Chapter 53
Victoria glanced over her shoulder just as Simms appeared, Yulia hanging onto his arm.
At first, Yulia clung to Simms, but the moment she caught sight of Victoria, she quickly let go, falling in step behind him with an almost deferential air.
“That’s the one I reserved,” Yulia said, her tone taut. “This style isn’t right for someone your age, Victoria. Are you really going to argue with Dad over this?” Victoria looked straight at Simms, a faint, knowing smile playing on her lips.
“So you do remember Mom’s memorial on Friday,” she said softly. “Jade was always her favorite, and this set would have been the perfect gift for her.”
Simms looked as if he’d been struck, while Yulia’s face went pale, her expression twisting with discomfort.
When Edith died, Simms hadn’t shed a single genuine tear-there was no way he’d remember the anniversary of her death. The truth was, Simms had intended to buy the jade set to please Yulia. Now that Victoria had invoked her late mother’s memory, there was no way he could justify giving the jewelry to Yulia without looking heartless.
What would people think of him then?
The store manager, meanwhile, looked delighted. So these were just a father and daughter-much less complicated than he’d feared.
“Yes, your mother truly did love jade…” Simms mumbled, the words sticking in his throat.
That was exactly why he hated seeing Edith’s things; and because Yulia also loved jade, he’d bent over backwards to get it for her instead.
Victoria turned to the manager. “Wrap it up, please.”
Simms’s gaze lingered on the jade set, his face clouded with emotions he couldn’t
name.
Victoria flashed him a dazzling smile. “Thank you, Dad.”
She took the jewelry, and with Yasmine at her side, strode out of the store with effortless grace.
The manager grinned at Simms. “Mr. Miller, the total comes to three and a half million dollars.”
Simms’s features darkened, his voice low and cold. “I heard you.”
Victoria cradled the velvet jewelry box as Yasmine drove.
“Yulia’s still at the store?” Victoria asked, her tone icy.
Yasmine nodded. “She hasn’t left.”
Victoria’s face was set in stone.
Simms certainly knew how to burn through the Turner family fortune-millions spent on a whim No wonder Yulia was willing to play housekeeper for Victoria; as long as she got her share, she didn’t@are whose money she spent.
They were all living large on Edith’s legacy, fattening themselves off her memory while pretending nothing was wrong.
There was no way Victoria would let them get away with it.
Her thoughts drifted to her mother. If only Edith had married someone else- would things have turned out differently? But life never gave second chances.
Simms sank into the back seat of his Rolls-Royce, fuming. The gift he’d meant for Yulia had been snatched away, and he was out millions for his trouble. The outrage simmered in his chest, impossible to swallow.
When he reached Yulia’s apartment, he stormed inside and hurled an expensive antique vase across the room. The crash sent the housekeepers scurrying, too terrified to even breathe.
“That brat! My own flesh and blood, yet just as insufferable as her dead mother. I’ve busted my back for the Turner family all these years, and this is how my daughter treats me?”
Yulia frowned, signaling the staff to clean up the shards and bring some tea, then moved to calm him.
“It’s just a set of jewelry, Simms. Not worth getting so worked up.”
But Simms was far from done. Anything within reach ended up smashed to pieces.
This place was his little love nest, filled with treasures he’d bought-and many of them cost a small fortune. But today, Yulia was still stinging from losing the jade set. Watching Simms destroy their things, she seethed in silence, not daring to protest.
“Not worth it?’ve waited in the shadows for years, serving the Turner family like a dog. That old man never once acknowledged my talent And Edith-always the perfect princess, never missing a chance to trample my pride. I fought my way up to where I am now, finally free of them, and what do I get? My own daughter walking all over me. How am I supposed to swallow that?”
The facade of the cultured gentleman was gone. Simms’s eyes burned with raw, streetwise fury.