Chapter 83

"We're family—there's no need for thanks."

Stein sat down beside her, his presence reassuring.

"I bought this place, you know. It's yours whenever you need it.”

Victoria's eyes shimmered with tears.

"Stein-" she whispered.

He reached out, ruffling her hair with gentle affection, the way you'd comfort a child.

After a moment of silence, he made up his mind to tell her the truth.

"When you were taken, McNeil showed up. He wanted to take you away, but I wouldn't let him."

The tears faded from Victoria's eyes, replaced by a cold, distant look.

Stein sighed inwardly. Matters of the heart were never simple.

He still remembered the way Victoria had once been determined-almost desperate to marry McNeil, no matter what anyone said. And over the years, everyone close to the family knew just how much she'd endured.

It didn't help that McNeil's name was constantly tangled up in tabloid rumors with other women. The gossip columns made sure there was no ignoring it.

"I'm not going back to the Langford family," Victoria said quietly.

She couldn't forget how, after Violet's return, McNeil had grown cold, indifferent- how he'd blamed her for things she never did, for no reason at all.

so many years, but she was tired

decide, you have

was always on her side. That meant the world

least she wasn't

to move her hand a little, Victoria reached out

Ailie answered the phone, she

to put out a missing person's report! I almost called McNeil to

had been terrified that something

her to worry, so she made up

for something personal. I'm sorry

Garcia is upset

understand if he wants

out a tearful laugh. "Don't

He'd never

been like a

you're back, call me.

"Alright."

Ailie a little longer,

wandered to a few other

hadn't heard anything about them since that car accident. She wondered if

picked up her phone to call Marcus,

were several missed calls from her daughter; it had been a

really

calling so often

was

voice

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