Chapter 163

Chapter 163

Victoria threw her arm up on instinct. The blade sliced across the outside of her forearm, and a searing pain exploded through her.

She let out a muffled grunt and used the momentum to ram her shoulder into Bianca.

Bianca stumbled back two steps, nearly toppling over.

Damn it! She'd come this far—she couldn't back down now!

No matter what happened today.

She was going to make Victoria pay!

Bianca had lost it completely.

She gripped the knife and charged again, every movement vicious.

Driven by a hatred that wanted Victoria dead.

Victoria grimaced and twisted sideways to dodge.

The blade missed, swinging downward, then was gripped tight again and thrust back toward Victoria.

"Bianca, are you insane?"

Victoria shouted in disbelief. "This is a felony! If you're convicted, you'll go to prison—your life will be over for real! Are you sure you want to do this?"

What happened to Bianca was none of her business.

But if she didn't redirect Bianca's attention right now, she'd be the one who ended up dead.

The words had barely left her mouth.

Victoria's face changed.

Bianca's last lunge had carried too much force—half her body had stumbled past the mouth of the alley.

And at that exact moment.

A white delivery van was rounding the corner.

No!

"Watch out!"

Victoria lunged forward, reaching for Bianca's arm.

But it was too late.

Brakes shrieked through the air at the alley's entrance.

The dull thud of the van striking Bianca's body was half-swallowed by the screech of tires.

Her body bounced once and crumpled to the ground. The paring knife flew from her hand, spinning across the pavement six feet away before clattering to a stop.

Victoria didn't rush over until the van had fully stopped.

The driver leaned out of the cab, face white as chalk. "She just ran out—I didn't have time to—"

Victoria crouched down. Bianca lay on her side, her left arm bent at a wrong angle, the back of her hand shredded with road rash, blood streaming from a gash on her forehead.

She was unconscious.

Victoria knelt on the pavement and pulled out her phone. She called 911, then reported the accident to the police.

After hanging up, she looked down at Bianca.

That face—usually painted with flawless makeup—was covered in grime and blood. Unconscious, she looked impossibly fragile.

The ambulance arrived fast.

Victoria climbed in and sat beside the paramedics, watching them splint and apply pressure to Bianca's wounds.

When the ambulance hit a bump, she glanced down at the knife wound on her own forearm.

Blood had seeped through, staining her sleeve, but the cut wasn't deep.

At least it hadn't hit a tendon.

Otherwise, Bianca could've died in that alley and Victoria wouldn't have cared.

---

At the hospital, Bianca was rushed into the ER.

Victoria sat in the hallway while a nurse cleaned and dressed the wound on her forearm.

"Keep it dry for a while. If anything looks off, come back in."

The nurse finished up with one last instruction before leaving.

"Thank you."

Victoria pressed her lips together and sat staring at the ER doors.

Her phone buzzed. She pulled it out.

A message from Edward.

[Where are you? Chase says you haven't come back.]

Victoria hesitated for a second, instinctively leaving out the part about her injury.

[At the hospital. Bianca was in an accident.]

A few seconds of silence on the other end.

[Wait for me.]

She set the phone face-down on her knee, leaned her head back against the wall, and closed her eyes.

Bianca had brought this on herself.

If she hadn't been hell-bent on attacking her, the accident never would have happened.

Victoria understood all of that perfectly well.

But that didn't mean she felt nothing.

The ER doors opened.

A nurse poked her head out. "The patient is stable. Fractured left arm, mild concussion—she'll need to stay for observation. There's also some nerve damage in her right hand. We'll need follow-up tests to determine the extent of recovery."

Victoria nodded. "Thank you. I'll contact her family to come handle things. Please carry on."

Something this serious had happened.

Aiden supposedly loved Bianca so much—he couldn't be kept in the dark.

Victoria let out a sardonic smile, walked to the end of the hallway, and dialed a number.

The phone rang several times before someone picked up.

Aiden's voice came through, dripping with impatience. "Who is this?"

"Aiden."

Victoria's tone was even. "Bianca was hit by a car. She's in the hospital. Come deal with it yourself."

Silence on the other end.

Then Aiden's voice cracked. "What did you say? She—"

"Come or don't."

Victoria hung up without giving him a chance to ask questions.

---

Aiden arrived fast.

He was wearing a wrinkled dress shirt, hair a mess, gasping for breath from running.

A far cry from his usual polished self.

He spotted Victoria and stopped two paces away, his gaze sliding over the gauze wrapped around her forearm.

Aiden opened his mouth, then closed it. Finally, all he said was, "Where is she?"

"ER. They've moved her to a regular room."

Victoria stood up. "Doctor says her left arm is fractured, right hand has nerve damage. The rest is on you. I'm leaving."

She turned and walked away.

Aiden called after her. "Victoria."

She didn't stop.

He called again, an edge of urgency in his voice. "The wound on your arm—that's got nothing to do with her, right?"

Victoria's steps faltered for a beat.

She didn't look back. "Ask her yourself."

Then she kept walking.

Aiden wasn't asking out of concern for her, of course.

He was just worried that if Bianca had caused the injury, it might blow back on Creative Haven.

Victoria had seen through him a long time ago.

---

When she reached the first-floor lobby, she saw Edward standing at the entrance.

His face was expressionless. His gaze swept over her forearm, and his brows drew tight.

He didn't ask questions. He just walked toward her. "Car's outside. We'll talk on the way."

Victoria followed him out and got in.

Once she was in the passenger seat, she leaned her head against the window.

Edward's voice came from beside her. "Does it hurt?"

"No. Just three stitches."

Victoria thought for two seconds before answering. "Bianca tried to stab my hand. I blocked it. She couldn't control her own momentum when she charged out and got hit by a van. I called Aiden to go be with her."

She said it all with her eyes closed, her tone as flat as if she were recounting what she'd had for lunch.

Edward didn't press for details.

But his brow never relaxed.

After they'd been driving for a while, Victoria opened her eyes and glanced at him. "Aren't you curious how I ended up there?"

"Chase said you went to the fabric district."

Edward kept his hands on the wheel. "I'll pull the street surveillance footage from that area tomorrow."

Victoria raised an eyebrow but said nothing.

She looked down at the gauze on her forearm. The wound pulsed with a stinging numbness.

But her mood was surprisingly decent.

---

Meanwhile, in a hospital room.

When Bianca woke up, all she saw was a white ceiling and the smell of antiseptic.