Page 13 of Valentine's Miracle

As expected, Victoria Valentina is not a woman to be messed with. Victoria looks vulnerable and sometimes could be mistaken for a gullible little girl for her size, but her brilliance comes from the ability to look at things in ways that trigger people.

She sees numbers as her friend and her strength while average people can’t stand a list of numbers more than the digits of a phone number. She’s been seen as a freak in school and children in our old neighborhood didn’t want to play with her because she can find their hiding spots based on probabilities.

The woman clears her throat; an awkward silence stretches uncomfortably as people around us try to listen to the conversation.

“Here is my card; don’t be a stranger,” the woman says as she presents a business card to Victoria.

She takes it out of politeness, and I take it from her small hand, crushing it between my fingers right in front of the woman’s face. The CFO woman appears to want to say something, but then she remembers where she is and who is around, so she keeps her mouth shut with a smile.

I wouldn't give a shit if I offended her. My natural instinct is to keep her away from Victoria; I am concerned about the way that snake woman tries to get Victoria into her company despite the poorly restrained disdain in her voice as if she is too good to be recruiting a mathematician.

The woman with two first names might make more money and have a more powerful position, but she doesn’t have the acknowledgment and fame that Victoria had secured with her own hard work.

“She’s not interested.”

“Outsiders are not permitted here,” the woman shoots back with a slight frown at the corner of her red-painted lips.

Victoria puts her hand on my arm; the motion is familiar as my body relaxes under her touch. A wave of electric humming travels up my spine and settles at the base of my neck as I resist the purring sound from my throat.

“Silas is not an outsider, Ms. Cassidy,” Victoria utters, a hint of tightness in her voice. “He is one of the best in Risk Security. I am sure you have heard of it; your bosses have used their services before as they are very important individuals.”

Before the woman’s nod can finish, Victoria finishes with a smile. The insulted expression on the woman’s face stays.

“Well, you wouldn’t know how amazing Silas and his friends are. After all, you have never used their service before, have you now?”

The hateful stare and the tightness that brings a pale line on her lips shift to a contorted blankness. “Do call us if you are interested, but I cannot guarantee your call will be answered as we are very busy individuals.”

That woman just wants to have the last words, and it’s fine by Victoria as she waves the woman off.

Victoria shrugs her small shoulders, hand dropping from my arm while glancing up at me. The absolute pureness when she looks at me triggers another level of reminiscence in my heart.

This week is either going to have me dead or stepping into another dimension of being able to be the new Silas rather than retorting back to the young boy that loves her too much with a foot in obsession and another in an abyss pool of possession.

I was young, and I was stupid, and I won’t make that mistake again.

Victoria beams, sunny and beautiful. “Let’s have a snack. I’m hungry!”

It’s going to take every drop of patience and restraint to make it happen, but it’ll be worth it at the end. I won’t have to see her again, and we’ll go back to where we were before in our lives, separate and interconnected by the ever-nosy Sebastian.

The food at the convention isn’t acceptable. They’re finger foods that can be seen as worse than those at the grand hall with rich people and their raw seafood.

Victoria had mentioned on the way to the hotel that she had been sick from the oysters, and she would never eat raw food again. She should have never trusted the food from public places where there are a lot of people. That’s a breeding ground for microorganisms from spit in the air and open-mouth breathers.

We end up leaving the hotel and going to a local restaurant that has calm music and fake green veins wrapped around the hanging lights.

“It’s a neighboring color of your eyes!” Victoria points out with awe in her gleaming brown eyes.

I scowl at her. Showing emotions is tough, and it’s harder when it’s for Victoria. She doesn’t take it as an offensive gesture when she merely brushes off the rolling aggression in my body.

I’m not mad about her. It hasn’t been aimed at her for a long time, and I just noticed it, but I don’t recall when I had started to direct that anger at myself. I’m blaming this whole emotional turmoil on me because I’m the one who can’t deal with Victoria and her nonchalant behavior.

She’s acting as if we’re still friends—as if that day didn’t happen.

Our food comes, and I didn’t realize she had ordered for me. My plate is filled with food that I prefer, and my heart gives a squeeze, in pain or in affection, I honestly can’t tell when I stare at her.

“Stop,” I ground out, my jaws ache from how hard I’m clenching them.

She cocks her head; those long curls fall over her shoulder. I have to put a stop to this; it’s not good for me and for her too. It feels as if my life depends on this, and it is because she is going to destroy that little part of my soul I have left.

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