"Yesterday afternoon."
Not understanding the complicated relationship between Victoria, Xenia, and Edwin, Vernon said frankly.
"Didn't you see me sending flowers to Victoria yesterday? When I was driving Victoria home, Edwin stopped his car in front of mine, and I almost rear-ended him. Then, Edwin pulled Victoria out of my car and sent her home.
"Xenia, what’s wrong? You seem to know nothing about that. I saw you with Edwin at the entrance of Best Medicine. Weren't you in Edwin's car when he took Victoria away?"
Xenia didn't say one more word, but her eyes became more and more venomous.
No wonder she always felt something was wrong between Victoria and Edwin.
It turned out that Victoria had hooked up with Edwin the day before.
No!
Xenia had to get rid of all the future trouble immediately before Victoria and Edwin found out the truth.
Xenia returned to room 1125 and shut the door. Then, she called Snake.
Snake was a well-known gangster who often stole and robbed. He was ruthless. It was said that he had even killed someone. Xenia met him in a bar the year before.
"Ms. Collins, as a decent lady, why did you remember me, a bad guy?" The voice from the receiver was hoarse and gloomy.
Xenia whispered, "Don't you covet Victoria? As long as you agree to help me kill her, I can give you a chance to get close to her. Before you kill her, you can do anything to her."
"How could such a good thing happen? Ms. Collins, thank you so much." Snake said evilly.
"To express my gratitude to you, I want 1.4 million dollars."
Xenia was furious.
"Snake, are you crazy?"
"No, I'm not crazy. I'm making this offer because I'm sober. Ms. Collins, do you think I'm a fool? Do you think I don't know Victoria has married Mr. Haines? Although Mr. Haines is useless, the Haines family is prestigious in Seaside City. If I kill Mr. Haines' wife, will the Haines family let me go?
"If you give me the money, I can think about it."
Xenia made up her mind.
"Okay, I'll give you 1.4 million dollars. Follow my plan, and we'll start tomorrow."
Although the Collins family was wealthy, 1.4 million dollars was not a small sum for Xenia.
She would try to raise the money.
Edwin had a valuable ring and drove a different car each time he met Xenia. The price of each car exceeded millions of dollars. It was not hard to know how rich Edwin was.
As long as Victoria was killed, Xenia would be Edwin's wife. Then, she would be the "Queen", and 1.4 million dollars was no big deal to her.
...
Victoria stayed awake at night.
She didn't know what was wrong with her. She reminded herself time and time again that Edmund was just a passerby in her life, but she kept thinking about him and Xenia. Tossing and turning, she was unable to fall asleep.
Victoria was still awake until the alarm went off at 6:30 in the morning.
She got up and went to the first floor.
The door of Edmund's study was open as it had been the morning of the day before, and the necklace that Victoria saw the day before was still on the chair in front of the desk.
The day before, Victoria dared not to go into Edmund's bedroom.
The more she looked at the necklace, the more she found it similar to the one she had lost, so she walked into Edmund's study to see exactly.
Victoria went to the chair.
When she was about to pick up the necklace, there came a deep voice.
"Do you want to die?"
Victoria withdrew her hand in fright.
Jack strode to Victoria and grabbed her wrist to pull her toward the door,
"There are many confidential security files in Mr. Haines' study. Without his permission, no one is allowed to enter here. Otherwise, the consequences will be dire."
Victoria twitched her mouth.
Jack was always kind. At that moment, he talked solemnly. Therefore, the consequences of trespassing on Edmund's study would be dire.
However...
That necklace.
Victoria had been close to it and could see more clearly. That necklace was almost the same as the one she lost.
It was impossible to be the one she lost.
The only possibility was that her necklace had been taken away by the man who had sex with her that night, and that man was dead.
After pulling Victoria out of Edmund's study, Jack heaved a sigh of relief.
"Mrs. Haines, the consequences are too ghastly to contemplate. If Mr. Haines, instead of me, finds out that, I don't know how he will punish you.
"Mrs. Haines, I will keep it a secret for you this time. Please don't do that again."
Victoria nodded.
She dared not do that again.
Jack's behavior had frightened Victoria. What if it were Edmund?
Victoria went to work as usual.
At 10:26 in the morning, an unknown number called Victoria.
"Victoria, it's me."
Victoria was surprised that it was Xenia.
What surprised her more was that Xenia was polite to her.
"What's the matter?" Victoria asked coldly, knowing that Xenia had no good intentions.
"Victoria, I just called on behalf of your mom to tell you that she wanted to see you." Xenia’s tone became strange again.
Victoria was stunned.
"What?"
"Don't you know? Your mom was home. She is delirious and always talks nonsense. She is so pitiful.
"Victoria, your mom is pitiful, and no one cares about her at home. I made this call out of mercy. It's up to you whether to come to see her or not."
With that, Victoria hung up the phone.
Victoria did everything to get her mother back. When she knew her mother was back, she shed tears of joy.
Victoria had no time to ask for leave and left the outpatient department.
She came to the roadside when a taxi available for hire drove over.
Victoria wished she could see her mother in the next second, so she got into the car without hesitation.
"Ms. Collins, nice to see you again."
The driver smiled evilly.
Victoria looked at the man and saw his evil and ugly face. Immediately, she had a nasty feeling and was about to kick the car door to run away.
A hand holding a towel soaked in chemical liquid covered Victoria's mouth.
Victoria smelled a pungent smell and lost consciousness.