Chapter 386
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Chapter 386:
Victoria stared at her reflection. A twisted smile spread slowly across her face. This was exactly how it was supposed to look. This wealth, this power — it belonged to her bloodline.
Her vanity completely overrode her logic. She knew she couldn’t keep it, but she could create an illusion. She could make the world believe, just for a moment, that someone had given her something even more spectacular than what Gaston had given Jocelyn.
She pulled her phone from her purse, angled her body to frame her face and the glittering necklace in the mirror’s reflection, and snapped a photo.
She opened Instagram, uploaded the picture to her Stories, and applied a soft Paris filter to make the diamonds look even more radiant. She typed a caption across the bottom: Some gifts are just too perfect. A flawless surprise.
She adjusted the privacy settings to block Jocelyn from viewing it, then left it visible to their mutual circle of high-society socialites.
She hit post.
The sharp click of high heels echoed from the hallway outside the office.
Addi𝘤ti𝘷𝖾 ѕ𝘁𝗈𝗿𝗂𝘦ѕ oո
Victoria’s stomach dropped. Panic flooded her veins. She desperately fumbled with the clasp, unhooked the necklace, and shoved it deep into her purse.
She grabbed a spare leather tote bag from the leather sofa and walked out of the washbasin, forcing her face into a mask of calm.
Jocelyn’s executive assistant walked into the office and stopped dead in her tracks, eyes widening in shock.
“What are you doing in here?” the assistant demanded sharply.
Victoria lifted her chin and shook the tote bag in the air. “Retrieving my property,” she said coldly, moving to walk straight past the assistant without breaking her stride.
“Stop right there! You are not authorized to be up here!” the assistant barked, her shock instantly hardening into fierce professional resolve. She lunged forward, seized Victoria’s arm with surprising strength, and reached for the security panic button on her lanyard. “I am calling security right now p>
“Take your filthy hands off a Stein!” Victoria shrieked, violently shoving the assistant backward. The assistant stumbled hard against the heavy doorframe. Before she could recover and press the button, Victoria sprinted into the open elevator and frantically smashed the lobby button. The doors slid shut just as the assistant yelled for the guards.
As the elevator descended, Victoria pressed her hand against her purse. She could feel the hard, sharp edges of the diamonds through the leather.
A sick, twisted thrill of revenge washed over her.
She walked out of the lobby and climbed immediately into a waiting Uber Black.
“Take me to SoHo,” Victoria ordered.
Sitting in the back seat, she watched her phone screen light up. Within minutes, her direct messages were flooded with gasps and questions from other socialites, begging to know who had bought her the necklace.
Her ego swelled to a massive, dangerous size.
Meanwhile, on the third floor of the hotel.
Jocelyn sat at the head of the long glass conference table, rubbing the tight muscles at the back of her neck. The quarterly earnings meeting had been brutal and exhausting.
She closed her laptop and gave her department heads a final nod of dismissal.