Departure with a Belly (Alaric and Victoria)

Chapter 42

E

After speaking, Victoria couldn’t be bothered to waste any more time with

her. She packed up her things and quickly left the cafe. However, she

didn’t notice that after she left, the man, who was referred to as Carlo, sat

down in front of Claudia and began to inquire about Victoria. After leaving

the cafe, Victoria did not go home. Instead, she stood on the side of the

road, looking at the passing vehicles. The huge boulder in her heart finally

fell to the ground.

She couldn’t help but call her father, Tony, to share the news that she had

returned the favor. However, the phone rang for a long time and the call

went unanswered. Victoria glanced at the time and guessed that her

father was probably busy with work, so she didn’t call again.

For the rest of the day, Victoria continued to accompany Griselda at the

nursing home. As she had talked to Claudia for a long time, she was

delayed and arrived at the nursing home a little later. When she arrived,

11:08 Mon,

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the caregiver said, “Mrs. Cadogan, you’re more than half an hour late

today. Old Mrs. Cadogan has been waiting for you for a long time.”

Hearing this, Victoria felt a little guilty. “I had something to do on the way. I

got delayed.”

“Then go in quickly.”

“Okay.” Victoria quickened her steps and soon arrived at the ward.

All the caregivers had probably left at the same time, and there was only

Griselda in the room. When Victoria was about to walk in, her footsteps

suddenly paused. She saw that Griselda was holding a photo and staring

at it in a daze. Although Victoria could only see her profile from a distance,

she could sense the heavy sorrow coming from the old woman.

“Grandma…” Victoria called out to her softly and walked in.

Hearing the sound, Griselda snapped back to reality and looked toward

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the source, her emotions disappearing from her face. “Victoria, you’re

here.”

A

Victoria walked up to her, apologetically explaining, “Sorry, Grandma. I ran

into some trouble on the way here. I just got here. Did you wait for me

long? Next time, if I’m late again, I’ll make sure to call ahead.”

“Silly Victoria, it was only a little while. How long could I possibly wait?

Besides, there’s nothing to do at the nursing home, so it doesn’t matter if I

wait a little longer or shorter.”

“No, that won’t do.” Victoria shook her head, crouched down, and leaned

her head on Griselda’s leg, softly saying, “I want to tell you so that at least

while waiting for me, you know I’m on my way to find you.”

“You little dear…”

Griselda was soothed by Victoria’s gentle voice and reached out to tidy

Victoria’s hair, asking, “Then why don’t you tell me what happened on your

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way here?”

Victoria paused for a moment, then smiled and said, “It’s just work stuff

and it’s very boring. Grandma, there’s not much to talk about that. How

about you tell me a story instead?”

After speaking, Victoria touched the photo in Griselda’s hand and said, “For

example, the story behind this photo.”

Griselda hesitated for a moment before gently tapping Victoria’s fair

forehead. “You little clever brat.”

“Mm,” Victoria hummed, leaning her forehead toward Griselda. “I want to

hear your story, Grandma.”

“Alright, I’ll tell you.”

By noon, Victoria received a message from Alaric asking her where she

was. Victoria replied briefly, ‘At the nursing home.‘

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Shortly after the message was sent, Alaric replied, ‘I’ll come over for lunch.‘

Victoria was surprised and asked, ‘Aren’t you busy at the company?‘

Alaric replied, ‘Yes, I’m still in a meeting. I’m taking some time off to come

over.‘

Victoria didn’t say anything more and just said okay. She had nothing to

say about him taking time out of work to come to the nursing home to see

his own grandmother.

The meeting finally ended. After experiencing several hours of Alaric’s

sharp tongue, all the high–level executives in the conference room walked

out with pale faces, looking at each other with grief. Then they shook their

heads, sighed, and left in embarrassment.

was about time. If he

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went to the nursing home now, the timing should be about right.

He walked out of the conference room expressionlessly. Suddenly, a

beautiful woman in a white dress and fluttering long hair walked up to

him.

“Al.” The woman’s voice was soft and clear, causing the other high–level

executives to look over at her.

Alaric paused and saw that Claudia was holding a thermal food container

while walking toward him. His eyes softened when he saw her, and he

walked over. “What are you doing here?”

Since the other executives were still around, Claudia looked a bit shy as

she said softly, “You’ve been busy with work lately. I don’t think you’ve been

eating properly. So, I personally made some food that you like.”

The people around them couldn’t help but sigh with envy. Two spots of red

crept up on Claudia’s fair face. She looked a bit embarrassed as she

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lowered her head. The people around them couldn’t help but stop and

watch the drama unfold.

“Mr. Cadogan, you’re really lucky today.”

“Yeah, we all envy Mr. Cadogan for having such good fortune.”

They were trying to flatter Alaric, but little did they know that he didn’t like

their jokes about him and Claudia. In fact, he gave them a stern look and

glared at them with his sharp eyes. “Do you have nothing better to do? Or

did your performance earlier not embarrass you enough? Do you want to

have another meeting to continue this?”

The people around them were instantly intimidated and didn’t dare to

make a sound. In just a moment, everyone left quietly.

Claudia, who was standing in front of Alaric, was shocked to see him

suddenly become angry. She looked up at him with surprise. Why did he

suddenly become angry? They didn’t say anything wrong, did they? But it

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seems that Alaric doesn’t like it when people joke about him and me.

Most importantly, Claudia felt that she had been humiliated in front of the

company’s executives. She thought she was special, so she dared to wait

for him at this time. She also intended to assert her dominance in front of

his colleagues by doing this. In fact, she wanted everyone to know that

she was the one who would be the lady boss of the company, not Victoria.

Nevertheless, she didn’t expect Alaric to suddenly get angry…

“What’s wrong with you, Al?”

Hearing her words, Alaric paused and came back to his senses, feeling a

bit dazed. He didn’t know why he had suddenly lost his temper just now.

Now, he was extremely annoyed. He pursed his lips and said, “Nothing.

Why did you come here today?”

Claudia was speechless. She had already told him, but he forgot. She had

Ino

no choice but to awkwardly repeat what she had just said. However, Alaric

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still seemed distracted and absent–minded.

Finally, he frowned and said, “Claudia, thank you for going to all this

trouble, but I have something to do today and I have to go out.”

Then, he added while turning to his assistant, “I’ll have someone take you

back.”