Chapter 77

The group at Victoria's table stared at Elena in disbelief.

They had spent their entire lives around wealthy families and powerful people. They had seen bullies who hid behind their family names, pretenders who acted more important than they were, and fools with no idea who they were offending.

But this?

A young woman with little more than beauty and a good education had just spoken to Victoria Sterling like that—and had even mentioned Richard Sterling with the same casual disrespect.

That was new.

People stupid enough to behave this way usually never made it close enough to their circle in the first place.

How had she even managed to find herself a rich man?

Was her face really enough?

A few of them looked at Elena again.

...Well.

Maybe.

"Is something wrong with her?" one of the women whispered to the person beside her. "Does she know who she's talking to?"

Her friend looked equally confused and could only shake her head.

The contempt in their eyes had gradually turned into bewilderment.

Either Elena genuinely had no idea what she was doing, or—

No.

Impossible.

What kind of real backing could a college student being kept by some rich man possibly have?

More likely, she had grown arrogant because of whoever was paying for her lifestyle. Judging by her attitude, the man was probably some newly rich businessman who hadn't even bothered to explain what the Sterling name meant.

Victoria drew a slow breath.

"Elena, think about what you're doing."

She considered herself civilized. She wasn't about to start throwing threats around in the middle of a restaurant.

"There are laws, Elena," Victoria said quietly. "You can't just have someone beaten like this."

"Oh?"

Elena tilted her head.

"But throwing freshly brewed coffee in my face is fine?"

Victoria paused.

"If he did it deliberately, then obviously he was wrong. But you had your people beat him until—"

"Then call the police."

Elena cut her off calmly.

"I don't mind."

Victoria blinked.

Elena gave a short, humorless laugh.

"Actually, this is interesting. When he tried to throw scalding coffee at me and my security stopped him, you didn't say anything about calling the police. But now that he's been punched twice, suddenly we need to talk about the law?"

Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"So getting burned is no big deal as long as it happens to me, but two punches happen to him and now it's serious?"

Victoria frowned.

"That's quite a double standard, Ms. Sterling."

Elena leaned slightly closer.

"Have some shame."

Victoria stared at her.

No one had spoken to her that way in her entire life—not in their social circle, not overseas, nowhere.

Richard might have been the only exception, and even he had never told her to have some shame.

The others looked as though Elena had just stepped off another planet.

"And while we're talking about this," Elena continued, "you have an impressive talent for choosing friends."

Victoria's expression changed.

"The last one was Charlotte Whitmore. At your family's vacation property, she tried to push me into a pool and leave me there to drown."

The anger in Victoria's eyes faded slightly, replaced by wariness.

"And now this one."

Elena glanced toward Ryan.

"Another friend of yours, at a club your father has a stake in, walks over with a cup of scalding coffee and apparently tries to throw it in my face."

She gave a faint, mocking smile.

"So yes, Ms. Sterling. If you want to call the police, go ahead. I'd actually love to sit down with them and explain the whole situation."

Elena paused.

"Because it's a little strange, isn't it?"

She looked directly into Victoria's eyes.

"Why is it always your friends?"

The restaurant was silent.

Elena's tone remained almost casual.

"Unless you're the one who wants me dead."

Victoria's expression changed instantly.

Not because she was afraid the police would discover some murder plot.

There wasn't one.

She knew perfectly well that she had never tried to have Elena killed, and no investigation could prove otherwise.

But her stomach still dropped.

Charlotte's actions had already displeased her father. Now Charlotte's boyfriend had targeted Elena at a club partly owned by Sterling Consortium.

Even if the coffee probably wouldn't have killed her, that hardly made the situation harmless.

And Elena had managed to get into Greenfield. Whoever stood behind her clearly had some influence.

Certainly nothing comparable to the Sterlings, Victoria thought, but enough to turn this into an ugly public incident if the police became involved.

If Richard heard about another incident involving Elena...

Victoria's expression tightened.

Elena slowly took out her phone.

"I think I'll call them now."

She unlocked the screen.

"At this point, I don't feel particularly safe being in the same room with you. Who knows? Maybe next time one of your friends will bring a knife."

She paused, then smiled at Victoria.

"And if the police actually start looking into it, I'm sure they could come up with a pretty convincing motive for why you might want me dead."

Victoria's face turned grim.

Only one possibility came to mind.

Elena was Adrian's ex-girlfriend, while Victoria had undeniably grown close to Adrian recently. Plenty of people at Westbridge could confirm that.

For several seconds, Victoria said nothing.

Then she forced herself to think.

This still wasn't likely to become anything serious. With her family's connections, even if Elena had actually been hurt, Victoria doubted the situation would become unmanageable.

But that wasn't what worried her.

She didn't want Richard hearing about another incident involving Elena.

If her father became angry again, she would be the one paying for it. She might lose opportunities, future shares, or even things she already had—just as Charlotte had.

Victoria had always considered herself far more intelligent and capable than Charlotte.

The possibility of being punished in the same way made her skin crawl.

"Wait."

Elena looked at her.

Victoria clenched her jaw.

"This... was Ryan's fault."

Elena blinked.

"Well, obviously."

Victoria ignored that.

"He started it. Your people acted in self-defense. There's no need to involve the police."

Elena hadn't particularly wanted to call them anyway.

She wasn't hurt, and however obvious Ryan's intention had seemed, she doubted the coffee incident alone would be treated as attempted murder. His threats sounded terrible on the recording, but she had also ordered her bodyguards to hit him after he was already restrained.

Calling the police would only make the whole thing messier.

She had wanted to teach him a lesson.

That was all.

"But we're not finished."

Elena folded her arms.

"My clothes are ruined, and they weren't cheap. I was also nearly burned in the face. That was pretty traumatic."

Victoria suppressed the contempt rising in her chest.

"You want compensation."

"Yes."

Elena's face remained perfectly straight.

"One million dollars."

Several people at the other table stared at her.

None of them were short of money, but demanding a million dollars over a ruined outfit and a failed coffee attack was outrageous even by their standards.

Victoria stared at her.

Some people really never changed.

"Fine," she said coolly. "I'll transfer it to you."

It wasn't enough money to matter to her.

And she had every intention of getting every dollar back from Ryan.

At a signal from Elena, the bodyguard released him.

Ryan looked completely defeated.

He covered his mouth with one hand, head lowered. Dried blood stained the corner of his lips, while fresh blood still seeped from the cut near his temple. His face had gone almost gray.

Ryan had been spoiled his entire life. He had never taken a beating like this, and after losing two teeth, even his threats had disappeared.

He pushed himself upright and stumbled toward the stairs.

No one stopped him.

One hand against the wall, Ryan made his way down step by painful step.

At the landing, he nearly walked straight into someone coming up.

The other man stopped.

"Ryan?"

Ryan slowly lifted his head.

His battered expression froze.

Adrian Cole stood in front of him.