Departure with a Belly (Alaric and Victoria)

Chapter 278

Alaric was extremely tall, and he was practically just inches away from Victoria, so

Victoria could feel his icy yet strong aura envelope her. Her instincts told her to step

back and keep her distance from him. Unfortunately, she tripped on something as she

tried to step back, and she toppled backward until Alaric reached out and wrapped an

arm around her waist. He pulled her toward himself, and she felt his strength tugging

her in his direction.

Victoria’s fragrant scent shot up Alaric’s nose as her body pressed against his chest. As

he felt her frail figure against his body and her soft and supple skin against his hands,

he tugged his lips into a slight smirk. “Are you that nervous to see me?” he uttered as he

raised an eyebrow to eye her playfully.

Victoria immediately pushed him away once she regained her footing. “Let go of me.”

However, the arm around her waist was like a steel clamp, and she couldn’t seem to

push him away no matter how hard she tried. He was like a mountain that she couldn’t

move. When the waiter saw this entire scene, he widened his eyes with amusement

and curiosity as he took a few steps back. “Since we know each other, you can just

share the table with me. You don’t have to go back downstairs.” Alaric led her to his

table, his arm still around her waist.

“What makes you think I’d want to share a table with you? Let go of me!” Victoria was

Chapter 278 Wasn’t Claudia Enough?

still trying to resist him as she shot him a fierce glare. “Also, what are you doing here?

Are you stalking me?”

“Do I look like a stalker?” Alaric curled his lips into a smirk. “Why don’t you ask this

waiter over here, Victoria? Ask him what time we arrived,” he uttered. Victoria froze

upon hearing him. I assumed that Alaric was stalking me and pestering me, but I

completely forgot that I came here later than him, she thought.

Terrance took this chance to stand up and greet Victoria. “What a coincidence, Miss

Selwyn. Are you here for a meal? It’s pretty late in the afternoon now–why are you only

eating lunch at this hour? You must’ve been really occupied. Well, since we bumped

into each other, I guess fate must be telling us to have a meal together. Why don’t you

sit with us?” he asked.

“It’s fine.” Victoria rejected him without any hesitation. “I’m not going to eat with you

guys.” “Are you saying that you won’t eat with us even though we’ve invested in your

company?” Alaric uttered.

Victoria was speechless for a while. She bit her bottom lip as she stared at the man

who still had his arm around her waist. “Are you threatening me right now?”

Alaric raised an eyebrow at her. “Well, it is whatever you think it is.”

Chapter 278 Wasn’t Claudia Enough?

“Fine.” Victoria smiled. “You can retract your investments, then. Do you think I’m afraid

of that?”

377

The smile on Alaric’s face faded away as he heard the woman’s words. “Do you think I

won’t do that?”

“Yeah. I’m not the one who put so much effort into all of this. What do you think?” she

replied.

Terrance could sense the conversation turning sour, so he quickly ordered the waiter to NôvelDrama.Org holds text © rights.

serve some food. “The three of us will share a table. Bring us some of your signature

dishes, please. Hurry up.” The waiter gradually made sense of the three people’s

relationship with one another as he listened to their conversation. They seem to know

each other, but it also seems like they don’t get along too well. Well, everything’s fine as

long as they know each other. The waiter nodded and went down to prepare the food

after that.

After the waiter left, Victoria shot Alaric with an icy glare. “Let go of me.” Terrance went

over as Alaric continued to hold onto the woman. “Oh, Mr. Cadogan and Miss Selwyn,

why don’t you guys calm down a little? Since we’re all here, let’s just have a meal

together.” Terrance tried to pull Alaric’s arm away from the woman, and Alaric

immediately furrowed his brows. However, after hearing Terrance’s whispers for him to

let go, Alaric eventually loosened his grip on the woman.

After Alaric let go of Victoria, Victoria found a lot more freedom in her movements, and

she hastily took a few steps back to keep her distance from Alaric. Alaric continued to

stare at her intently. “Well, why don’t we sit together, Miss Selwyn? Let’s all be a little

more pleasant with each other, shall we?” Terrance said.

Victoria stared at Terrance, who had always been polite to her. She couldn’t bring

herself to say something mean to him, so she tried explaining herself instead. “It’s fine.

I’m supposed to meet someone else.”

“Who?” Alaric asked.

“Is that any of your business?” she snapped in return.

“Is it a man?”

“Why do you care?” she asked again. Even though Alaric knew whom she was meeting,

he couldn’t contain the jealousy that he felt in him. Terrance could feel sweat forming

on his forehead as he listened to their conversation. What is Mr. Cadogan trying to do?

He said that he wanted things to be pleasant and amicable, but now that they’re

face–to–face with each other… Terrance took another glance at Victoria. Well, she’s

being really resistant, and she looked like she wanted to leave without even talking to

us earlier. I’d probably lose my cool if I was Mr. Cadogan, he thought.

“Are you meeting Bane?” Alaric asked with a scoff. Deep down, he was curious to know

if Victoria would have gone out with Bane if he hadn’t used his identity as Silent Night

to force her out on a date. Victoria had no intention of telling them whom she was

meeting, but she let out a cold scoff when she saw the look on Alaric’s face. “Yeah. I’m

meeting him for lunch, and we’re going to go look at cars later in the afternoon. I’ll leave

now if that’s all you have to say,” she uttered.

Then, Victoria walked off while pulling her phone out to act as if she was calling Bane.

Right then, Alaric reached out and grabbed her wrist before she could walk past him.

“Let go of me!” she hissed.

“You’d like to take a look at cars, huh? I’ll go with you.” With his grip firm on her wrist, he

tugged her down the stairs, and Terrance was left on his own. He was dumbfounded

and only returned to his senses when they had reached the bottom of the stairs. “Are

we not going to have a meal first, Mr. Cadogan?” However, his question came a little too

late–the two figures had already disappeared by then.

Terrance stared into space for a while. Fine. I guess I’ll have to taste all the signature

dishes on my own. Terrance knew that he wouldn’t be able to finish all the dishes, so he

phoned a few of his other friends in Jasea to drop by.

After dragging Victoria down the stairs, Alaric forced her into his car and held onto both.

her hands as he ordered his driver to start driving. The driver had no idea what was

going on, but he figured that it wouldn’t be appropriate for him to ask any questions, so

he simply started driving. Victoria continued to wrestle against the man after they got

into the car. “Let go of me! I came here today because I had other matters to handle!”

Victoria couldn’t believe her bad luck. How did we bump into each other here? Is this

really a coincidence? Did we really end up choosing the same spot? Now that he’s

taking me away, what am I going to do when Silent Night asks me for cash again?

“Oh,” Alaric replied flatly. “What matters do you have to handle?”

“It’s none of your business.” Victoria didn’t want to tell Alaric anything about herself,

especially when it had to do with her kids.

“None of my business, huh?” Alaric chuckled. “Well, since you don’t want to tell me

about it, I’m sure it’s not that important. Let’s go take a look at cars first, then.”

“Alaric!” Victoria shouted his name in exasperation. The rage in her gaze made her

seem like she could kill anyone she laid eyes on. “We cut all ties about five years ago. I

only went to Gandra with you recently because of the exchanges made between you,

Grandma, and me. We shouldn’t be related to each other now that all of that is over.

Who are you to continue pestering me like this? Who are you to stick your nose into my

business? Don’t you have tons of girls around you, including Claudia?” she hissed