Chapter 116

"Victoria, this is your golden chance to reclaim what's yours!" Margaret Sterling squeezed her daughter's arm with manic excitement. "We need to make Nathan come to you immediately. When he sees Evelyn with his best friend, that little tramp will be dead to him!"

"But Nathan's at work now." Victoria bit her lip. "He never went shopping with me even on weekends before. Why would he come now? Besides..."

Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I just won back his sympathy by playing the depression card. I need to tread carefully these days - reel him in slowly. I can't risk another outburst."

"Don't be naive!" Margaret dug her manicured nails into Victoria's shoulder. "Of course you don't ask him to accompany you shopping like some lovesick puppy. But if there's an emergency... That's how you make a man feel needed. Men crave that hero complex - they want to rescue damsels in distress, not obedient doormats!"

Victoria's eyes flickered with doubt. Her mother's advice rang hollow - hadn't she spent decades clinging to Richard Sterling like some pathetic koala? And where had that gotten her? A cheating husband, dwindling social status, and now playing nursemaid to a sick old man.

"I'll call Nathan myself," Margaret decided, already dialing. "I'll say you wandered off alone and now you're missing. With your 'fragile mental state,' if he cares at all, he'll come running."

Her lips curled into a vicious smile. "And when he arrives... he'll see exactly why that Kingsley bitch doesn't deserve him."

Nathan Blackwood had just stepped out of a board meeting when his phone buzzed. "Mrs. Sterling," he answered coldly.

"Mr. Blackwood!" Margaret's voice was shrill with fake panic. "Have you heard from Victoria? She went out alone hours ago and now her phone's dead! With her depression, I'm terrified something's happened!"

Nathan's grip tightened on his phone. "Where did she go?"

"She mentioned the new Éclat Boutique near Monarch Grand... Oh God, what if she's—"

"I'll find her." He cut her off, already striding toward the elevators. "Ian! The car. Now."

Within twenty minutes, Nathan was scanning the bustling Grandview Galleria, dialing Victoria repeatedly. On the fifth try, she finally picked up.

"Nathan?" Her voice sounded thin, breathless.

"Where are you? I'm at the galleria."

"Second floor... near the east elevators. I felt dizzy... had to sit down."

"Stay there." He took the escalator two steps at a time.

When he spotted Victoria slumped on a velvet bench, she launched herself into his arms. "You came!" Her tearful gaze fluttered up at him. "I'm better now that you're here."

"Your mother's been calling for hours. Why didn't you answer?" Nathan's voice was tight with concern.

Victoria produced a practiced pout. "My battery died. I was looking for a charger when..." She trailed off meaningfully.

"You can't wander off alone like this." He pulled her closer, inhaling her Chanel No. 5. "Not in your condition."

"I only feel safe with you, Nathan." She nuzzled against his Armani suit, hiding her triumphant smirk. Her mother's plan was working perfectly.

Around them, shoppers whispered:

"Is that Victoria Sterling? She's even more stunning in person!"

"Who's the guy? Looks like he stepped off a GQ cover."

Nathan ignored them, but Victoria suddenly gasped. "Nathan, look! What are the odds?"

He turned—and froze. His emerald eyes darkened, then flashed with something dangerous. Across the cosmetics counter, Evelyn Kingsley stood laughing with Ryan Montgomery, his hand resting intimately on the small of her back.

The sight sent white-hot fury coursing through Nathan's veins. His fingers curled into fists as something inside him shattered.