Chapter 230: Cry Hard

Unable to reach Easton through normal means, Victoria hired someone to track his movements and secretly followed him. With some luck, she found an opportunity to meet him on his way home from work.

Aware that he was being followed, Easton deliberately stopped his car to lure the follower out. When he saw that it was Victoria skulking behind him, his brow furrowed before she could even get close.

With tears streaming down her face, making her look utterly wronged, Victoria called out with a quivering voice, “Easton….”

Easton pursed his lips in displeasure. “Are you deaf now, too? Do I really need to remove your tongue for you to speak properly?”

It had been over a decade since she started calling him that intimate nickname, and Victoria never imagined a day when Easton wouldn’t allow it. Still coldly suggesting he might ‘remove her tongue,’ Victoria nearly lost her grip on the pitiful act she was putting on, her facial features momentarily contorting beneath her façade.

“I can understand you just fine! Easton, you seem like a stranger!” she choked out, “Where’s the guy who promised to protect me for life? Even if our engagement is off, do you not care at all about our childhood bond?”

“You’re the one who feels like a stranger to me, acting like some hysteric, grabbing Ellis’s hair, hitting her face and head.” Easton mocked.

His image of Victoria had always been that of a delicate, inherently noble woman. However, a video had upended his perception, revealing for the first time her duplicity.

“I had my reasons, and I know I was wrong to retaliate against Ellis!” Tears welled up in Victoria’s eyes as she kept her gaze submissively low. “Please, don’t cut off support for my company.”

Easton, observing Victoria’s tearful display, felt not a shred of sympathy. “I don’t owe you anything. I can cut off support whenever I want.”

Why didn’t she show any mercy when hitting Ellis? If she was heartless, why should he be any different? Her troubles were of her own making. While not a matter of principle, he might have been generous due to their shared past, but she had crossed a line. He had never retaliated even once, so what gave her the right to strike?

Victoria frantically wiped away her tears. “Easton, I know I was wrong! Please, don’t do this over Ellis…”

Easton interrupted her impatiently. “This isn’t about Ellis. It’s your two-faced actions that disgust me.”

Victoria had once been his sensible fiancée, included in his life plans as they would have been just another power couple in high society. A union of strengths, benefiting themselves and their families, respecting each other while trying not to trouble the other, living respectfully – he prepared to fulfill his duties as a husband and father, and she as a wife and mother.

Now, Victoria seemed to have slapped him in the face, mocking his inability to see her true nature all this time.

“Ellis hit me first, and I was just getting back at her. It’s justified both morally and logically,” Victoria insisted, still maintaining her humble posture, “and I didn’t really hurt her. Easton, you’re being unfair to me.”

“You talk to me about fairness? That’s a joke!”

The world was full of injustices, and he wasn’t here to dispense justice for Victoria. To emphasize her pitiful state, Victoria sniffled repeatedly. “Ellis forced you to marry her. Don’t you hate her? To the point where you’d overlook our past together?”

Hate her? Easton hadn’t even considered such thoughts.

Ellis was certainly manipulative, having used every tactic to become his wife. But that was separate from Victoria attacking Ellis behind his back; the two issues were not the same and should not be conflated.

“It’s none of your business whether I hate her or not. Just look after yourself.” With that, Easton opened his car door.

Seeing Easton about to leave, a desperate Victoria darted forward, blocking the car door with her body, tears and voice breaking. “Easton, I’m sorry, please, just forgive me this once.”

“Get lost!” Easton spat out coldly.

No matter how pitifully Victoria cried, he could not feel sympathy for her. Having seen her violent side, her tears now only irritated him; he wasn’t buying her act.

Ellis, despite being hit, had never complained about Victoria to him. Victoria, on the other hand, had initially clung to the notion that he misunderstood her. Clearly, she wouldn’t have apologized if not for the threat to her company’s support, and her apology was merely a tactic to regain the financial aid and resources.

Shoving the obstructive Victoria aside, he got into his car and drove off smoothly.