Departure with a Belly (Alaric and Victoria) novel Chapter 278

Chapter 278 

Alaric was extremely tall, and he was practically just inches away from Victoria, so 

Victoria could feel his icy yet strong aura envelope her. Her instincts told her to step 

back and keep her distance from him. Unfortunately, she tripped on something as she 

tried to step back, and she toppled backward until Alaric reached out and wrapped an 

arm around her waist. He pulled her toward himself, and she felt his strength tugging 

her in his direction. 

Victoria’s fragrant scent shot up Alaric’s nose as her body pressed against his chest. As 

he felt her frail figure against his body and her soft and supple skin against his hands, 

he tugged his lips into a slight smirk. “Are you that nervous to see me?” he uttered as he 

raised an eyebrow to eye her playfully. 

Victoria immediately pushed him away once she regained her footing. “Let go of me.” 

However, the arm around her waist was like a steel clamp, and she couldn’t seem to 

push him away no matter how hard she tried. He was like a mountain that she couldn’t 

move. When the waiter saw this entire scene, he widened his eyes with amusement 

and curiosity as he took a few steps back. “Since we know each other, you can just 

share the table with me. You don’t have to go back downstairs.” Alaric led her to his 

table, his arm still around her waist. 

“What makes you think I’d want to share a table with you? Let go of me!” Victoria was 

Chapter 278 Wasn’t Claudia Enough? 

still trying to resist him as she shot him a fierce glare. “Also, what are you doing here? 

Are you stalking me?” 

“Do I look like a stalker?” Alaric curled his lips into a smirk. “Why don’t you ask this 

waiter over here, Victoria? Ask him what time we arrived,” he uttered. Victoria froze 

upon hearing him. I assumed that Alaric was stalking me and pestering me, but I 

completely forgot that I came here later than him, she thought. 

2/7 

Terrance took this chance to stand up and greet Victoria. “What a coincidence, Miss 

Selwyn. Are you here for a meal? It’s pretty late in the afternoon now–why are you only 

eating lunch at this hour? You must’ve been really occupied. Well, since we bumped 

into each other, I guess fate must be telling us to have a meal together. Why don’t you 

sit with us?” he asked. 

“It’s fine.” Victoria rejected him without any hesitation. “I’m not going to eat with you 

guys.” “Are you saying that you won’t eat with us even though we’ve invested in your 

company?” Alaric uttered. 

Victoria was speechless for a while. She bit her bottom lip as she stared at the man 

who still had his arm around her waist. “Are you threatening me right now?” 

Alaric raised an eyebrow at her. “Well, it is whatever you think it is.” 

Chapter 278 Wasn’t Claudia Enough? 

“Fine.” Victoria smiled. “You can retract your investments, then. Do you think I’m afraid 

of that?” 

377 

The smile on Alaric’s face faded away as he heard the woman’s words. “Do you think I 

won’t do that?” 

“Yeah. I’m not the one who put so much effort into all of this. What do you think?” she 

replied. 

Terrance could sense the conversation turning sour, so he quickly ordered the waiter to 

serve some food. “The three of us will share a table. Bring us some of your signature 

dishes, please. Hurry up.” The waiter gradually made sense of the three people’s 

relationship with one another as he listened to their conversation. They seem to know 

each other, but it also seems like they don’t get along too well. Well, everything’s fine as 

long as they know each other. The waiter nodded and went down to prepare the food 

after that. 

After the waiter left, Victoria shot Alaric with an icy glare. “Let go of me.” Terrance went 

over as Alaric continued to hold onto the woman. “Oh, Mr. Cadogan and Miss Selwyn, 

why don’t you guys calm down a little? Since we’re all here, let’s just have a meal 

together.” Terrance tried to pull Alaric’s arm away from the woman, and Alaric 

immediately furrowed his brows. However, after hearing Terrance’s whispers for him to 

let go, Alaric eventually loosened his grip on the woman. 

After Alaric let go of Victoria, Victoria found a lot more freedom in her movements, and 

she hastily took a few steps back to keep her distance from Alaric. Alaric continued to 

stare at her intently. “Well, why don’t we sit together, Miss Selwyn? Let’s all be a little 

more pleasant with each other, shall we?” Terrance said. 

Victoria stared at Terrance, who had always been polite to her. She couldn’t bring 

herself to say something mean to him, so she tried explaining herself instead. “It’s fine. 

I’m supposed to meet someone else.” 

“Who?” Alaric asked. 

“Is that any of your business?” she snapped in return. 

“Is it a man?” 

“Why do you care?” she asked again. Even though Alaric knew whom she was meeting, 

he couldn’t contain the jealousy that he felt in him. Terrance could feel sweat forming 

on his forehead as he listened to their conversation. What is Mr. Cadogan trying to do? 

He said that he wanted things to be pleasant and amicable, but now that they’re 

face–to–face with each other… Terrance took another glance at Victoria. Well, she’s 

being really resistant, and she looked like she wanted to leave without even talking to 

us earlier. I’d probably lose my cool if I was Mr. Cadogan, he thought. 

“Are you meeting Bane?” Alaric asked with a scoff. Deep down, he was curious to know 

if Victoria would have gone out with Bane if he hadn’t used his identity as Silent Night 

to force her out on a date. Victoria had no intention of telling them whom she was 

meeting, but she let out a cold scoff when she saw the look on Alaric’s face. “Yeah. I’m 

meeting him for lunch, and we’re going to go look at cars later in the afternoon. I’ll leave 

now if that’s all you have to say,” she uttered. 

Then, Victoria walked off while pulling her phone out to act as if she was calling Bane. 

Right then, Alaric reached out and grabbed her wrist before she could walk past him. 

“Let go of me!” she hissed.