Chapter 3: The Relentless Woman - Married to My Ex's Uncle

The irritation that Wayne had only just contained reignited right away. "Could you for once speak seriously! You're not even aware of your own spouse's history?"

Seeing Wayne was about to lose his temper, William finally sat up straight and tried to placate him. "Dad, never mind who she is, at least I brought you back a real woman, right?"

That reasoning did hold some logic. Wed a woman whose past is murky is still preferable to bringing a man into the family.

William smiled cunningly. "No problem. But you'd better prepare a decent gift for the first meeting. If it's too shabby, I won't be able to show my face."

Looking at William's carefree attitude, Wayne shook his head helplessly.

Seven o'clock in the evening.

Once she had gathered her personal items from Ethan's residence, Victoria drove back to the Hughes family estate.

As soon as she entered, the household staff nodded in greeting, their eyes undisguised with contempt.

Victoria used to not bother making trouble, but today she wasn't in such a good mood. She stopped in her tracks and shot them an icy, sharp glare. The servants froze in fear and immediately lowered their heads guiltily.

Victoria sneered coldly.

Walking into the living room, Charles was sitting on the sofa smoking.

Victoria skipped the small talk and got straight to the point. "Dad, are the hotel transfer documents ready? I'm free tomorrow, have your lawyer go with me to handle the paperwork."

Charles furrowed his brow and slid a pile of papers toward her. "You're always so hasty. It's only a hotel," is it really necessary to push so hard? I care about you the most, and since I promised, I'll definitely give it to you."

His words were full of pretense, acting as if he treated her so well.

Victoria ignored it, picked up the documents to look through them, her voice cold. "Dad, I need to remind you, this hotel is the inheritance my mother left me, not something you're giving me out of charity. And this hotel has been losing money in your hands for almost ten years. You're trading a money-losing mess for a huge investment from the Nelson family—you're making out like a bandit on this deal."

"Don't speak to me about paternal love. If you're having second thoughts, you can just let Sarah take your place in the arranged marriage."

Charles was hit where it hurt, his face turning iron-blue.

Of course he wouldn't let Sarah go through with the arranged marriage. Sarah had now latched onto someone from the Ashford family, and the Ashford family was much more powerful than the Nelson family. Weighing the pros and cons, he could only reluctantly let go.

Having successfully obtained the papers, Victoria felt very cheerful. The moment she stepped out of the mansion, she phoned Aria.

"Aria, are you off work?"

It was a bit noisy on the other end. Aria lowered her voice. "Just finished working overtime, rushing to deliver some urgent documents to my boss at a hotel. I can leave after I drop them off."

"Send me your location, I'll pick you up. Let's have a drink tonight."

Victoria drove to the hotel location.

The moment she pulled in and entered the lobby, she spotted Aria at a distance, head lowered and being scolded.

And the people pointing at her nose and cursing were Ethan and Sarah!

Three months earlier, Aria had been moved to a role as an office assistant at a venture capital firm within the Ashford Group, and the managing director there happened to be Ethan.

At first, Victoria thought that with this connection, Ethan would at least look after Aria a bit. But reality was that Aria's workload had multiplied several times over, and no matter what she did, it was easy to find fault with it, get criticized, and get punished at the drop of a hat.

Back then, Ethan justified it as "helping her develop fast," and Victoria accepted that reasoning.

But now, seeing with her own eyes Aria being publicly insulted by those two bastards, Victoria finally realized—because of her relationship with Aria, Aria had long become a tool for Ethan and Sarah to vent their anger!

The piercing, unkind sound of Sarah's voice reverberated throughout the hotel entrance hall.

"Aria, did you bring your brain to work? Not only is the wording a complete mess, but all the core data is wrong!"

Aria pressed her lips together and attempted to justify herself. "Ms. Mitchell, I input the information precisely as it was in the original documents you provided." There's no way it could be wrong."

"You mess up and still have the nerve to argue?" Sarah shouted, her arrogance reaching its peak. "Someone as useless as you doesn't belong in the Ashford Group!"

Aria wanted to argue more, but Ethan on the side shot her a cold warning look.

"When Sarah points out your mistakes, just accept it. Since there's an issue with the document, take it away and revise it right now, and keep at it until Sarah is happy with it."

After saying that, Ethan wrapped his arm around Sarah and prepared to go. Just before they left, Sarah actually hurled the hefty pile of papers straight into Aria's face!

Papers scattered all over the floor, passersby turned to look, and Aria's eyes reddened with anger, but because they were her superiors, she could only clench her fists and endure it.

"Sarah!"

A crisp, cold shout rang out.

Victoria strode forward, grabbed Sarah's arm, her eyes cold as ice. "Apologize to Aria."

Seeing Victoria appear, a flash of disgust crossed Ethan's eyes.

Sarah rolled her eyes and immediately put on a pitiful, affected expression. "Victoria, what are you doing? As a department manager, I'm reprimanding a subordinate who made a mistake. What's wrong with that?"

Aria was afraid Victoria would suffer, so she quickly tugged at her sleeve. But Victoria instead pulled Aria behind her protectively, staring hard at Sarah. "I'll say it one more time, apologize to her!"

Seeing Victoria's firm attitude, Sarah immediately hid behind Ethan, complaining in a sweet voice. "Ethan, look at Victoria, why is she acting like she's gone crazy? I criticized an employee for the company's benefit, and she comes here making a scene. I'm so scared."

Ethan fell for this act completely. His tall figure immediately blocked Sarah, looking at Victoria with eyes full of condescending pressure.

In the past, Victoria would have already yielded, but today she didn't move back even an inch.

"Does criticizing an employee require throwing documents in someone's face? That's insulting someone's dignity!" Victoria's words were forceful and logical. "Also, Aria is an office clerk, not your personal assistant! Data reports are your responsibility as manager. You're overstepping to exploit a lower-level employee to do your work, and now that there's a problem, you're making her the scapegoat?"

"It's after work hours now. You two have eaten and drunk your fill, and you still make an employee run errands to deliver documents. Is this how the Ashford Group treats its employees?"

Victoria abruptly moved in, exuding an intimidating aura. "If you refuse to say sorry today, I will definitely strike you across the cheek!"

Sarah's expression changed. She had only recently joined the Ashford Group and her position wasn't stable yet. If Victoria really made a big scene, she would definitely become a laughingstock at the company. Most importantly, she didn't dare actually fight with Victoria.

She could only continue clutching Ethan's clothes and playing pitiful. "Ethan, I'm clearly Victoria's family, but she wants to hit me for an outsider. She's not just humiliating me, she's also disrespecting the Ashford Group."

Ethan's brow furrowed deeply, his face darkening to the extreme.

He yelled harshly, "Victoria, haven't you caused enough trouble already! I never knew you could be this irrational and unforgiving!"