Departure with a Belly (Alaric and Victoria) novel Chapter 282

Chapter 282 Unreliable
Chapter 282
I don’t want to say this, but this is too much of a coincidence. Yeah, what happened over the last couple of days seems staged, but we’re in an airport in a foreign land, and
we ran into each other on the airplane. That’s just… So, this is why he wanted to see
me? But why isn’t he showing up?
Noticing Victoria falling into her own thoughts, Nicole came and held her. “What’s
wrong, Mommy? Are you worried that Mr. Night might be a bad guy? Don’t worry. He’s
not a bad guy,” she said cutely.
Victoria looked at her, smiling. “Even if he is a bad guy, he wouldn’t write it all over his
face, nor would he tell you about it.”
“Um…” Nicole gave her a look of confusion, and Victoria thought it was cute.
She poked Nicole’s nose. “What did he tell you when you saw him on the plane, girl?”
“I forgot!”
Huh. Knew I couldn’t ask you. She turned to Nathan. “Do you remember what he said,
Nathan?”
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Nathan was only a bit older than Nicole, but he was a good brother. He could speak.
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eloquently and without missing any detail either. Once he was done talking, Victoria got
the gist of the matter. When she found out that he only came in the morning just to say
hi and leave right away, she thought it was understandable why he wanted her to bring
cash along. He chatted the kids up earlier, but he left in a hurry today. Did he need the
cash?
“Mommy?” Nicole stared at her. “Have you ever seen Mr. Night?”
Victoria snapped out of it and patted the back of Nicole’s head. “No,” she said softly.
“We should go home now. If everything goes well, I can get the car tomorrow, and it’s
goodbye to the subway.”
The kids followed her out, and Nicole asked, “Mommy, why isn’t Mr. Bane picking us up
anymore?”
The mention of Bane reminded Victoria of what she told him. She forced a smile and
was about to explain, but Nicole suddenly said, “Mr. Bane!”
Victoria froze and looked ahead. Bane was standing right there, in a suit and holding his
car key with one hand, then he smiled at them. “Come.” He went down and opened his
arms.
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A happy Nicole ditched her mother and ran toward him.
Huh. Nicole was a bit speechless. She’s being really obvious.
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Nicole pounced into Bane’s embrace, smiling. “And I thought you wouldn’t be picking us
up.”
“I would never not pick you up.” Bane took her bag off and whipped out a beautiful little.
box from his pocket.
Intrigued, Nicole asked, “What’s that, Mr. Bane?”
“It’s Christmas Eve soon. This is the present I got for you and Nathan.”
“Christmas Eve!” Nicole took the present. She was about to open it up right away, but
Bane said, “It’s a surprise. Open up when you get home.”
“Okay. Thanks, Mr. Bane.”
Victoria held Nathan’s hand and walked up to Bane. Nathan looked at his mother and
sullenly said, “Hello, Mr. Bane.”
Bane whipped out another box and gave it to him. “This is for you, Nathan.”
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For some reason, Nathan didn’t take it. Bane said, “Nathan?”
Nathan looked at his mother again, and Victoria smiled. “Say thank you.” Can’t say
anything harsh when the kids are around.
Since Victoria had given her permission, Nathan took the present and said thank you,
then Victoria looked at him. He’s really sensitive. So, he noticed what I was feeling.
Seeing Nathan take the present made Bane smile, and he patted the boy’s head. “Let’s
go. I’ll take you home.”
Since he was already here, Victoria led the kids into the car, though she was
exceptionally quiet when she was inside. All she did was scroll through her phone and
say nothing. Nicole didn’t realize that, and she happily chatted away with Bane. Nathan
kept quiet as well, seeing his mother was doing the same thing. He took out a book and
pretended to read, but before he could even make it through a single line, Bane said,
“You shouldn’t read while you’re in a moving car, Nathan.’
Nathan paused for a moment and looked at his mother. Victoria nodded, and he tucked
his book away. He thought it was over, but then Bane started a conversation about him.
“You’ve been avoiding me the whole day. Did I do something?”
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Victoria looked at Bane and frowned.
Nathan was a little fidgety, but before long, his mother said, “You know what Nathan is
like. He never avoids anyone. He’s just aloof, and you’re reading too much into it.”
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Bane looked into the rear mirror and said nothing. Even the slow Nicole noticed
something wrong, and she stopped talking to Bane. Instead, she leaned in her mother’s
embrace. “Mommy.” Nicole looked at her, and there was no smile on her face. Instead,
there was a look of unease.
Victoria patted her head, smiling, but she didn’t say a word.
Things were getting weird, so Nicole stopped talking. Once they came to their
destination, Victoria told the kids to thank Bane, then she said, “Thanks for taking us all
the way here., but you shouldn’t do this anymore. You have a lot of work to do, and I
don’t want you to waste your time.”
“I am more than happy to do this.” Bane got out and stood before her. “Can I have
dinner with you guys?”
Victoria said nothing. She led the kids upstairs, and Bane followed. Once they came to
their house, Victoria opened up the door and told the kids, “Go inside, kids. Mommy has