Chapter 187: Chapter 187: Negotiate with Stepmother
Gianna glared at her enemy, her gaze uncharacteristically grimacing. She’d always tried to make deals with her before, but her stepdaughter had promptly rejected them. Now, her stepdaughter had suddenly met her in such a tense situation. What exactly was she planning?
Victoria folded her arms. "Have you been covering up Fransisca’s sins all this time?"
"Are you crazy? How dare you slander my daughter!" Gianna snapped, slamming the table.
"Actually, I just wanted to make you aware. Now you’re truly trapped by her. I’m sure you wanted to protect her, which is why you ordered Mr. Robert to erase all traces of the accident."
"But, Fransisca couldn’t possibly go that far! I never raised my daughter to be a murderer!"
It was Victoria’s turn to slam the table violently. "Your daughter killed my baby! Fransisca was the one who deliberately made me fall down the stairs that time! And then, she was also involved in an accident two years ago!"
"Now I have a question for you. Do you have any proof that Fransisca tried to kill you? Was she the one who caused your miscarriage?" Gianna snickered, shaking her head. "I don’t care what kind of deal you want me to make. One thing is, I won’t help you because I caused the accident two years ago."
Victoria clapped her hands sarcastically. "Wow, you’re such a kind and caring mother! Even though your daughter committed a crime, you still want to protect her, no matter how much your reputation is ruined."
"If you say any more nonsense, I will call the warden to drag you away!"
Victoria glanced at the luxury watch on her left wrist for a moment. "It looks like my time is almost up. I can’t stay here any longer." She placed her hands on the table. "Anyway, I’ll give you one last chance. If you help me, your sentences will be reduced. You won’t rot in prison forever. But if you still want to protect your daughter, then you will continue to rot in prison forever."
"Of course I wouldn’t be so stupid as to believe you, Victoria. You and I can’t work together."
"Let’s see if you’ll change your mind or not."
*****
Victoria hadn’t expected Gianna to cooperate with her in exposing Fransisca’s crimes over the years. She’d suspected this from the start, as Gianna loved her own daughter too much. It didn’t matter that her daughter was even more cruel than she was. Now all she needed was proof of Fransisca’s crimes.
Although Fransisca appears innocent, it’s surprising that she’s so cunning, subtly disposing of all the evidence. To this day, everyone is fooled by her demeanor, including Ansel and Matthias, who have spoken with her several times.
Would she now have to do something even more dangerous to expose Fransisca’s crimes? She still didn’t want to forgive Fransisca after causing her miscarriage.
As she was about to return to the studio, she felt as if someone was following her. However, when she looked in the rearview mirror, she saw no cars following her. Was this a side effect of remembering the accident?
Before she returned to the studio, she wanted to visit the T&H Real Estate building. Matthias had always been the one to visit her, but now it was her turn to come. She bought her husband’s favorite brownies as a boost before a meeting with business partners.
Upon arriving at the elite building, she briefly tidied her hair while carrying a shopping bag. As she entered her husband’s room, she deliberately pretended to be an honored guest.
"Mr. Matthias, did I come to you at a bad time?"
Matthias immediately greeted his wife’s arrival with joy. He closed the folder and then carried her in his arms while spinning her around.
"You certainly came to me at the perfect time. I have to get ready for a meeting outside the office in about an hour. I like how you came to me so suddenly, even though we’ve only been apart for about two hours."
Victoria swung her shopping bag. "I brought your favorite brownies. I was worried you’d go hungry if you didn’t have something sweet to snack on."
"Actually, I don’t need to snack on sweets. Just seeing you now before I leave for my meeting is enough to fill me up."
Her cheeks immediately flushed red at her husband’s sweet talk. "Could you please stop sweet-talking me all of a sudden?"
"Actually, I’ve been meaning to ask Marcel to help me buy something sweet. But I didn’t expect you to move faster than him."
"Marcel will definitely complain to me because you are bothering him so much now."
"If he dares to complain to me, I can ask Sawyer for help."
Victoria laughed softly, patting her husband’s shoulder. "By the way, could you put me down? I’m going to open the brownie box for you."
Matthias let his beloved wife open the large box of brownies. His eyes lit up as he watched her take the initiative to feed him.
"Tory, I’m actually curious about you. Why did you suddenly buy me brownies? Did you just visit somewhere?"
"No. For some reason, I just thought about giving you brownies. You’ve been really into brownies lately, especially since you seem to really like them."
*****
It was already evening now. It was time for Victoria to return to her home alone. She didn’t want Matthias to pick her up, as the meeting location was quite far from the studio.
However, just as she was about to walk a short distance from the studio, someone suddenly dragged her, making her scream. She immediately shared her location with Ansel to save her. Ansel was the only person she could rely on.
"Who are you guys?!" Victoria screamed, trying to fight the gangsters with her bag.
"You don’t need to know!" A gang leader ordered his men to restrain their captive’s hands and then numb her nose with a handkerchief.
Victoria was now unconscious. Her body was dragged by the two gangsters into a black van.