best to suppress all the
negative emotions brought about by the call earlier. âIâm sorry, but I canât go shopping with you today
because something has cropped up. Wendy Yates has a day off today as well. So you can ask her to
accompany you.â
However, Gabrielle merely stared at her without moving an inch or making a sound.