Chapter 31: Shameless Scoundrel

Chapter 31: Shameless Scoundrel



Sitting in his apartment, Ethan never expected Victoria would cut him off completely this time.

It had been a week, and she hadn't called him even once.

Not even a single text message.

Thinking about how Victoria's face was flushed red from drinking last night, being supported by Eddy, made him furious.

Victoria was too bold.

How many days had it been since she left him? And she'd already learned to drink heavily?

If she couldn't let him go, why didn't she just come back to him?

Using alcohol to hurt herself, trying to win his sympathy—this trick was way too clumsy, wasn't it?

Damn Victoria, since when did she become so calculating?

Ethan grabbed a cigarette, stuck it in his mouth, and took deep drags.

At that moment, Victoria was staying at William's villa, reading a book, when she suddenly sneezed.

She was puzzled. The temperature in the villa was perfectly comfortable—why was she sneezing out of nowhere?

Could it be that some nasty person was cursing her?

She calmly grabbed a tissue and wiped her nose.

Just then, Aria, whom she hadn't seen in several days, called.

Victoria was quite happy to hear from Aria.

They chatted cheerfully.

"I just sneezed and was wondering who was cursing me. Turns out, you were thinking of me."

Aria held her phone and complained to Victoria.

"Yes, I miss you. I really want to go out and have fun with you."

"Then let's go. I'm free right now. I can drive and take you out for a spin." Victoria checked the time on her phone—it was only 10 AM.

She could take Aria out for a drive and maybe grab lunch together.

Aria sighed and said, "Forget it, I can't get out today. Ms. Mitchell—no, that bitch Sarah—is making me work overtime."

"She dumped a ton of work on me that isn't even my responsibility."

Because Aria was Victoria's friend and Sarah's subordinate, Sarah couldn't get back at Victoria, so she always took it out on Aria.

She knew Aria needed this job and wouldn't dare defy her.

"Just leave it there and quit. I'm about to get management rights to Maplewood Hotel. When that happens, come work for me as my assistant." Victoria couldn't stand seeing Aria bullied by that bitch and wanted to find her a way out.

Aria refused. "I'd love to be your assistant, but not right now."

"I'll come after you've fully taken control of Maplewood Hotel. For now, I need to stay at the Ashford Group and be your eyes and ears."

Aria knew Victoria's current situation. She wasn't strong enough yet to shield her from trouble.

As a good friend, she already felt bad about not being able to help Victoria more—adding pressure would be really wrong.

Aria's attitude moved Victoria deeply. Besides Nora, Aria was probably the first person in this world who would unconditionally stand by her side.

Aria continued, "Victoria, Sarah has been acting so arrogant at our company these past few days, already acting like Ethan's fiancée."

"I heard from colleagues that in the next few days, Wayne will personally visit the Hughes family to discuss Ethan and Sarah's engagement date."

"Those two are a perfect match—both shameless."

Aria knew how much Victoria used to like Ethan, so even using the Ashford Group's phone, she had to curse Ethan and Sarah a few times.

Victoria didn't care.

"Let them do what they want. None of this is enough to disturb my peace of mind."

Holding her phone, Victoria suddenly realized her emotions had become much calmer.

After chatting with Aria for a while longer, she reluctantly hung up.

After resting at William's villa for a day, Victoria headed to Maplewood Hotel the next day.

She had just arrived at her office when Grant came in.

Grant had worked at the hotel for a long time and had many connections. After reporting on the past few days' departmental work, he started gossiping with Victoria.

"Ms. Hughes, Connor seems to have quieted down these past few days."

While handling work, Victoria said, "He went to complain about me to Billy, but I didn't respond, so the matter just fizzled out."

Grant lowered his voice and said to Victoria, "Ms. Hughes, you can't let your guard down. Connor's been pretty busy these past few days, so he hasn't had time to make trouble."

"Oh? What's he busy with?" Victoria smiled mockingly.

Grant pulled out his phone, brought up a photo, and placed it in front of Victoria.

It was a photo of Connor and Eddy. Eddy was sitting in a wheelchair, Connor pushing him, both appearing in the hospital lobby.

Victoria frowned. These two had no connection, sohow did they end up together?

Also, she had beaten up Eddy a few days ago, but she'd only whipped him a few times. She hadn't broken his legs, had she?

How did he end up looking like this?

Grant said mysteriously to Victoria, "Ms. Hughes, the man in the wheelchair is our company president's son."

"Connor's been sucking up to the president's family pretty hard. Yesterday when I took my mom to the hospital, I happened to run into them."

"Anyway, Connor has connections, so you'd better be careful."

Whatever Grant's motives were for tipping her off, Victoria was grateful. After talking for a while longer, Grant left Victoria's office.

During this time, through her observations, Victoria discovered that the interpersonal relationships at Maplewood Hotel were very complicated.

Connor was Billy's relative, and Billy had family ties with Jade. Jade had always treated Maplewood Hotel as her private property, and Billy was even more arrogant.

Over the years, the hotel had been losing money—Billy had probably embezzled quite a bit.

Without solid evidence, Victoria didn't want to act rashly.

She needed to plan carefully to make these people give back everything they'd taken from Maplewood Hotel.

She'd only been working for an hour when someone knocked on Victoria's office door. Then a girl wearing a tight floral dress appeared before her.

The girl was fairly attractive, and the floral dress showed off her figure completely.

This outfit would be very attractive to men.

But Victoria was a woman and had no interest in this girl's outfit.

As soon as the girl entered, she put on a stern face and started mocking Victoria.

"Ms. Hughes, you're so hard to see."