Chapter 169
When Victoria heard Martin's name, her whole body went cold, and her fingers trembled.
A physical chill ran through her, but for Hayden's sake, she suppressed her discomfort and took the phone from Aria.
The phone rang.
Then a message told her there was no signal and the call couldn't connect.
Victoria hung up.
Aria's tears streamed down anxiously. Victoria wiped her tears, "Mom, don't worry, I'll go find him. Dad will be fine, Dad will be fine."
With that, Victoria turned to leave.
Based on what she knew about Martin, he should be at the Gonzalez Group office. He was a typical workaholic.
Tireless, a robot who only cared about profit!
"Victoria." Aria suddenly called out to her.
She turned around, confused. Aria stepped forward and grabbed her hand, "Where have you been these past few days? Did something happen to you?"
Victoria hesitated. Something had indeed happened—she'd narrowly escaped death, and the baby in her belly had been kicked out by Mia, causing a miscarriage.
She was still recovering.
"Victoria, you look terrible, you know that? Are you sick? Victoria, your father is already like this. Please don't do anything foolish. Take care of yourself, wait for your father to wake up, okay?" Aria cried as she pleaded, "You're pregnant now, you're Aria's daughter, you can't act impulsively like a child anymore. Martin cares about the baby in your belly."
When Victoria heard the word "baby," her heart ached as if suffocating.
Did Martin care about this baby? He clearly just wanted to torture her.
She wasn't dying fast enough, so he sent Mia!
But Victoria didn't want Aria to worry. The Gonzalez family had become like this, Aria's hair had turned white—all because of her.
She wanted Aria to be happy. Aria didn't need to know about her illness, because knowing wouldn't help—it would just mean one more person suffering.
"Mom, I'm fine. I'll go find him." Victoria wiped away her tears, smiled gently, turned, and walked out of the hospital room, then closed the door.
But the bodyguards blocked her way, "Mrs. Collins, we'll take you back to the apartment."
"I need to see Martin!" Victoria bit her lip.
The bodyguard said expressionlessly, "Mr. Collins is on a business trip out of town. He'll see you when he gets back."
"But my dad can't wait!" Victoria said in a low growl.
But the bodyguard was unmoved, "Mrs. Collins, please don't make this difficult for us."
Victoria laughed freely. Yeah, what good would making things difficult for them do?
They were just people working for Martin.
Victoria worried that Aria might hear and get concerned, so she left quietly with the bodyguards without crying or making a fuss.
Before returning to the apartment, she bought a new phone, got a replacement SIM card, and was escorted back to the apartment by the bodyguards.
The bodyguards didn't leave but stayed downstairs at the apartment, clearly to prevent her from escaping again.
Victoria had no time to worry about this. She used her new phone to keep calling Martin.
But he never answered!
He didn't hang up on her either.
The phone would ring until it automatically disconnected.
Victoria made twenty calls and couldn't reach him!
The potted plant in the corner had withered and died. It had been fine when she left, just like her heart, her body—already rotting beyond recognition.
On the table sat a birdcage with a myna bird inside.
The myna got excited when it saw Victoria, hopping around and calling out.
But Victoria couldn't feel happy at all. After feeding it, she put it back on the stand outside on the balcony.
Because the sunlight outside was nice, and it happened to love sunbathing.
"Your owner is so cruel, running away and leaving you behind! Your owner is so cruel, running away and leaving you behind!" The myna suddenly squawked, mimicking Martin's tone.
Victoria sneered. Did she run away?
Wasn't all this arranged by Martin?
He was quite the actor. What good did creating this devoted persona do him?
Feeling unbearably depressed, Victoria stroked the myna's feathers, then walked off the balcony.
Just then, the phone suddenly rang.
Victoria thought it was Martin calling, but when she pulled it out, disappointment flashed in her eyes.
She answered the phone.
The attending doctor's voice was deep and mellow, "Ms. Gonzalez, how are you feeling?"
"Same as before." Victoria didn't want to tell him the truth—after this miscarriage, her body had become increasingly weak.
The doctor had told her she had at most half a month left to live.
And that was if she was in good spirits and receiving good treatment.
Otherwise, she could die at any time.
The attending doctor asked again, "What about the baby in your belly? I still suggest you deal with it as soon as possible, if you wait too long, it'll be too late even if you want to abort it."
"The baby already miscarried. I'm recovering now." Victoria said gently.
The doctor was satisfied and reminded her to stay happy and maintain a good attitude.
Victoria listened quietly, then said okay.
Just after hanging up, Aaron's call came in.
Victoria held the phone and put it to her ear, "Mr. Hill."
"Ms. Gonzalez, my condolences. If there's anything I can help with, please tell me. Wherever I can help, I'll do my best." Aaron's voice was compassionate—clearly, he didn't know yet that Hayden wasn't dead.
Victoria felt both moved and ironic. She was a married woman whose husband wanted her dead, yet someone she'd barely met cared so much about her.
"My dad isn't dead," Victoria murmured.
Aaron paused for half a second, quickly understanding what was going on, and changed the subject, "Ms. Gonzalez, does Martin know about your late-stage liver cancer?"
Victoria didn't want to bring this up, so she lied, "He doesn't know."
Not believing and not knowing should be the same thing, right?
"You're not planning to tell him?"
"No need. We're getting divorced anyway. Better to avoid trouble." Victoria smiled bitterly. It's not like she hadn't told him, but Martin was playing dumb.
Insisting she was healthy.
This was his new way of torturing people.
"Ms. Gonzalez, please don't give up on treatment. Liver cancer can be treated with a liver transplant. I can help you find a suitable liver. If the match is successful, you have a chance of survival. Ms. Gonzalez, I hope you'll work with me." Aaron's voice was firm and deep, giving her so much strength.
Victoria used to be afraid of death and didn't dare to die.
But after going through this trip, as if she'd walked through hell, she'd figured some things out. She was going to die eventually anyway. What difference would a liver transplant make? As long as she was alive, Martin would torture her.
Death was the best release.
But now, hearing Aaron say she could survive with a liver transplant, hope suddenly ignited in Victoria's dead heart! She wanted to live, wanted to care for her parents in their old age.
What Victoria didn't know was that at this moment, Martin had already climbed the spiral staircase in his black leather shoes, his face cold.
Martin had just gotten off the plane and had Brian drive him back to the apartment.
But just as he reached the top of the second-floor stairs, he saw Victoria with her head down, talking on the phone.
He saw the smile on her cheek, her voice so grateful and gentle, "Aaron, thank you. Let's talk about this when we meet."
This attitude from Victoria was something Martin hadn't seen in a long time!
Sure enough, after living together for a while, even how she addressed him had become so intimate.