Chapter 53
The following day was a workday, and Victoria found her head buried in a veritable mountain of drafts that she could hardly lift it.
"Victoria," a colleague said, approaching with a fresh stack of documents and placing them on her desk. "Ms. Garcia said you can get these to her by tomorrow afternoon once you're done."
He had intended to drop the files and leave, but a glance at the neatly stacked design sketches covering her desk stopped him. The sheer volume was astonishing.
"Aren't you pushing yourself a bit too hard lately?" He couldn't help but ask. "I remember you injured your hand. Maybe you should take a break? Working yourself to the bone isn't good for you."
After the recent storm of public opinion, the perception of Victoria within the company had shifted dramatically.
At the end of the day, the design world respected talent above all, and the evidence Victoria had presented served as irrefutable proof of her capabilities.
Those who had previously viewed her with disdain now found themselves with no grounds for criticism.
Victoria paused, looking up from her work with a slight startle before her lips curved into a faint smile. "It's alright, I'm just riding a wave of inspiration. If it really becomes too much, I'll be sure to request time off. Thank you for your concern."
As she spoke, she discreetly used her left hand to shield her right wrist, which had begun to tremble uncontrollably.
The colleague had only meant to offer a word of caution; since she herself seemed unconcerned, he didn't press the matter further.
Their relationship wasn't familiar enough to warrant it.
Victoria maintained her smile, forcing herself to endure the sharp, stabbing pain that felt as if it originated from the very seams of her bones, and watched him until he disappeared around the corner.
Only then did the tension leave her body in a rush. With a shaking hand, she retrieved a bottle of painkillers from her bag and swallowed a dose.
She had grown accustomed to the pain in her hand over the period.
It would take some time for the medication to take effect, so she turned her gaze back to the documents on her desk.
Strands of her hair, soaked with sweat, clung damply to her cheeks, and her lips had yet to regain their color. She was a picture of exhaustion, but she paid it no mind.
Unable to hold a pen, she began sketching the designs in her mind, unwilling to waste a single moment.
Gradually, the pain began to recede. Victoria exhaled a long, slow breath, her tightly coiled muscles finally starting to relax.
However, before she could even pick up her pen again, someone called her name.
Her recent contributions had earned her a private office, a small bastion of quiet in the bustling firm. "Victoria, you have a visitor."
Simultaneously, the door was pushed open, drawing her attention.
"Victoria, you seem to be enjoying a comfortable life these days," Aiden said as he stepped inside, a mocking smile playing on his lips.
"What's the matter? Didn't you receive the gifts I've been sending you?" He bit down on the word "gifts" with deliberate emphasis, the chill in his eyes unmistakable.
'Here we go again,' Victoria thought, her brow furrowing as she sighed internally.
Aiden had already shown up several times recently; this marked the fourth.
She found it difficult to comprehend how someone could be so utterly bored, with nothing better to do than create trouble for others.
How on earth was Bianca managing him?
"If you're referring to the recent online drama and the people you sent to cause a scene at the company, then yes, I did receive them," Victoria replied, her voice flat with disinterest, her gaze cool.
"However, you seem to forget that this is the Windsor Group, not a place for you to throw a tantrum. Your little schemes were useless. Besides, I'm quite valuable to the Windsor Group right now. They won't abandon me so easily."
Even if only for Yara and Rhea's sake, Edward would never punish her over such trivial matters.
Aiden, too, recalled his previous suspicions, and his face became a fascinating canvas of shifting colors.
"I knew it! You deceitful bitch, you were faking it all along!"
He snarled, his eyes venomous. "You were cheating on me the whole time, yet you put on that innocent act and made me raise another man's child!"
"Are you ever going to stop?" Victoria, just beginning to recover from the throes of pain, had little patience for his tirade.
The accusation was so absurd that it was almost tiring. "I didn't force you to sign the IVF consent forms! If it weren't for your fear of your own secrets getting out, I never would have agreed to it in the first place. What now? We're divorced, so you get to start slinging mud and rewriting history?"
Each encounter with Aiden seemed to set a new low for her opinion of him.
It was baffling to think she had once been so blinded, so completely oblivious to this shamelessness.
"You're just twisting words!" Aiden remained stubbornly unconvinced. "Just give me custody of Yara, and I'll let everything go. I'll even let you continue your work here in peace. You..."
Victoria had heard enough of this nonsense.
"Aiden, do you really think I'm that easy to bully?" She interrupted his rambling, her fingers tapping lightly on the desktop. "Have you forgotten that just as you can spread lies, I can also distort the truth?"
A humorless laugh escaped her as she watched the hesitation flicker across his face. It was all so deeply ironic.
"What do you mean by that?" Aiden paused, his gaze turning wary.
The recent series of defeats at her hands had stripped him of his initial arrogance.
"When we got married, you conveniently failed to mention your diagnosis of asthenospermia," Victoria said, her lips curling but her eyes remaining cold as ice.
"Tell me, if I were to go to court right now and sue you for fraudulent marriage based on the concealment of your medical condition, do you think you'd win?"
Whether she could actually win the case was one matter, but if she truly took him to court, everyone would know that the great president of Creative Haven was incapable of fathering a child.
For a man so obsessed with his public image, the humiliation would be unbearable.
Just as she predicted, Aiden's face stiffened. "What do you want?" He managed, struggling to maintain his composure.
"Don't come here again," Victoria said, her gaze dropping back to her design drafts, dismissing him. "If I see you causing trouble for me at the company again, I won't be held back by any past sentiment. I will make sure the entire world knows about your condition."
It was her final ultimatum.
Frustrated but cornered by her threat, Aiden had no choice but to retreat, leaving the office in a sullen silence.
The room returned to its former state of tranquility, but one storm had merely given way to another.
Victoria hadn't anticipated that just after dispatching one pest, another problem would arrive at her door.
As she stared at the collaboration proposal on her desk, a sense of inevitability washed over her.
"This is a collaborative project from Ms. Johnson's studio. They've specifically requested your participation in completing the design," Xanthe explained, unaware of the animosity between them.
"I know this designer was involved in that online situation with you, but if this collaboration goes public, it could be very good for your reputation. The requirements are quite demanding, though, so you should think it over."
Victoria's eyes lowered, fixing on the list of requirements for several long seconds before she relented. "There's no need, Ms. Garcia. I'll take the project."
The word "retreat" did not exist in her vocabulary.
Besides, if she refused this time, Bianca would undoubtedly find another way to make things difficult.
Rather than waiting passively for the next attack, it was better to face the challenge head-on.
So what if the demands were numerous and troublesome? She had ways of dealing with it.