Chapter 192
She hadn’t volunteered to go; it was only because Gwyneth had tried calling her, couldn’t get through, and left a message asking her to pick her up from preschool at noon-apparently, McNeil and Violet weren’t available.
Just to be sure, Victoria called McNeil herself, but he didn’t answer.
Almost half an hour later, McNeil finally texted her, confirming that she should pick Gwyneth up after school.
Yasmine worked on her laptop while waiting for Victoria. As school dismissal drew near, Victoria changed into a beige maxi dress, threw on a casual brown wool coat, and headed out looking fresh and put-together.
Halfway to the preschool, her phone rang. It was someone from her company’s tech department: “Ms. Turner, we need you in IT right away. We’ve hit a critical problem that needs your personal attention.”
Victoria was surprised they’d reach out to her directly. “I’ve already arranged time off with Mr. Garcia. I might not be able to come in.”
But the head of IT wasn’t letting up. “Ms. Turner, this is about a major internal software vulnerability-left over from the last game you developed. No one else here can fix it. You know how it goes: only the person who tied the knot can untie it. And tomorrow, the whole company will be out supporting Ms. Marchand at her competition-no one will be around. Please, you need to come now. This is urgent.”
He hung up before she could protest further. Victoria knew if she didn’t show up, they’d just keep pestering her.
“Turn around-take me to Quantum Core Technologies,” she told Yasmine with a sigh. She had no choice but to head back to the office first.
On the way, she called Gwyneth’s teacher to let her know that Gwyneth should wait a bit longer after school-she had something to take care of, but would be there soon.
Yasmine dropped her off at Quantum Core Technologies, and Victoria hurried straight to IT. Sure enough, the system was flooded with lines of garbled code- clearly the work of a human hand.
Still, she doubted it was an issue from her previous project, and tried to explain, but no one in IT was interested in hearing it.
She had no choice but to stay and join them, digging through the program to fix the errors. Time slipped away quickly. What she thought would be a quick check- in ended up trapping her for three solid hours.
It wasn’t until she finally made it out of IT that she remembered-Gwyneth was still waiting.
Victoria rushed to get Yasmine to drive her to the preschool. The teacher looked genuinely surprised to see her.
“Oh, Gwyneth’s mom-what brings you here?”
“I’m so sorry, I got held up at work and I’m late. Is Gwyneth still here, or has afternoon class started?”
The teacher eyed Victoria for a few moments. “We only had a half day today. All the kids went home with their parents after morning dismissal. Didn’t you and Gwyneth’s dad pick her up together at noon?”
She gave Victoria a curious look. “I’m pretty sure I remember-it was an hour late, and Gwyneth was sobbing so hard she could barely breathe. I called her dad again, and you were with him, weren’t you?”
All the teacher had seen was the backs of a handsome man and a beautiful woman taking Gwyneth away at the front gate that morning. She’d seen Gwyneth holding the woman’s hand and simply assumed it was Victoria.
Victoria realized the teacher must have seen McNeil and Violet. If they’d already picked Gwyneth up, at least nothing had gone wrong. She felt a little relieved.
Just then, her phone started buzzing in her pocket. No caller ID, but she knew McNeil’s number by heart.
He was obviously calling about Gwyneth-Victoria couldn’t ignore it.
She started to explain, “I’m so sorry, work really held me up—”
Next time, if you can’t pick up Gwyn, I’ll send the driver. You don’t need to trouble yourself anymore.
McNeil sounded distant, not angry, but the coldness in his voice stung more than any accusation.
He hung up without waiting for her reply.
Immediately, another call came through. This time it was Curtis.
“Mr. Garcia?”
“Victoria, did I just see you at the office? I thought you’d taken five days off.”