Chapter 169

Chapter 169

Victoria's finger paused on the handle of her coffee cup.

She looked down at the dark surface of the liquid, silent for a few seconds. "Her hand... it's really beyond repair?"

"Beyond repair."

Veda said, "Your injury back then was tendon damage. Hers is severed nerves plus complications from the second surgery. Way worse than yours. The doctor said if she can recover enough to grip objects, that's the absolute best-case scenario."

Victoria was quiet for a moment. Then she picked up her cup and took a sip. "That's a shame."

She'd known things might be bad.

She hadn't expected it to be this bad.

Bianca had always prized her hands above everything. That was why she'd been so obsessed with competing with Victoria in the first place.

Now her hand was destroyed.

She was probably wishing she were dead.

Veda glanced at her. "You feel sorry for her?"

"She did have talent."

Victoria said, "Even though those designs had traces of my work, her sensitivity to color was real. You can't get that just from copying."

She set the cup down. "But sympathy is sympathy. She chose that path herself. I'm not going to take responsibility for her choices."

Besides—

Bianca had ended up this way because she'd tried to stab her.

Victoria didn't consider herself generous enough to forgive someone who'd come after her again and again.

Veda nodded and dropped the subject.

They sat a while longer, talking about the latest buzz in the industry and the progress on Victoria's staircase series.

Half an hour slipped by.

Veda checked her phone, grabbed her bag, and stood. "I've got plans this afternoon, so I'm heading out. Be careful on your way home—call me if anything comes up!"

She waved and swept out the door in her usual whirlwind fashion.

Victoria shook her head with a helpless smile, sat a few more minutes, then got up to pay.

Outside the café, she stood by the entrance waiting for her car. The evening breeze carried the last cool edge of late spring, and she pulled her jacket collar tighter.

Her gaze drifted absently across the street—and stopped.

Someone was standing under the bus shelter on the other side.

Thin build. Dark gray jacket. Baseball cap pulled low over his face.

He was angled away from her, apparently studying the route map on the sign.

But Victoria stared at his profile for a few seconds, and a jolt of recognition hit her. The face overlapped with a memory from over a decade ago.

She took two steps forward, trying to get a clearer look. A bus pulled into the stop and blocked her view.

When the bus pulled away, the shelter was empty.

Victoria stood there staring at the vacant stop across the street. Something tightened inside her chest.

She raised her phone and snapped a photo of the bus shelter, then opened the car door that had pulled up at the curb and got in.

---

When she got home, Yara was on the living room carpet playing Chutes and Ladders with Edward.

The little girl clutched the dice in both hands, chanting that she wanted a six. She rolled a three. Her lip jutted out in a pout. Edward moved his piece forward two spaces, and Yara burst into giggles again.

Victoria saw the scene while changing her shoes. The tension that had coiled tight inside her since the café slowly began to ease.

She walked over and sat down in the living room. When Yara finished her game, Lily took her off for a bath.

Only then did Victoria speak. "I saw someone outside the café this afternoon. He looked a lot like Michael."

Edward placed the game board back in its box. "Where?"

"Bus stop across the street. The profile was a strong match, the posture too. But a bus blocked my view, and by the time it moved, he was gone."

Victoria said, "If he's back in the country, it's for the Spencer family assets. He knows the appeal materials have been filed. His accounts are frozen. If he doesn't want to just sit and wait, his only move is to come back and find another way to get control of those assets."

She'd felt uneasy since that afternoon.

And there was more.

Aiden had just hit trouble, and now her uncle shows up.

No matter how she looked at it, the timing was suspicious.

She couldn't let it go.

Edward set the game box on the coffee table and turned to face her. "Are you sure it was him?"

Something calculating flickered in his eyes.

He'd need to have someone look into this.

"I'm not sure."

Victoria said. "But it looked like him."

Edward was quiet for two seconds, then pulled out his phone and sent Chase a message.

[Look into Michael's current whereabouts.]

He didn't wait for a reply. He darkened the screen.

Edward looked at Victoria. "I'll have someone check Michael's recent travel records. If he's entered the country, there'll be a trace in the system. Until then, take Lily with you when you go out. Don't walk alone on quiet streets."

Victoria nodded.

She watched him put his phone away—movements efficient, tone as casual as if he were discussing a business deal.

It hit her then: listening to him handle things like this gave her a feeling she wasn't used to.

Safety.

Someone was out there intercepting trouble before it reached her. All she had to do was stay home.

It was more reassuring than she could put into words.

"Edward."

"Hmm?"

"You just told me not to walk alone on quiet streets."

She looked at him. "What about you? You've been running around out there too. Be careful."

Edward glanced at her. The faintest curve touched the corner of his mouth. "Okay."

They sat in comfortable silence for a few seconds.

Lily came out of the bathroom and said Yara was tucked in. Edward got up and went to his daughter's room to say goodnight.

Victoria sat on the couch listening to his low voice through the bedroom door, unhurried and gentle. Yara mumbled a couple of drowsy responses, then went quiet.

When he came back out, Victoria was still there.

She was leaning into the sofa, her right hand resting on her knee, the ring catching a faint glint under the lamp.

She hesitated. A few seconds passed before she spoke. "Edward, you said before that you'd wait for me to open up. I think I might be..."

Edward sat down at the other end of the couch and looked at her.

The overhead lights were off. Only the floor lamp remained, its warm glow softening the distance between them.

"No rush."

He said. "However far you open that door, that's where I'll be waiting."

Calm. Unhurried. He even let a hint of a smile cross his lips.

Victoria turned her head and looked at his profile. A quiet laugh escaped her. "You really are impossible to respond to."

"Then don't."

Edward turned to face her. "Just listen."

Outside, the night wind rustled through the treetops.

Victoria looked down and turned the ring on her finger. The metal band that had once felt cool against her skin was now warm.

She sank deeper into the couch and closed her eyes. "Then I'm listening."