Chapter 222

Chapter 222

Victoria let out a long, slow breath.

She squeezed her eyes shut, her voice tight. "...Give me some time. I need to think about it."

"Of course."

Hugh agreed without hesitation, his voice gentle. "It's okay. Whatever you decide, I'm behind you."

Victoria murmured a distracted response, hung up, and wandered aimlessly down the street.

Her life was good now. She should be grateful for what she had.

But still...

Victoria tilted her head back and gazed up at the vast blue sky. Her eyes stung with moisture she couldn't stop.

The sky. That had always been her dream.

Before Victoria could sort out her feelings, she ran into the last person she expected to see.

Veda planted herself directly in Victoria's path, her expression pinched with resentment.

Arms crossed tight over her chest, she glared at Victoria. "Mom and Dad want to see you."

"No."

Victoria didn't even hesitate.

She'd cut ties with the Spencer family a long time ago. Their problems were no longer hers.

Veda's eyes went wide. "How can you be so heartless? You grew up in the Spencer household! How can you just turn your back on us?"

Victoria let out a cold laugh. "Is that really how you ask someone for a favor?"

A flicker of guilt crossed Veda's eyes.

Her lips moved soundlessly. She stiffened her neck. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"Then I'm leaving."

Victoria didn't indulge her for a second. She turned and walked away.

"Wait!"

Veda scrambled to block her, a flash of panic in her eyes.

She gritted her teeth, looking like someone who'd thrown all pride out the window. "Please. Just come home with me. Once."

"No."

Victoria refused without a moment's pause, her voice flat and cold.

Veda's face flushed crimson. She glared daggers at Victoria. "You played me!"

Victoria raised an eyebrow. "I never said that if you begged, I'd agree."

"You bitch! I'll kill you!"

Veda shrieked and lunged at her.

Victoria stepped back half a pace, brought her hand up, and slapped Veda hard across the face.

Her gaze turned frigid, her presence sharp as a blade. Veda froze, not daring to come a single step closer.

"You walked right into that one."

Victoria's lips curved into a cold smile. She felt no guilt whatsoever.

Veda clutched her cheek, tears of humiliation streaming down her face. "How could you do this to me?"

"Isn't that exactly what you used to do to me?"

Victoria shot back.

Back in the Spencer mansion, whenever Veda was unhappy, Victoria was the one who got hit.

Now she'd only given Veda one slap. And Veda couldn't handle it?

"That was all in the past! Do you have to hold onto it forever?"

Veda's voice quivered with self-pity. She wanted nothing more than to storm off.

But when she thought about the Spencer family's current situation, she forced herself to swallow her pride.

This was all Michelle's fault!

If that woman hadn't blown through money like water, the Spencer family's finances would never have collapsed.

And now here she was, reduced to begging Victoria.

She'd never been so humiliated in her life.

The more Veda thought about it, the angrier she got. She wanted to march straight home and tear Michelle apart.

"That's right—I'm petty, and I hold grudges. So you'd better get lost before I'm in an even worse mood and decide to give you another lesson."

Victoria scoffed.

She watched Veda instinctively step back, hands flying up to shield her face.

Victoria clicked her tongue in boredom and walked away.

Veda wanted to chase after her but was too afraid of catching another slap. She stopped dead in her tracks.

Jaw clenched, she stomped her foot, spun around, and ran.

---

Victoria assumed that refusing Veda would be the end of it. She vastly underestimated how shameless the Spencer family could be.

That evening, she had just gotten Percival to sleep and was about to wash up and turn in when her phone rang. It was the building's concierge.

The concierge's voice was hesitant. "Ms. Spencer, have you gone to bed yet?"

"Almost," Victoria replied. "What's going on?"

The concierge sighed, sounding troubled. "There are two people outside the gate claiming to be your parents. They're making a scene, demanding to see you."

"They've been crying and carrying on for a while now. It's causing quite a disturbance. If you could, it might be best to come down and handle this."

Victoria's brow furrowed. After a moment of deliberation, she agreed. "I'll be right there."

She threw on a jacket and headed for the door.

Dena looked at her, confused. "Ms. Spencer, where are you going this late?"

"Dealing with something at the front gate."

Victoria kept it short and left without another word.

She hadn't even reached the community entrance when Delta's wailing carried through the night air.

"We're cursed, that's what we are! We raised an ungrateful child! We fed her, clothed her, never once mistreated her. And now that she's found her real parents, she's left us to die. Why is my life so miserable?"

Bystanders who knew nothing of the real story shook their heads sympathetically.

"Who is she talking about? That's terrible."

"How can someone just abandon their own family like that?"

"Ma'am, don't cry. Tell us who it is—we'll help you get justice."

The second Delta heard the word 'ma'am,' her face contorted for a split second before she burst into louder sobs.

Once a wealthy socialite from an elite family—when had anyone ever called her that?

If the Spencer family's finances hadn't collapsed, pushing them to the brink of bankruptcy, she would never have stooped this low.

Delta's eyes darted through the crowd, searching for Victoria.

She'd been crying for ages. Where was that little wretch?

Hayden stood beside Delta, his usual arrogance stripped away, replaced by a mask of deep suffering. He let out one heavy sigh after another.

The two of them looked so pathetic, no one would have guessed they'd once belonged to high society.

Victoria hung back in the crowd for a while, piecing together what was going on. Then she stepped forward, slow and unhurried.

The moment Delta and Hayden spotted her, their eyes lit up. They rushed toward her.

"Victoria, my dear girl, you're the only one who can save our family now! You don't want to watch us go bankrupt, do you?"

Delta stared at Victoria with desperate, pleading eyes.

"You were always the most sensible one at home. You'll help us this time, won't you?"

Victoria stepped back, her gaze cold and unwavering.

"Mrs. Spencer, I think you have the wrong person. I'm a Johnson. Not a Spencer."

Delta's expression twisted for an instant before she forced a stiff smile. "Oh, sweetheart, that was so long ago. You're still holding a grudge against your mother?"

Hayden's face darkened to an ashen gray. His voice was harsh. "Even if we didn't give you life, we raised you. We put a roof over your head. How can you be so ungrateful?"

The onlookers turned judgmental eyes on Victoria.

One man went so far as to point a finger in her face. "What's wrong with you? How can you be so cold-blooded?"

"They're literally crying and begging! And you're still going to say no?"

Victoria scoffed.

She walked toward the man, step by deliberate step.

Panic flickered in his eyes. "Wh-what are you doing?"

"Have your own parents ever drugged you and put you in a stranger's bed?"

Victoria asked.

The man shook his head instinctively.

"Have you ever been treated as a bargaining chip for the family? Forced to bear a child for another man against your will?"

The man's face turned beet red. "I'm a man—why would I bear anyone's child?"

Victoria nodded slowly.

"But I have."