Endless Night, Swaying Hearts

After securing her visa, Victoria returned home. The moment she stepped through the door, she came face-to-face with Marjorie—perfectly dolled up as always.

Marjorie launched into her usual lecture the second she saw Victoria. "Vicky, so you finally decided to come back? You've been staying out all night for days on end! What kind of behavior is that for a young lady?"

Victoria didn't even glance her way. Instead, she reached for the tall porcelain vase standing by the entryway and smashed it to the floor with all her strength. The sound was deafening, and shards flew in every direction.

Marjorie let out a shriek and stumbled back a couple of steps.

Victoria looked at her calmly, her strikingly beautiful face etched with contempt and iciness. "And who the hell do you think you are? How dare a home-wrecking mistress lecture me, the legitimate daughter? Remember this, Marjorie—as long as I'm still in this house, you will never be the lady of the house!"

Her words were sharp, each one a precise strike, leaving Marjorie pale and trembling with rage.

"Victoria! What on earth is wrong with you now?"

Hugh burst out of the study at the sound, rushing to steady Marjorie before she could collapse. He glared at Victoria with fury. "The second you walk in, you turn the whole place upside down! Can't you behave for once?"

Seeing Hugh protect Marjorie, Victoria felt nothing but disappointment and bitter irony. She sniggered. "I'm the one turning everything upside down? Fine. Just give me my share of the inheritance early, and I'll go abroad. I won't bother any of you ever again."

Hugh froze, then quickly plastered on a mask of false concern. "What nonsense are you talking about? Go abroad? What would a young lady like you do out there? Stay here. This will always be your home. We're family—"

"Family?" Victoria laughed as if she'd heard the greatest joke. "Stop the act, Hugh. You, her, and Cassandra—you're a family. My mother died, and with her, my home. Just give me my share. I want what's rightfully mine."

Hugh's expression darkened. After a long silence, he offered, feigning sincerity, "I know you're upset with the family. How about this? I'll give you five million dollars first. You can go on a trip to clear your head—"

Victoria scoffed, "Five million dollars? Hugh Calloway, everything you have today was built on the Monroe family's capital! On my mother's wedding gift! On the life she sacrificed to save yours in that crash!

"And now, you're using my mother's money to support this mistress and her bastard daughter, living in a house my mother bought, and you think five million dollars is enough to pay off her only child? Have you no shame?"

Struck in his most vulnerable spot, Hugh flushed with anger. "You! Fine! Tell me exactly how much you want. Just name it!"

Victoria had come prepared. She pulled a document from her bag and recited the figures and stock holdings with cold precision.

"You're insane! That's impossible!" Hugh exploded. "You're trying to take half of Calloway Corporation!"

Unfazed, Victoria walked to the window, looking down at the yard below, her tone deceptively light. "No? That's fine. I've planted explosives around the villa. Either you agree, sign the agreement, and hand over what's mine, or we all die here today. Your choice."

Hugh's eyes widened sharply. He pointed a trembling finger at her. "You… You lunatic!"

"Yes," she said calmly, meeting his eyes without a trace of hesitation. "A lunatic driven mad by all of you."

Hugh's expression turned ashen, and his breathing grew ragged as he stared at her, trying to gauge the truth of her words. In the end, raw fear of death won out over everything else.

He collapsed onto the couch, a cold sweat breaking out. With a shaking hand, he signed Victoria's asset division agreement.

"Now… Now go get rid of those bombs!" His voice trembled.

Victoria picked up the agreement, carefully examined the signature, and a cold, mocking smile tugged on her lips. "Relax. There are no bombs. I lied. Just like how you lied to my mother to get her to marry you. Like father, like daughter."

Only then did Hugh realize he'd been fooled. He was so furious he could hardly catch his breath. Pointing a finger at her, he sputtered for a couple of seconds, unable to form a complete sentence, "You… You…"

Victoria had no more patience for him. She turned to go upstairs.

"Stop right there!" Hugh called out, panting, struggling to contain his rage.

"Cassandra is bringing her boyfriend home for dinner today! I don't care how you've acted before, but you will sit through this meal properly!"

He emphasized his words, a clear warning in his tone. "Her boyfriend is Caden Larkson! You know the standing of the Larkson family in Dravenia! We cannot afford to offend them! Tame that rebellious streak of yours, and don't you dare cause any trouble!"

Victoria's footsteps halted mid-step, and she went rigid.

Caden was visiting? As Cassandra's boyfriend?

The very next second, the front door opened. Cassandra walked in, arm in arm with Caden, a sweet smile gracing her lips.