Chapter 65

Before Elena could protest the offer of an extra lesson, Richard kissed her again.

This kiss was different from the ones before. There was less urgency in it now, more patience. His hand slipped into her hair, fingers resting lightly at the back of her neck as he kissed her slowly, almost as though he really were taking his time teaching her something.

They stayed tangled together in the rumpled sheets for a while longer, until Elena was too sleepy to do much more than mumble whenever he kissed her.

Only then did Richard finally let her go.

He got out of bed and pulled on a black robe, tying it loosely around his waist.

“Get some sleep.”

He straightened the pillows, pulled the covers over her, then bent down and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead.

“I need to go.”

Elena was already half asleep, but one arm emerged from beneath the covers to catch his sleeve.

“Then don't work too late…” she murmured. “You need to sleep too. It's bad for you.”

Richard looked at her sleepy face and softened. He took her hand and kissed her fingers.

“I'll try. But things are still developing in Europe, so I can't promise anything tonight. There's a lot to finish up.” He gave her hand a small squeeze. “Don't wait for me. Just sleep.”

“Mm…”

That seemed to be enough for Elena. She mumbled something unintelligible, turned her head into the pillow, and drifted off.

Elsewhere, Charlotte Whitmore clutched her phone like it was the last thing keeping her afloat.

Her hands were trembling when she answered, and before the person on the other end could even speak, tears were already spilling down her face.

“Victoria… Victoria, you have to help me…”

Victoria Sterling was sitting in her study with a group assignment open on the desk beside her.

“Charlotte? What's wrong?”

She had originally been planning to call Charlotte about their elective assignment.

“My dad's lost his mind!”

Charlotte had long since stopped caring how undignified she sounded.

“He took my apartment and my cars! Even the trust fund they set up for me when I came of age, and the shares he promised I'd get after graduation! He's giving everything to my half-sister! He's even taking my mom's properties and jewelry fund and giving those to her too!”

Victoria pulled the phone slightly away from her ear, startled by the volume.

Growing up in the Sterling family, Victoria understood exactly how families like the Whitmores handled their wealth. The apartment, cars, trust fund, even company shares might have been set aside for Charlotte, but that didn't necessarily mean they were beyond the family's control. Much of it would still be held through trusts or family-controlled companies.

And as the head of Whitmore Group, Mr. Whitmore had plenty of ways to redirect assets that had never fully left the family's hands.

Charlotte could fight him, theoretically.

But that would mean taking her own family to court—and possibly cutting herself off from the Whitmores for good.

“How did it get this serious?” Victoria softened her voice. “Your father has always spoiled you. Was there some kind of misunderstanding?”

“It was because of that night at your family's villa.” Charlotte struggled to speak through her crying. “When I pushed Elena into the pool. Somehow my dad found out…”

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Victoria's expression changed.

“You told me Elena lost her footing and fell into the pool herself. Then she climbed out and threw that pitcher at you.”

“Well…” Charlotte bit her lip. “She did lose her footing!”

Victoria knew perfectly well what that meant.

She had no intention of defending Elena.

But something else bothered her.

Her father had personally brought up Charlotte's behavior with Mr. Whitmore?

Richard Sterling was not a man who wasted words. If he had gone out of his way to issue a warning at a social event, however indirectly, there had to be a reason.

Why?

Had something else happened that night?

Certainly, if Elena had actually drowned in the pool, the aftermath would have been inconvenient. But it wouldn't have been impossible to handle.

And Elena was fine.

So why had Richard involved himself at all?

Before Victoria could follow the thought any further, Charlotte's pleading voice came through the phone again.

“Victoria, please help me. There's that party in a couple of days… Could you send a car to pick me up? I can't let everyone find out I don't even have a car anymore.”

Victoria's thoughts were interrupted.

Sending a car would have been easy.

But if this had already reached her father, and Richard had made his dislike of Charlotte clear, openly supporting her now would be a terrible idea.

“Charlotte, calm down.”

Victoria's voice remained gentle.

“I'm not even sure I'll be going that night, so arranging a car might be difficult. And if my father has already said those things, sending one of our cars to pick you up publicly could make his impression of you even worse. It could also make your father angrier.”

She paused.

“For the next few days, just do what your father says and keep a low profile, okay?”

“Victoria!”

Charlotte immediately realized she was trying to distance herself.

“You can't do this to me! Who do you think I did all of this for?”

Victoria's expression hardened.

“I knew you liked Adrian, so I went after Elena! If it weren't for me, would she and Adrian have broken up this quickly? Adrian's single now, isn't he? You have your chance because of me! I was the one taking the risk of getting someone killed—”

“Charlotte!”

Victoria's voice turned cold.

“What are you talking about? Adrian and I have always just been friends. We share the same academic interests—that's all. He already had a girlfriend. Why would I have had any other intentions toward him?”

Her grip tightened around the phone.

“And I certainly never asked you to do any of those things.”

Charlotte rolled her eyes.

Seriously?

At a time like this, Victoria was still pretending.

Charlotte had noticed the way Victoria looked at Adrian a long time ago. Victoria had met more wealthy heirs than she could count, plenty of them handsome, accomplished, and well educated. Yet Adrian was the only one who ever drew that particular look of admiration from her.

Charlotte might not have been a genius. She didn't always understand the intellectual connection between people like Victoria and Adrian.

But she'd dated before.

She knew what attraction looked like.

“I have a video conference coming up,” Victoria said after a moment. “You should get some rest.”

She didn't want to completely fall out with Charlotte either. Charlotte knew too many of her private matters for Victoria to cut her off completely.

“I'll ask around and see what I can do,” Victoria added more quietly. “Charlotte, I really do consider you a friend. But you know what my father is like. Half the time, even I don't know what he's thinking.”

Charlotte wiped her tears, already regretting her outburst. Victoria was the last person she could afford to lose right now.

“Thank you, Victoria. I was just upset. I didn't mean it like that…”

The call ended.

Victoria remained seated in her study, her expression dark.

She genuinely disliked the suggestion that she had been waiting around for someone else's boyfriend.

Yes, she thought Elena was a poor match for Adrian. But while Elena and Adrian had still been together, Victoria had never actually done anything to interfere with their relationship.

As far as she was concerned, that mattered.

Still, hearing Charlotte say it aloud left her deeply uncomfortable, as though thoughts she'd preferred to keep private had suddenly been dragged into the light.

At least Elena and Adrian had broken up now.

And yet…

The thought of how much Adrian still seemed to care about Elena irritated her.

Victoria leaned back in her chair.

Charlotte's call had interrupted her earlier train of thought, but now she returned to it.

Something about the timing still didn't make sense.

If her father had confronted Mr. Whitmore because of what happened to Elena, why had he waited until now?

The pool incident had happened earlier that evening.

And when Richard eventually entered the courtyard, what had he actually seen?

A mess on the ground. A pitcher. Spilled juice.

How could he have known what happened before that?

Unless—

Elena told him?

Victoria frowned.

Was that even possible?

Someone in Elena's position should have been too intimidated by Richard to even speak properly in front of him, let alone complain about Charlotte.

And if Richard had simply been displeased by the mess at the villa, his criticism should have been directed at the entire group. Why single out Charlotte? Why go so far as to warn Mr. Whitmore personally?

Something had happened.

Victoria picked up her phone and contacted her assistant.

“Miss Sterling. What can I do for you?”

“Pull the security footage from the villa from the night of the seventeenth.”

Victoria's eyes narrowed slightly.

“I want the cameras covering the pool area. Start from the moment my father entered the courtyard.”