Chapter 120
"Thanks, Dad," Victoria replied, beaming with a triumphant smile.
She turned and headed to the master bedroom. Spotting Camille sifting through jewelry, Victoria approached and picked up a jade necklace–an auction piece priced at 20 million dollars.
"Mom, Dad just gave me a bunch of gifts to help me heal after everything.
I'm planning to put some of them in Henry's study," she said, playing with the jade necklace as she studied Camille's increasingly sour expression.
"If he sees that the jewelry I usually wear was from you, won't he think you love me a lot? "
Camille clenched her fists. "If your dad's already given you things, why do you ask me for something?"
"Did I ask for anything?" Victoria blinked innocently. "Shouldn't you give me a gift to celebrate my recovery?"
"You..." Camille was too angry to respond, thinking about how shameless Victoria was.
She was about to refuse when there was a knock at the door.
Sebastian's gentle voice floated in. "Vicky, you're here. This is for you. Congratulations on your recovery."
He handed her a box, and Victoria took it, surprised. "Thank you, Sebastian!"
He smiled warmly, "Open it and see if you like it."
Victoria eagerly opened the box to reveal a stunning diamond bracelet and as she slipped it onto her wrist, the dazzling gems contrasted beautifully with her fair skin, making her look even more radiant.
Sebastian nodded in approval. "It's indeed beautiful."
He turned to Camille and asked, "Mom, Dad and I both got Vicky a gift. You'll be getting her one, too, right?"
Camille was even more annoyed, realizing they were doing this on purpose.
She hesitated to give Victoria such expensive gifts, but since Sebastian had mentioned it, refusing would seem inappropriate.
Taking a deep breath, Camille pulled out a few small pieces of jewelry from the box and handed them to Victoria. "Here, take them."
Victoria didn't take them. Instead, with the jade necklace in her hand, she grabbed a large sapphire brooch and then picked out a ruby ring.
Each time she selected something, Camille felt her frustration rise. The total value of these pieces was nearing 100 million dollars.
Victoria picked the jade necklace in the end. Victoria smiled with satisfaction. "Thanks for the gifts, Mom. Good night."
Sebastian looked at her gently, and they left together.
Camille, fuming, slammed the jewelry box shut with an unpleasant expression.
Just then, her phone rang. She answered anxiously, "Hello? How is it?"
"Mrs. Hardwick, the test result proves Ms. Victoria is not your biological daughter," the voice on the other end confirmed.
Camille's eyes lit up with excitement. "Great! I want to do paternity test for Sarah Miller. It needs to be done discreetly!"
"Understood," the man replied.
Calming her excitement, Camille asked, "How long for the test results?"
"Three days," he said.
"Okay, go ahead with it!" Camille urged, unable to contain her anticipation.
She knew it. She had this strange connection to Sarah Miller for the first time meeting.
She have never felt like that with Victoria.
She recalled the incident in the hospital long time ago and decided to do DNA test immediately!
If Sarah really was her daughter, everything would be easy. Camille believed that since Henry cared about Sarah, he would surely be willing to marry her. Victoria would be abandoned; she'd be cast aside by both the Hardwick and Harrison families.
The thought of never having to see Victoria again filled Camille with excitement.
Meanwhile, Victoria put away the gifts.
Noticing her cheerful demeanor, Sebastian chuckled and asked, "Feeling happy?"
"Absolutely!" Victoria replied, "These are all my compensation for emotional distress!" It wasn't easy to get money from James and Camille.
But since Henry was so influential, she planned to make the most of his influence while they were still married.
Sebastian inquired, "How's the divorce coming along?"
Victoria sighed, "He disagrees."
"Why?" Sebastian frowned.
Victoria shook her head. "I don't know either. I pretended to have amnesia to test his feelings and decided to divorce him once I was sure he didn't care about me. At first, I felt like his attitude was wavering, but now..." She sighed again, frustrated at her inability to read his mind.
Sebastian asked, "When are you planning to tell him you've regained your memory?"
Victoria looked at him pitifully. "Honestly, I'm scared to do so."
"Why's that?" Sebastian asked, puzzled.
Victoria sat on the bed and responded, "He can be vindictive. If he finds out I've been faking it, I'll be in big trouble."
Sebastian suggested, "Why not try to find the right moment to let him know? You could explain your recovery and then discuss the divorce more rationally. He might be more agreeable."
"I'll think about it," Victoria said, feeling uncertain.
She was all too aware of how unpredictable Henry could be. What if he still refused? When she had "amnesia", she could claim she didn't love him.
But if Henry learned she had her memory back, he'd see straight through her facade. He knew just how much she had cared about him in the past.
Feeling conflicted, Victoria decided to set the issue aside for now.
Sebastian ruffled her hair playfully. "Take your time to think it over. Just let me know how I can help."
"Okay," Victoria replied.
Time at home seemed to fly, and after two weeks, she was finally able to move around freely.
After a check–up at the hospital, she was told she'd be completely fine as long as she avoided strenuous activities for a while.
Victoria made plans to leave the Hardwick Villa.
Evie's business trip had been extended by a week, and she would be back tomorrow.
That morning, Victoria drove Emma and Jude to kindergarten. Before Emma got out of the car, Victoria said, "Sweetheart, your mom will be back tomorrow, and I'm going to ask her to let you be my goddaughter. Don't forget what you promised!"
Emma beamed and nodded eagerly. "I won't!"
Victoria couldn't resist giving her a kiss on the cheek. She was just so adorable.
Jude stood quietly a short distance away.
Ever since their last conversation, he hadn't taken the initiative to get close to Victoria. He truly felt that Victoria didn't like him.
He hoped Victoria would recover her memory soon.
Henry had mentioned he would arrange for memory recovery treatment for Victoria in the coming days, and Jude believed that once she remembered, she would like him again.
Victoria arrived at the shooting set to tackle the backlog of work. When Hendrick saw her again, his demeanor had shifted significantly; he treated her with much more respect and was easy to work with. The shooting progressed quickly, and they wrapped up all the filming in just one day.
After work, as Victoria sat in the car, she received a call from Sebastian. "Vicky, are you done? Dad wants you to come to family dinner immediately. Dad has made dinner reservations for the family tonight."