Chapter 250

Chapter 250

Victoria sneered inwardly, completely unfazed.

The resentment of a clown meant nothing to her.

However, Veda seemed intent on maintaining surface-level peace, or rather, under the pressure of Hayden's gaze, she had no choice but to put on a show.

She took a deep breath, forcing down the humiliation and anger in her heart, stood up, walked over to Victoria, squeezed out a smile that looked worse than crying, and said in a dry voice, "Victoria, you're back... About the design draft before... that was my fault, I... I'm really sorry."

Veda kept her head down, not daring to look Victoria in the eye. "I... I really didn't know that drawing was yours... If I had known, I would never have taken it... Please... please forgive me this once..."

She spoke haltingly, her tone lacking any real sincerity, filled more with the embarrassment and suppressed anger of being forced to apologize.

Victoria's gaze fell on her coolly, her eyes calm and still, yet seeming to penetrate all pretense and see into her heart full of jealousy and resentment.

She didn't accept this insincere apology. Instead, she asked coldly, "Is that so? You didn't know it was mine, so you thought it was okay to take it? Then if it had been someone else's design draft, and you found it and passed it off as your own, would that be acceptable?"

Victoria's words were like an invisible slap, striking Veda hard in the face, precisely exposing her pitiful wishful thinking and her attempt to blur the main point.

Veda's head jerked up, her face instantly turning deathly pale, her lips trembling, but she couldn't utter a single word in rebuttal. Left only with embarrassment and shame, she stood frozen in place, caught between a rock and a hard place.

Victoria couldn't be bothered to waste more words on her. Finding the sight tiresome, she simply ignored her, picked up her suitcase, and said casually to Hayden, "I'm going upstairs to unpack."

Then she turned and went upstairs, leaving Veda's resentful yet helpless gaze completely behind.

Half an hour later, Victoria came downstairs for dinner.

The atmosphere in the dining room was awkward. Hayden sat at the head of the table, desperately trying to find topics of conversation, attempting to create the illusion of family harmony.

Ava and Scarlett also sat at the table, looking at Victoria with complex expressions—unwillingness and jealousy mixed with a hint of barely concealed fear. They kept their heads down, eating their food, not daring to make snide remarks at Victoria like they used to.

As for Veda, she seemed like her soul had been sucked out, her face ashen. She sat quietly in the last seat, head bowed, eating her plain rice in small bites, as if the dishes on the table had nothing to do with her, her presence reduced to the minimum.

Hayden smiled at Victoria and said, "Victoria, I heard all about it. You went to Avalonia for that gaming competition and won the world championship! You've really brought honor to the Gonzalez family! Congratulations!"

He was trying to use this approach to build rapport.

Victoria merely responded with a faint acknowledgment and continued eating.

Seeing this, Hayden carefully probed, "You know, you and Mr. Garcia have been together for a while now. When would it be convenient to invite Mr. Garcia over for a family dinner?"

Victoria paused in picking up food, looked up at Hayden, and that look made his heart skip a beat.

Her tone remained flat, revealing no emotion, "Depends on his schedule."

Seeing that she hadn't outright refused, Hayden felt a surge of joy but didn't dare ask more, afraid of causing her displeasure. He quickly agreed, "Right, right, Mr. Garcia is so busy with important matters, his time is precious. We'll work around his convenience!"

He now fully understood that Victoria's boldness had long exceeded his imagination. Not only was she highly capable, but her backing was someone he couldn't afford to offend.

Rather than putting on airs as her father and annoying her, it was better to lower his posture—perhaps he could even gain some benefits.

The dinner ended in this atmosphere of surface calm with undercurrents churning beneath.

After finishing her meal, Victoria got up and returned to her room. She had no attachment to this hypocritical family atmosphere.

Back in her room, just after washing up and preparing to rest, her phone rang. It was Alexander calling.

When she answered, Alexander's deep, gentle voice came through, "Victoria, finished dinner with Thalia? Are you home?"

Victoria leaned against the headboard, rubbing her temples, her tone carrying a rare hint of helplessness, "Didn't get to eat. Liam suddenly showed up at the hotel looking for Thalia. The situation got awkward, so I tactfully left early and had dinner at the Gonzalez family home."

Alexander was silent for a moment on the other end, clearly somewhat surprised, then laughed softly, his voice carrying a magnetic teasing quality, "Liam? He moves fast. Looks like he's serious about Thalia."

"Perhaps."

Victoria was noncommittal. Matters of the heart were like drinking water. Only the drinker knows whether it's cold or warm.

Alexander didn't ask more about others, instead turning his concern to Victoria, "Are you okay at the Gonzalez family home? No one's giving you a hard time, right?"

He knew how murky the waters were in the Gonzalez family.

"They don't dare anymore."

Victoria's tone was flat but carried absolute confidence.

Alexander felt relieved and chatted with her a bit more, reminding her to rest well and adjust to the time difference before reluctantly hanging up.

The next morning, Victoria got up and went downstairs for breakfast.

In the dining room, Hayden, Ava, and Scarlett were already seated, with Veda still sitting in the corner like a ghost.

Victoria's gaze swept across and noticed that Liam's seat next to the head of the table was empty.

It seemed Liam really hadn't come home last night.

Ava held her spoon, slowly stirring the porridge in her bowl, her face wearing a look of fake concern as she said to Hayden, "Hayden, that boy Liam really is something. No matter how busy work gets, he needs to take care of his health. He must have pulled another all-nighter at the company last night—didn't even come home. When you go to the office later, you really should talk to him. Tell him not to push himself so hard, his health matters more."

Her words seemed to show concern for Liam, but she was actually badmouthing him to Hayden, implying he was so focused on the company he didn't even come home.

Hearing this, Hayden frowned, clearly somewhat displeased with Liam staying out all night. He nodded, "Alright, I'll go check on him at the office later. I really should talk to him."

Victoria quietly ate her breakfast, listening to Ava's affected concern and Hayden's agreement, feeling nothing inside, almost wanting to laugh.

She thought to herself that Liam wasn't working overtime at the company at all.

Right now, he was most likely with Thalia in some hotel room, perhaps still tangled up over the question of "getting back together or not."

It seemed her "tactful" departure yesterday had indeed created space for those two.

She just didn't know whether Thalia's seemingly tough heart, which might not be without soft spots, could withstand Liam's determined romantic offensive.

Victoria lowered her eyes, focusing on enjoying her breakfast.

All the drama in the Gonzalez family was nothing more than irrelevant background noise to her.

She had her own path to walk, broader skies to soar in.